Early Photos of an Irvington Avenue Home

Florence and Marcia Doan, who grew up at 47 North Irvington Avenue, frequently played in the lot north of their home. Their father, Wilson Doan, was a prominent attorney who later sold one of his lots to his law partner, Charles Orbison around 1906. Before the sale of the lot, the Doans enjoyed the use of the wide open space. Photographs from 1903-05 show the girls playing in the lot with other neighborhood children and even enjoying a horse-driven wagon ride. Behind the kids in most of the photos, you can see the home of Jesse and Sarah Josephine Stuart Lowes at 59 North Irvington Avenue.

Jesse Lowes and Sarah Stuart married on November 23, 1892. Shortly after their marriage, the couple moved into their Irvington home around 1895. It is not known at this time if they built the house or if they are the second owners. The Indianapolis Journal noted in a "Society" snip in 1896 that the couple hosted some of Sarah's family from Acton, Indiana on Elm Avenue, the former name of Irvington Avenue. The couple had one daughter, Eunice Isabella, who likely played with Florence and Marcia next door.

Mr. Lowes first tried his luck as a grocer at 203 South Audubon Road along with Arthur L. Porter, but that partnership dissolved in 1900. He also became active in Republican Party politics and was one of the founders of the Irvington Republican Party Club. He worked for various Senators and even sold his Irvington Avenue home and moved to Washington DC with his family around 1905 to work in the US Senate. Upon his return to Indianapolis, the voters of Warren Township elected him as their Assessor in the 1920s.

Mrs. Lowes made headlines years later in 1925 when she testified at the murder trial of D.C. Stephenson, who was the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan in Indiana. At the time, the Lowes lived on Hibben Avenue just behind the Stephenson home. Mrs. Lowes testified that she heard the screams of Madge Oberholtzer in the middle of night on March 17, 1925, along with the sounds of barking dogs, which belonged to Stephenson. Her testimony along with many others helped to convict the Klansman of murder.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Lowes passed away in 1945 while their daughter, Eunice, who married Kenneth Johnson, died in 1990 at the age of 97. Their former home at 59 North Irvington Avenue was later enlarged and cut into apartments. To learn about another family, who lived in the house from the 1920s to the 1940s, click on "Adams Family" link below.

Marcia and Florence Doan gathered on the front porch at 59 North Irvington Avenue c1904. The older lady is possibly Sarah Lowes and the young girl next to her is possibly Eunice Isabella Lowes.
(Photo courtesy of Jim and Ann Brown; Indiana Album)

Florence Doan, who is standing barefooted in the tall grass next to her home at 47 North Irvington Avenue pulls her sister Marcia and an unidentified boy in a wagon. Behind the kids, you can see an empty lot and the Lowes family home at 59 North Irvington Avenue in June of 1903. (Photo courtesy of Jim and Ann Brown; Indiana Album)

Marcia and Florence Doan, who lived at 47 North Irvington Avenue, posed in their side yard c1904. Behind the girls, you can see the Lowes home at 59 North Irvington Avenue complete with a windmill under construction in the backyard. In the far distance you can see the Ingersoll residence that used to stand at 5408 Lowell Avenue. (Photo courtesy of Jim and Ann Brown; Indiana Album)

Florence Doan pushes her sister Marcia in a wheelbarrow next to their family's home at 47 North Irvington Avenue (then called 27 North Elm Avenue) c1903. Behind the girls, you can 59 North Irvington Avenue (then called 37 North Elm Avenue). Jessse and Sarah Lowes lived in that house along with their daughter Eunice. Across the street, you can see the cottage located at 72 North Irvington Avenue. That house has been greatly modified over the years. (Photo courtesy of Jim and Ann Brown; Indiana Album)

Tall grass and weeds stands on an empty lot behind the Doan sisters on a summer's day most likely in 1903. The house most visible in the photo is that of 59 North Irvington Avenue. (Photo courtesy of Jim and Ann Brown; Indiana Album)

On a wintry day, the Doan sisters posed for a photograph near their front porch at 47 North Irvington Avenue c1903. Behind the sisters, you can see the house at 59 North Irvington Avenue. (Photo courtesy of Jim and Ann Brown; Indiana Album)

59 North Irvington has been enlarged over the years and converted into apartments. (photo taken in the winter of 2020)

    To see more images from the Indiana Album, click on the link below:
https://indianaalbum.pastperfectonline.com/randomimages

I wish to thank Jim and Ann Brown for their wonderful hospitality and assistance with these posts and the Indiana Album, a digital museum dedicated to capturing images from throughout the state including Irvington.

Sources:  1900 Federal Census; Obituary for Jesse Lowes, Indianapolis News, March 3, 1945, 14; Early house--Indianapolis Journal, July 19, 1896, 13; Mr. Lowes jobs--Indianapolis News, February 3, 1900, 13; Indianapolis News, December 15, 1903, 3; Mrs. Lowes and DC Stephenson Trial--Noblesville Ledger, November 3, 1925, 2.

Butler Basketball Team--1905

The Indiana College Athletic Association was in its infancy when Butler College (later University) joined in 1905. Coached by Edgar Wingard, the team had two winning seasons in 1904 (9-1) and in 1905 (7-3).  The men played against both local high schools like Shortridge and Manual and against colleges like Indiana University and Wabash College.  In this photograph, the squad posed with their coach and championship trophy. The only known names at this time are Coach Wingard (black suit) and John Kaylor Kingsbury (top row upper right).  Mr. Kingsbury was a talented athlete and student. He grew up at 348 North Layman Avenue and later became a physician. He made history in 1925 when in his role as a doctor he rushed to the bedside of Madge Oberholtzer, who had been brutally attacked by D.C Stephenson, the Grand Dragon of the Indiana Ku Klux Klan. As she grew weaker, he summoned a stenographer to take what would later be her deathbed confession. Her words helped to bring down not only Stephenson, but also the power of the Klan in the United States. In 1905, however, young Kingsbury knew nothing of these events as he was merely celebrating a great winning season at Butler College. Mr. Wingard left Butler in 1906 for the University of Pittsburg.

