A Buried Path to the Past

Editor's Note:  Guest history sleuth and writer, Paula Schmidt, noticed the start of a sidewalk that seemed to go nowhere along South Butler Avenue.  Or did the path at one time go to a building long gone? Her investigations led to the unraveling of an interesting tale!  

A Buried Path to the Past

By Paula Schmidt

Do you remember reading the Shel Silverstein book, Where the Sidewalk Ends?  I know where it ends. It ends at my neighbor's house near a lovely four square double on the corner of South Butler and Julian Avenues.  Along Butler Avenue, my neighbor’s sidewalk used to be edged with tilted bricks similar to how my grandmother used to line her flowerbeds.  The mysterious walkway followed the sidewalk and then gracefully curved into what should be steps leading up to a house, but there are no steps!  What's the deal?

Look for the gaps in the bricks along the main sidewalk and you will see the start of a path that used to lead to a previous home at 105 or 107 South Butler Avenue.

It appears that an earlier home was here.  At the moment, I cannot locate a picture, but I do know the shape of this early structure thanks to the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps.  In the 1898 map, the house is shown as a smaller single family dwelling on Lot # 58 with Lot# 57 vacant. By 1915, the map indicates that there is a larger multi-family dwelling that straddles both lots. Another mystery is that the records at the Assessor's Office indicate that the brick four square was erected in 1919.  Even without a picture of the original house, I hope you enjoy this tale.  It is full of irony, drama, love and tragedy.

In 1910, a single home sat on these two lots and faced Butler Avenue.  The address was either 107 or 105 South Butler Avenue.  Based on the book Irvington in 1910, a family by the name of Newby lived there: James M., his wife Elizabeth, and their child.  It appears that they lived at this residence for two years.

The 1898 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map shows the previous home on the southeast corner of South Butler Avenue and Julian Avenue. Paula Schmidt has superimposed the current home over the previous dwelling. (look for blue thumbtack.)

Mr. Newby was in real estate. The 1907 city directory shows he was in business with George E. Wallace (Wallace & Newby).  In 1908, he partnered with Perry F. Carr  (Newby & Carr).  Both businesses had offices at the Baldwin Building in downtown Indianapolis.  In 1910, it appears that the bottom dropped out for the Newbys.  Mr. Newby purchased a piano in 1907 from a dealer by the name of Currens as a Christmas present for his child and he provided a deed as collateral.  The owner of the piano shop discovered that the deed was bogus and sued.  There was a jury trial and James M. Newby was convicted of theft on April 27, 1910.  His wife was frantic and actively sought the release of her husband…even after the judgment was affirmed (175 Ind. 515).  By 1913, James M. Newby was out of the Michigan City Prison and back in Indianapolis working in real estate.  Again he was involved in, or at least accused of, a shady real estate deal ("Men Accused of Real Estate Swindle", Indianapolis Star, March 4, 1913, 7).  His trial was delayed because his child was ill (March 13, 1913).  By September 9, 1913, the Indianapolis Star stated that the victims admitted that there was no swindle. ("Land Fraud Cases Dropped by State," Indianapolis Star, September 9, 1913,18)  I know you are getting weary of all this drama, but alas, there is more.  On August 1, 1914, a train struck a car carrying Mr. Newby at a railroad crossing on East Market Street killing him. ("Coroner Will Fix Blame for Fatal Crossing Crash," Indianapolis Star, August 1, 1913, pg 16).   A lawsuit in 1915 filed by his widow, Elizabeth resulted in a verdict against Lake Erie & Western RR and the flagman.  Elizabeth was awarded $5,000 ("City News," Indianapolis Star, January 29, 1915, 9). Elizabeth died in 1939.

The Newby family is long gone from the neighborhood as is their home, but if you look closely as you walk along South Butler Avenue you might imagine the start of a sidewalk that used to lead somewhere.  I wonder how many more interesting tales of Irvington are yet to be uncovered and how many have disappeared?   

Reinhardt Home: Scene of a Crime--1913

Most historians who write of historic Irvington generally speak of the serene calmness and of the lack of crime in the area.  While that image is largely true, there have been several infamous moments in Irvington's history including a few murders and some physical attacks.  In the spring of 1913, the neighborhood was gripped with fear because of a burglar who kept targeting the area.

German immigrants Johann and Agatha Reinhardt were the first victims of an infamous barefoot bandit. Late into the evening and early morning hours of May 17, 1913, a burglar entered or tried to break into several Irvington homes.  He first targeted the Reinhardts at 6123 East Washington Street.  He had no trouble getting in as many Irvingtonians frequently left their doors and windows unlocked in those days.  While the couple slept, the burglar moved about the lower level.  He might have actually entered a bedchamber as he grabbed Mrs. Reinhardt's purse and a pair of Mr. Reinhardt's trousers.  The thief fled into an alley behind the house and rifled through the handbag and pants.  He only made out with $1.75 so he moved on to Mrs. F. A. Newby's home at 5639 Greenfield Avenue where he landed $5.50.  Next he removed a screen at the home of Mrs. R.P. Thatcher at 258 South Arlington, but she heard him and came to the window.  He ducked and managed to elude her view.  Boldly, the burglar then tried to get into 5929 Dewey Avenue, but for some reason stopped and fled.  His barefoot tracks were seen in the flower garden around the the home of W. I. Jones at 5915 Dewey, but he did not enter that house.

The bandit's boldest move came when he crept into the Burke home at 5905 Dewey Avenue.  He grabbed a Bible and propped open the bedroom door of Miss Opal Burke.  She awoke and saw the figure of a large man standing at the foot of her bed.  Her loud shrieks forced the intruder to flee from the home.  By that point, several people had called the police, but the bold burglar did not stop.  He then entered the home of Raymond Jones at 303 South Webster.  Mr. Jones awoke and grabbed his shotgun.  He fired seven rounds into the dark and the barefoot bandit fled into the night.  Mr. Jones followed him into the night air and fired more shots, but the thief managed to get away.  One can only imagine the talk the next day in the barbershops and drugstores around town.

Reinhardt Home Then and Now

The Reinhardt Home used to be at 6123 East Washington St. This photo was likely taken around 1910.

The Reinhardt Home was moved in 1929 to 22 South Sheridan Avenue. This is the home as it appears in 2012.  

German immigrants, Johann and Agatha Reinhardt, moved into their modest Victorian home at 6123 East Washington Street (then 5989) in the late nineteenth century.  Mr. Reinhardt, who called himself John G. Reinhardt in the city directories, was a blacksmith and later machinist.  The Reinhardts would continue to dwell in this home well into the 1920s.  In 1929, a developer bought the house and moved the structure just one square south at 22 South Sheridan Avenue.  This was done to prepare room for a commercial strip that still exists in 2012.  The Reinhardts merely moved with the house and adopted the new address.

Source:  "Barefoot Thief Tries Irvington," Indianapolis Star, May 18, 1913, 22.