Photos Show East Tenth Street Before Linwood Square

      On May 12, 1950, patrolman Millard Swain guided his motorcycle westbound on East Tenth Street near Linwood Avenue. It was a beautiful morning and he was just conducting his rounds when he slammed into a 1946 Dodge sedan driven by 74-year-old George Grist of Greenfield, Indiana just as the elderly man exited Linwood Avenue. The impact threw the police officer from his bike and he broke his wrist. A crowd gathered as a few police officers and an ambulance arrived. One of those officers was a police photographer named Wehman Hiner who documented the scene. While Mr. Hiner was there to record the accident of one his fellow officers, he inadvertently captured a vanished world. No one was charged that day, but Mr. Hiner's photographs show us what the Linwood Square area looked like before the shopping center arrived in 1963. 

     For decades the Madinger and Neuerburg families owned 23 acres of land south of Tenth Street, north of St. Clair Street, west of Linwood Avenue, and east of Gladstone Avenue. It remained undeveloped through much of the 20th century. Leonard Neuerburg built a two-story brick home on Tenth Street in the nineteenth century. Another family member built a grocery store visible in the photos below. That store was located on the southwest corner of Tenth Street and Linwood Avenue. In 1950, Mrs. Delia Spillman ran an antique shop out of the former store at 4425 East 10th Street. She might be the lady leaning up against a light pole in the second photo. If you look closely, you can see the Rosario Romano Fruit Stand just beyond the antique shop and the rooftop of the Neuerburg home. Over the years, Albert Neuerburg had allowed various Little League teams to play on multiple diamonds on his land just south of Tenth Street. As president of the Sherman-Emerson League he also permitted a Mardi Gras celebration each year on the property as a fundraiser for that civic organization. Across the street, you can see the tidy bungalows, many of which still exist in the 4400 block of East Tenth Street. 

   After Albert Neuerburg died, his estate sold the entire property including the structures to the Kimco Corporation in the spring of 1963. The developers immediately knocked down Mrs. Spillman's antique shop, the fruit stand, and the historic Neuerburg home. A new day had arrived, but on May 12, 1950, as officer Swain went to the hospital to reset his wrist, residents along East Tenth Street returned to their lives on that busy Friday morning. 

Police photographer Wehman Hiner aimed his camera west on East Tenth Street at the Linwood Avenue intersection on May 12, 1950. The larger building on the left started as a general store operated by the Neuerburg family at 4425 East Tenth Street. By 1950, Delia Spillman sold antiques out of the building. On the north side of the street beyond the crowd, you can see bungalows in the 4400 block of East Tenth Street. (Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Collection, Digital Indy)

Officer Millard Swain crashed into a sedan at East Tenth Street and Linwood Avenue on May 12, 1950. Behind the cars you can see a woman leaning next to a light pole by the antique shop. Might this be Mrs. Spillman? (Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Collection, Digital Indy)

Police photographer Wehman Hiner documented the crash from several angles. In this view, he snapped the rear of the motorcycle while looking east. The group of onlookers stood in the parking lot of a filling station run by James E. McDowell at 4502 East Tenth Street. (Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Collection, Digital Indy)

Baist map, 1941; Tenth Street is at the top of the map. The Neuerburgs owned most of what would later be known as Linwood Square. The Madinger (misspelled as Maddinger) family married into the Neuerburg (misspelled as Neuerberg) family. 

     To see more of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police photos, click on the link below:

Police Photos (Digital Indy)

     I wish to thank Patrick Pearsey, the historian for the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department for his assistance particularly on identifying Wehman Hiner, and for all of the work he is doing preserving what might be the largest photo collection of the city of Indianapolis.  

Sources:  Accident scene:  "Cycle Patrolman Hurt," Indianapolis Star, May 13, p. 3; "Cycle Patrolman Breaks Wrist in Crash," Indianapolis News, May 13, 1950, p. 9; Linwood Square--"Shopping Center Gets Final Ok," Indianapolis News, April 9, 1963, p. 25; Little League--"Dedication of Neuerburg Field to Climax East Side Drive to 'Get Kids Off Street'," Indianapolis Star, June 19, 1954, p. 2; East side Mardi Gras--"Leslie to Speak at Mardi Gras," Indianapolis Star, July 21, 1929, p. 21. 

Tragedy at East New York Street and Linwood Avenue--1946

A crowd gathered at the intersection of East New York Street and Linwood Avenue on May 1, 1946. It was a rainy and sadly a tragic day for Mrs. Luella Cummings, who dwelled at 423 North Linwood Avenue. The eighty-year old woman was attempting to walk across New York Street when she was struck and killed by Dexter Maitland of Los Angeles, California. Mr. Maitland was later charged with reckless driving, vagrancy, and failure to maintain his brakes.

