Irvington Brownie Troop Photo--c1942

When Ann Schmidt of 5702 Pleasant Run Parkway North Drive joined a local Brownie Troop in the early 1940s, she became part of a tradition that had been in the neighborhood for decades. Her particular group met at the Irvington Methodist Church. The girls gathered regularly and usually made some kind of craft. Ann Schmidt Brown still has a sunflower pin cushion she created as a Brownie over seventy years later.

In this photo, we have identified several of the girls, but not all. If you know of additional names for this photo, please contact me at williamfranklingulde@gmail.com. We are estimating the date to be 1942, but let us know if we are off on the date as well.

Front row:  (left to right) Marianne Baker, Dianne Hoffman; Second Row (left to right): Marilyn Moffett, ?. Ann Schmidt, Alice Aldrich, ?,?, Cassie Armstrong, Judy Wurster, ?, ?; Third Row (left top): ?, Janet Paxton, Lou Ann Bischof, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?; Top Row (left to right): Babs Fry, Dorothy Gerstner. Carol Kendrick,  Barb Swengel, Betty Cowell, ?, ? (photo courtesy of Ann Schmidt Brown and Doreen McGuire Crenshaw)

A special thank you to Ann Schmidt Brown and Doreen McGuire Crenshaw who opened their scrapbooks and memories to me.

Hoffmans of Irvington Terrace

William C. and Avis Hoffman raised their family on Minerva Street just west of downtown Indianapolis.  In his sixties, just as he had retired from a nearby flour mill, Mr. Hoffman packed up his family and moved into a new house at 317 North Kenmore Road c1915. The beautiful large American Four Square home comfortably housed his adult and unmarried twin daughters, Edith and Ethel, who worked as secretaries downtown.  Their widowed son, Francis, (Frank) moved in with his parents in 1919 after the death of his wife.  He brought his son, Robert along with him so the house on Kenmore was quite full. Other Hoffman family members lived nearby.  City directories reveal that dozens of Hoffmans lived in the area.  As the elderly Hoffmans passed away, the twins continued to dwell in the large home on Kenmore Road until the early 1950s.

In the top photo, twin sisters Edith and Ethel Hoffman, rested behind 320 North Ridgeview Drive along the alley behind their home on Kenmore Road c1935.  It is unclear why they posed here or if they knew the family who dwelled in the bungalow behind them.  The second photo captured the entire Hoffman family with William and Avis serving as bookends.  The third image shows Francis or Frank Hoffman, who moved into the Kenmore home after the death of his wife in 1919.

Edith and Ethel Hoffman posed along the alley behind 320 North Ridgeview Drive c1935.

The Hoffman family moved into 317 North Kenmore Road c1915.  William Hoffman is at the far end while Avis Hoffman is closest to the photographer.  Their large extended family is in the middle.  The photo was taken c1915.

Frank Hoffman moved back with his parents at 317 North Kenmore Road along with son Robert after the death of his wife in 1919.  

The historic images are courtesy of the Hoffman family descendants via Ancestry.com.