Butler College basketball squad in 1905 was coached by Edgar Wingard (black suit). John Kaylor Kingsbury is located in the top row and at the far right. We are currently searching for the names of the other players.  

The historic photograph is courtesy of Kelly Wheat, a descendant of John Kaylor Kingsbury. 

The Kingsbury Family Arrived Early to Irvington

James Goodwin Kingsbury (1831-1913) was a successful editor for both the Indiana Farmer and the Indianapolis Journal. Mr. Kingsbury spent his childhood and early career in western Indiana. He married Mary Layman and had three children with her. Sadly, she died at the age of 33 in 1870.  A daughter, Fannie, died in 1866.  With his two sons, James L. and Edward, he relocated to Marion County to start a new life. He eventually remarried and moved into three homes in Irvington with the first at 5860 Lowell Avenue followed by 98 North Layman Avenue, and then to 71 North Ritter Avenue. He was likely enthused about living in the community as he was an ardent Prohibitionist and Irvington was a dry village.  Many of his children, step children, and grandchildren continued to dwell in the area and became quite prominent. One grandson, Dr. John Kaylor Kingsbury, was a physician who had an office at East Washington Street and Ritter Avenue. Dr. Kingsbury became important in history as he was the physician to attend to the dying Madge Oberholtzer. Miss Oberholtzer had been brutally raped and assaulted by the D.C. Stephenson, the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan in Indiana.

The elder Kingsbury, James Goodwin Kingsbury, lived to be 83 years old and with his fourth wife at his side, he died in his Ritter Avenue home in 1913.

James Goodwin Kingsbury was photographed by A.F. Wise in Crawfordsville, Indiana in 1857. 

James Goodwin Kingsbury wrote and edited the Indiana Farmer for decades. He was still working for the paper when he died in 1913. Family members assumed control of the publication upon his passing. 

Mary Layman married James G. Kingsbury. She died at age 33 in 1870 in Putnamville Indiana.  

Fannie and James Layman Kingsbury were the children of James G. and Mary L. Kingsbury. They posed for this photograph around 1863. Note how James was dressed as a little girl and he still had his curls. Dressing young boys in this manner was common in the nineteenth century. A.F. Wise of Crawfordsville, Indiana photographed the children.

Fannie Kingsbury was the daughter of James G. and Mary L. Kingsbury. She posed for photographer, A.N. Pierce of Lafayette, Indiana, most likely in 1862. Tragically, she died in 1866.  

James L. and Fannie Kingsbury c1865

James Layman Kingsbury was the son of James G. and Mary L. Kingsbury. His biological mother died when he was ten years old in 1870 so his step mother, Mary Taylor Kingsbury, raised him into adulthood. In this photograph taken around 1870, James posed for the photographer G. W. Apple of Indianapolis.  

James Layman Kingsbury c1874

In 1880, first cousins, Robert Layman Dorsey (left) and James Layman Kingsbury posed for this photograph by Frank M. Lacey

James Goodwin Kingsbury c1900

"A good likeness" is what James Goodwin Kingsbury wrote on the back of this novelty photograph in 1906. Mr. Kingsbury resided at 71 North Ritter Avenue at that point in his life.

James Goodwin Kingsbury c1902

One of the last photographs of James Goodwin Kingsbury occurred on May 3, 1909 when he sat for this photograph. Note the swastika symbol below his image before it became synonymous with evil.  

The historic images and newspapers clippings are courtesy of Kelly Wheat, a Kingsbury descendant.  

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.

Kingsbury Home on Layman Avenue

James L. Kingsbury and his wife Minnie likely moved into 348 North Layman Avenue in the late nineteenth century.  Mr. Kingsbury's father lived around the corner at 71 North Ritter Avenue.  The elder Kingsbury published a newspaper in Crawfordsville and eventually moved operations to Indianapolis in the 1870s.  Upon James G Kingsbury's passing in 1913, his son, James L. Kingsbury  took control of the Indiana Farmer.  James L. Kingsbury would later serve two terms in the Indiana House of Representatives as Irvington's legislator in the 1920s. A loyal Republican, James L. Kingsbury also served as the Warren Township Assessor in his elder years.

Minnie and James L. raised their two sons, John Kaylor and Layman Dwight Kingsbury, in the beautiful two-story Gothic Revival home in northern Irvington. The Kingsburys possessed a large tract of land and had lovely orchard. They remained in the home until their deaths in the 1940s and 1950s.  Their oldest son, John, became a physician and would make history as the doctor who took the death bed confession of Madge Oberholtzer, a woman who was brutally raped and attacked by the powerful Ku Klux Klan leader, D.C. Stephenson, in 1925.  Her words helped to bring down the KKK in Indiana and in America.

Kingsbury Family Portrait:  James L. Kingsbury can be seen standing next to a tree in the center of the photo. Standing in front of him, you can see John Kaylor Kingsbury. Nearby, stood Layman Dwight Kingsbury. Presumably Minnie Kingsbury is one of the ladies in the photo, but which one? The older lady standing at the far right might be Mrs. Kaylor, the mother of Minnie Kaylor Kingsbury.  (c1905)

Kingsbury home and orchard (c1900)

 
To see a contemporary photo of 348 North Layman Avenue, click on the link below. The historic images are courtesy of the Larry Muncie Collection Irvington Historical Society.