The shops visible in the photograph were located at 4417 to 4427 East New York Street. The Tudor-Revival structure still stands in 2018. The accident had been on a Wednesday afternoon so it was likely that all of the businesses were open and perhaps hosting customers. Some of the shops operating that day included:  Ward's Radio Service, Elmo Douglas Photography, Janie Hughes Beauty Shop, G & S Gift Novelties, and Red Seal Cleaners. If you zoom in on the faces of the men, you will note that they have grave expressions. Were they customers in the shops? Business owners? Is one of the men Mr. Maitland? The Buick in the photograph belonged to him. One police officer is identified as Audry Jacobs.  Inspector Jacobs worked in the traffic division for the Indianapolis Police Department for years. At age 15, his father was killed by a drunken driver so he dedicated his life to various causes that could help with traffic safety including one-way streets, synchronized traffic signals, and "walk-wait" signals.

With School #58 located nearby, the police department likely had to work quickly to get the area cleared before the dismissal of the pupils.

4417 E. New York Street accident scene--1946 (image courtesy of Patrick Pearsey) 

Scene of the Tragedy: Luella Cummings of 423 N. Linwood Avenue was struck and killed as she walked across East New York Street on May 1, 1946.

Luella Cummings

The historic image is courtesy of Patrick Pearsey and Indy Long Ago Facebook page. Information for this article came from "Woman Pedestrian, 80, is Year's 25th City Traffic Victim," Indianapolis News, May 2, 1946; Obituary of Audry Jacobs, Indianapolis News, December 28, 1968, 11.

Tough Times on Linwood Avenue During the Great Depression

Harold Wilkens (1904-1976) and Ellen Smolley (1908-1964) eloped in 1930 and kept their marriage a secret for two years. They lived separately, but eventually in 1932 they formally announced to their families that they had wed. Mr. Wilkens found a job as a pharmacist with Henry Silver, who ran a drug store along Michigan Street near Bosart Avenue. In 1934, the couple had a daughter, Diana. With little money and in the middle of the Great Depression, the couple leased a double at 727 North Linwood Avenue. It was a small one-bed apartment and became even smaller when Carrie Gardner, the mother of Ellen Wilkens, moved in with them. Mrs. Gardner and the baby shared the bedroom while Harold and Ellen moved the dining room table each night and pulled down the Murphy Bed built into the wall. They remained in the small double for thirteen years before moving into a larger place in Irvington.

Young Diana had many friends along Linwood Avenue and attended School #58 nearby. She used to play in the woods and meadow in what would later become the Linwood Square shopping area. She recalled a fruit stand along East 10th Street near Linwood Avenue.  Diana remembered that times were tough for her family during those days.  In 1947, their landlord asked them to leave so that he could move in family members of his own. While initially this caused chaos in their lives, they would soon lease a beautiful double at 5120 East Washington Street.  

Diana Wilkens posed for her mother in front of 727-29 North Linwood Avenue in 1938.

Diana Wilkens in the front and backyard of 727 North Linwood Avenue in 1938

Christmas in 1940:  Diana Wilkens enjoyed Christmas Day in her home at 727 North Linwood Avenue. In the upper right photo, you can see Ed and Thelma Sheets who stopped by for a visit. Snowball the cat is visible in some photos.

Diana Wilkens and a friend posed for this shot in 1940 in her yard at 727 North Linwood Avenue. Behind the girls, you can see the tree-lined street and the homes in the 700 block of that street.  

The small double at 727-29 North Linwood Avenue looks much the same as it did when the Wilkens family dwelled here from 1934 to 1947. (Photo taken in the summer of 2015)  

IPS #58 Graduation Photo--1929

They all dressed in white.  The girls donned a bobbed style while most of the boys slicked down their hair.  In the early summer of 1929, the USA was still roaring.  In just a few months after the snapping of this photo, the stock market would plunge catapulting the nation into the Great Depression.  These fourteen-year-olds had no idea that their lives were about the change.  What became of them?  Thankfully, we do know the names of every child in this photo.  They attended the Ralph Waldo Emerson School (1907) at 321 North Linwood Avenue also known as School #58.  The building is now on the National Register of Historic Places and was recently renovated.

Indianapolis Public School #58 Graduates in 1929

Row One:  Margaret Buckles, Vivian White, Helen Murdock, Emma Elizabeth Hallett, Thelma Alvey, Virginia Tharpe, Margaret Hennis, Radonna Graham, June Sproule, Frieda Jones

Row Two: Eva Grace Hale, Violet Hohn, Martha Schwartzenbtraub, Marian Wortman, Mary Elizabeth Neese, Virginia Wickard, Ruth Engleman, Carolyn Paine, Margaret Hetherington, Alice Bobbitt, Frances Higenbotham

Row Three:  Paul Lang, Jr., Harold Cooper, Harry Madison, Ralph Wilson, Harold Bronstrup, Roland Irwin, Hugh Weber, Harry Zaklan, Raymond Rhodes

Row Four:  Richard Ricketts, Edmond Murray, Herbert Leyendecker, Jack Scearce, Charles Pringle, William Schmitz, Robert Williams, Gustav Jordan

Row Five:  Jack Bridwell, Le Roy Dusing, Harry Marshall, Donas Dischinger, Robert Seers, Charles Johnson, Howard Chandler

Indianapolis Public School #58 in 2014 after a recent renovation