New York Street House Visible in Historic Photo

      Charles S. Townsend took out a building permit for 5821 East New York Street in 1910.  While Mr. Townsend may have been responsible for the construction of the house, the first person to reside in it was Abraham Shortridge, for whom both the high school and the road is named. That he was able to do so was quite amazing as the elderly man had been struck by a traction car near his farm east of Irvington in 1906 and lost part of a leg. After the accident, he convalesced at his son's home on Lowell Avenue. City directories indicate that the beloved educator lived in his new two-story home intermittently throughout the 1910s. 

The Coons Family

      George (known as Elmer) and Helen Schneider Coons likely moved into the New York Street home in 1918. It is unclear when they purchased the home, but a World War I draft card belonging to Mr. Coons lists him at the New York Street address. The card also noted that Mr. Coons was 38 years old and an unemployed laborer with a broken collar bone. Helen Coons came from a prominent German family in Hanover, Indiana. The couple had eight children so they likely needed a larger home. Don Rouse, the great grandson of Elmer and Helen Coons, had always heard that Elmer Coons had likely built the home. Mr. Coons was a Jack-of-all-trades and worked in a variety of jobs in construction and plumbing. 

     For the next four decades, the Coons family resided at 5821 East New York Street. Like any family, they celebrated many joyful moments and endured some tragedies. In 1923, the Indianapolis Times reported that Katherine Coons was part of a dance troupe known as the Indianapolis Follies. They performed at the Lyric Theater. One of their sons, Paul, helped to organize a bike race in Irvington in 1931 on the grounds of the former campus of Butler University. Several of their children married while living in the house. Shadows fell over the family after the death of two sons at a young age, and Mr. Coons died suddenly of a heart attack in 1926 at the plumbing business where he worked. He was only 47 years old leaving Mrs. Coons with the task of rearing their children and managing the house.

     Months after the death of Elmer Coons, an ad appeared in the Indianapolis Star that read, 3-room apt. for rent; furnished, sink, gas range, $6. In order to keep the home, Mrs. Coons turned the house into a duplex. She took out a building permit in 1929 so perhaps that is when she changed the porch and added a door onto the west side of the house. Numerous renters lived in the home throughout the twentieth century. She also covered the clapboard exterior with asphalt siding. A later owner clad the home in aluminum siding. After Mrs. Coons passed away in 1966, the family sold the property. 

     For the past several years, the home has been empty and work has started and stopped. Recently, building permits have appeared in the window so there is hope that the Shortridge-Coons home will see better days. 

     

Thomas Shimer, Jr., who lived at 5815 East New York Street, posed for this winter photograph c1931. Behind him, you can see 5821, 5823, 5825, and 5829 East New York Street. Besides the Coons family, the Timmons, Schaeffer, and Treat families resided in this block in the early 1930s. (photo courtesy of Chris Shimer)

A close up of the photograph taken in 1931 reveals the original front porch of 5821 East New York Street. (photo courtesy of Chris Shimer)

Helen Schneider Coons turned 5821 East New York Street into a duplex after the death of her husband in 1926. In this photograph, snapped in 1950, you can see that the home has been clad in asphalt siding and had a newer front porch. (photo courtesy of Don Rouse)

5821 East New York Street has been changed many times since 1910. Currently, the asphalt siding has been removed and building permits are in the window. (November, 2023)

The Coons family resided in 5821 East New York Street from 1918 until 1966. They posed for this photograph in 1920. Top Row: Anna, Ruth, Katherine, Elmer, Forest; Seated: Paul, Esther, Helen, and Carl. One son, Clarence, had already died. (photo courtesy of Don Rouse) 

     I wish to thank Don Rouse and Steve Barnett for their help with this post. It is possible that the house might have been moved onto the lot in 1910 as the architectural style reflects an earlier era. More research is needed. 

Sources:  Katherine Coons and the Indianapolis Follies--Indianapolis Times, June 7, 1; Paul Coons and the bike race--Indianapolis Star, September 4, 1931; Helen Coons--building permit--Indianapolis Star, August 29, 1929, 19; For rent ad--Indianapolis Star, September 26, 1926, 25; Polk's Indianapolis City Directories 1909-1966; Research by Steve Barnett at the Irvington Historical Society; Don Rouse, the great grandson of Elmer and Helen Coons. 

Police Accident Along South Emerson in 1945

William and Orpha Lawson were the first family to call the modest bungalow at 156 South Emerson Avenue "home." They had lived in the residence since 1928 along with their only child, Gerald.  The house located just two lots north of the Pennsylvania Railroad would be an apt place for the family to live as Mr. Lawson served as a conductor for that rail line. On a cool evening on November 30, 1945, the Lawson home became the scene of an accident involving a police car. It must have been a minor accident as there was no write-up in any of the Indianapolis newspapers and the photograph from that evening shows little damage to squad car 33.  Were the Lawsons home at the time?  Their dwelling is barely visible in the darkness that had descended upon the neighborhood.

In researching this accident and trying to uncover morsels about the Lawsons, I found a rather remarkable story. Gerald or Jerry Lawson, the only child of William and Orpha Lawson, graduated from Shortridge High School. The handsome young man lived with his parents on Emerson Avenue and eventually met a stunningly beautiful local Shortridge graduate named Priscilla Shortridge. He quickly discovered that the high school had been named for her grandfather although her father, Elmer Shortridge, was a foreman for a local railroad. The couple married on March 6, 1932, at the Englewood Christian Church. She was 18 and he was 25. Nothing in this story so far is unusual, but everything changed on September 24, 1933, when Jerry died of pneumonia. His nineteen-year-old widow signed his death certificate.

Priscilla Shortridge Lawson packed her bags and with her own mother in tow traveled to Miami Beach, Florida where she entered a beauty contest. It is unknown whether the Miss Miami Beach promoters knew that Priscilla Lawson had been married, but she won the contest. Soon, she and her Mother were off to Hollywood, California. Several Hollywood casting agents noticed her beauty and she received several smaller parts including as Princess Aura in Rocket Ship (1936).  Censors demanded that the directors reshoot some of her scenes in the film due to her skimpy costumes. The entire time she remained in Hollywood she was known Miss Priscilla Lawson even after she married actor, Alan Curtis. None of her Hollywood biographies ever mention how she acquired the name Lawson and poor Jerry seems to have vanished in history.

And while Priscilla Lawson appears to have never mentioned her first husband again, nearly every year after his death, William and Orpha Lawson published tributes to their deceased son in the Indianapolis News.  By the time of the fender bender in the photograph below, Miss Lawson's career was over and her former in-laws prepared for retirement.

A damaged police car parked in front of 156 South Emerson Avenue on a dark night on November 30, 1945 (photo courtesy of Patrick Pearsey and the Indianapolis Long Ago Facebook Page)

156 South Emerson Avenue in 2018: It was built in 1928 for William and Orpha Lawson.

Gerald Lawson, the son of William and Orpha Lawson (156 S. Emerson Avenue) died tragically young leaving a young widow.  (source: Indianapolis News, September 26, 1933)

Priscilla Shortridge married Gerald Lawson in 1932 at age 18. She was a widow by age 19. She eventually won a beauty contest and received several acting roles in Hollywood films in the 1930s and early 1940s. She died in 1958 at the age of 44. (source:  Indianapolis Star, December 19, 1937)