Lost Irvington: Downey Avenue Homes

Like many folks after a beautiful snowfall, Dick and Mildred Palmer grabbed their camera in the winter of 1947 to document the lovely moment. The couple resided in a small apartment at 55 South Downey Avenue along with their first child, Janet. Either Mr. or Mrs. Palmer snapped this photo most likely from a second story window. While they knew they were documenting a wintry scene, they had no idea at the time of course, that they were also capturing images of two Irvington homes that have been gone for many years.

The most visible home in the photo is that of 52  South Downey Avenue.  The unusual dwelling hosted some important Indianapolis residents over the years. City directories indicate that the home was built in 1901 for Amos and Mary Reynolds Butler and their five children. Mr. Butler was the Secretary to the Indiana Board of Charities. He was an avid birder and the local chapter of the Audubon Society would be named for him. He was also caught up, like many in his generation, in the eugenics movement. A trained scientist, Butler embraced the view at the time that some people were defective or "degenerate." His position with the Charity Board gave him great power. He believed that people labeled as "feebleminded" must not be allowed to marry or procreate.  Butler was a proponent of Indiana laws that called for the sterilization of women who might have mental illnesses, epilepsy, or mental deficiencies. Hundreds of Hoosier women in the twentieth century were forcibly sterilized. Butler played a strong role in that movement.  

As Mr. and Mrs. Butler began to age and their children started to move away, they started to lease part of their home. Throughout the 1920s, Merritt and Ann Harrison along with their daughter resided in part of the dwelling. Mr. Harrison was a skilled architect and actually designed the "new" Irvington Presbyterian Church in 1927 while living at 52 South Downey Avenue.  Others who dwelled in the home included the Linton, Parsons, and Blaase families. The house was torn down in 1958 to make room for a playground for the Our Lady of Lourdes School.  

The other home visible in the photo was of 28 South Downey Avenue. It was built in 1893 for David K. and Mary Carver. The couple moved to Irvington from Anderson. Mr. Carver, a veteran of the Civil War, had the distinction of being the first Republican ever elected in Madison County, Indiana. He served as sheriff in Anderson for a couple of terms. Mrs. Carver, while dwelling in Irvington, was an active club woman. Both spent the remainder of their lives in the home. They frequently leased rooms to various boarders. In the 1920s, the Marsh family resided in the home. Robert I. Marsh was an attorney for D. C. Stephenson, the Grand Dragon of Ku Klux Klan in Indiana. To learn more about his role in that episode of history, click on the Marsh family link below.  For most of its tenure, the large old home served as the convent for the Sisters of St. Francis, who taught at the Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church. The house was torn down in 2001 to make room for an addition to the Our Lady of Lourdes School. 

Today, on the former site of the Butler and Carver homes, children play kickball and attend classes at the nearby Catholic school. Most neighbors have forgotten the Butler home and soon the Carver residence/Convent shall also fade from memory. 

52 and 28 South Downey Avenue in 1947 (photo courtesy of Dick Palmer and Janet Chapman)

Amos Butler moved into 52 South Downey Avenue in 1901.(image courtesy of Butler family via Ancestry.com)

David Carver moved into 28 South Downey Avenue in 1893.  (image courtesy of Carver family via Ancestry.com)

To learn more about the role of Amos Butler in the eugenics movement read Robert Osgood's article in the Indiana Magazine of History titled, "The Menace of the Feebleminded: George Bliss, Amos Butler, and the Indiana Committee on Mental Defectives." (vol. 97, Issue 4, 253-77)  Information for the Carvers came from "David Carver Funeral to be at Home," Indianapolis News, May 20, 1915, 5; "Mrs. Mary Carver Dead," Indianapolis News, March 30, 1918, 13.  Dick Palmer and Janet Chapman provided the original historic photo for this story.  

A Young Attorney Defends D.C. Stephenson

George O. Cowan grew up in Decatur County, Indiana and graduated from Greensburg High School in 1915. In May of 1917, he became one of the first young men in that county to enlist in the U.S. army for service in World War I. He was likely wounded in the war as he joined the Disabled Veterans of America shortly after his return.

After Cowan mustered out of the military in 1919, he enrolled and graduated from Butler University and then the Indiana Law School in 1924. The timing of his admittance to the Marion County Bar landed at an ominous time in Indiana history. Just as he was starting his law career, David Curtis Stephenson, the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan in Indiana and Ohio, was a rising force within Indiana politics. Stephenson had become a millionaire by selling Klan memberships, robes, and paraphernalia as thousands of Hoosiers joined the "pro-American" organization. Stephenson helped to get many politicians elected including Governor Ed Jackson and Indianapolis Mayor John Duvall. With his flush bank account, the Grand Dragon purchased the Graham home at 5432 University Avenue.

In a story now well-told and well-known, Stephenson kidnapped and brutally raped and attacked Madge Oberholtzer in the spring of 1925 on a train ride to Hammond, Indiana. Miss Oberholtzer, who dwelled nearby with her parents at 5802 University Avenue attempted suicide shortly after the attack by swallowing poison. The next morning Stephenson sobered up and brought the now dying Miss Oberholtzer back to Irvington. Unsure of what to do with her, his bodyguards eventually dropped her off at her home. She lived long enough to give a deathbed confession to authorities although she warned the police that Stephenson had bragged to her that he was "the law in Indiana."

Two local Irvington men served as attorneys for D.C. Stephenson including Robert I. Marsh of 28 Downey Avenue and George O. Cowan, who rented a duplex at 5020 Orion Avenue When detectives came to question Stephenson about Miss Oberholtzer at the Hotel Washington on April 2, 1925, it was Cowan who was alone with the Grand Dragon. When Stephenson needed $10,000 to post bail for him, it was Cowan who scraped together the money.

Neither lawyer was able to save Stephenson from his fate after Miss Oberholtzer's death. The sensational trial of the Klansman brought down the Governor of Indiana and numerous other politicians. It also ended the reign of power for the racist and anti-semitic organization. Ordinary Americans finally realized what they had been a part of and most no longer wanted anything to do with the Klan.  While his client headed to prison, George O. Cowan married Ella McClure on January 23, 1926.  He was 30 years old. For the first several years, they rented a small double at 5020 Orion Avenue in western Irvington. Perhaps he struggled to get back on his feet after being associated with one of the most infamous men in America. Did George Cowan subscribe to the ideology of the Klan? Did he attend the notorious Bacchanalias at the Stephenson home in the months before the Grand Dragon's arrest? He was obviously close to Stephenson, but how close?  His obituary in his hometown newspaper in 1955 spoke of none of this. The residents of Decatur County were clearly proud of their hometown boy as they spoke of him as being "prominent" and involved with lawsuits related to the trucking industry.

Cowan graduated from the Indiana Law School in 1924

Mr. Cowan lists 325 North Ritter Avenue in Fellow Citizens of Indianapolis, but there is no such address, nor is there a 325 South Ritter Avenue. City directories reveal that he rented a duplex at 5020 East Orion Avenue in 1926.  

5020-22 Orion Avenue on snowy January day in 2016

Sources:

William Lutholtz. Grand Dragon: D.C. Stephenson and the Ku Klux Klan. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue Press. 1991, pp.190,191, 197,198.

Greensburg Daily News, February 9, 1955.