Brown's Hill Was a Popular Sledding Site

     Newspaper publisher Hilton U. Brown and his wife Jennie Hannah Brown purchased five acres of land on the southwest corner of East Washington Street and Emerson Avenue in 1891 for $3500. Mr. Brown first heard about the opportunity from an Irvington realtor named Charles W. Brouse. The property came complete with a pioneer farmhouse previously owned by the Weesner and White families. Mr. Brown demolished that residence but used the hewn walnut and oak timbers for a barn that an Englishman named Hector Fuller constructed on the site. The Browns erected a large home on the site using boulders from the nearby Pleasant Run stream. The couple raised their ten children on the expansive grounds complete with an orchard and an ice house built into the hill near the stream. 

     Soon after the home was finished, the Browns allowed local children to sled down the hill. Mr. Brown did have rules for the children. They were not to quarrel nor to throw snowballs. Over the decades thousands of local children flocked to the site. Jean Brown Wagoner, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Brown and an author, noted in one of her newspaper columns that, "It made a fellow suck in his breath and then let out a yell as he started down." With the arrival of spring, the Browns frequently had to reseed the hill to keep it from being a muddy mess. 

    Over time, the Brown children moved out. Mrs. Brown died first, but Mr. Brown lived on until the age of 99. He passed away on September 20, 1958. His family sold the property to the Washington and Emerson Corporation shortly after his death. Several people in the neighborhood wondered what would become of the grand old place. Grace Booth Bay, in an Indianapolis News newspaper article, called for the home to be a senior home. She had grown up near the residence and remembered the boulders being put into place. Others hoped it would be turned into a museum. Some thought it might become a funeral home. On May 15, 1959, vandals broke into the empty house and broke windows, tore off a fireplace mantel, and littered the house with material they snatched from desk drawers. 

     Without public input, the community likely reacted with shock on June 24, 1959, as a crew began to demolish the beautiful home. The hill, however, remained for another ten years. Sledders continued to fly down the slope. Then, despite public opposition, including from Mayor Richard Lugar, the Indianapolis Board of Zoning Appeals (Division 2) allowed Howard Fieber, the President of Washington and Emerson Corporation, to flatten Brown's Hill for a filling station.  Today, the laughter and thrills from that incline linger on in memories and in photographs like those below. 

The Widner brothers, who lived on Farrington Avenue, enjoyed a slide down Brown's Hill c1962. Across the street, you can see the Forsyth family home at 15 South Emerson Avenue. William Forsyth was a renown-impressionistic artist. He purchased the house in 1908 from the Parker family, who predated the foundation of Irvington. Developers razed that home in 1966 or 1967 for a filling station. You can also see the double located at 25-27 South Emerson Avenue and the cottage next door at 29 South Emerson Avenue. (photo courtesy of Estate of Frank N. Widner)

This view of Brown's Hill was snapped in 1962 from the Forsyth property at 15 South Emerson Avenue. The Brown mansion had already been torn down, but the hill still existed on the southwest corner of East Washington Street and Emerson Avenue. It was later flattened for a filling station. (photo courtesy of Susan Forsyth Selby Sklar Collection at the Irvington Historical Society)

Hilton U. and Jennie Hannah Brown built their stunning home at 5087 East Washington Street on a hill in 1892 at the southwest corner of Washington and Emerson Avenue. It was demolished in 1959 and the hill was removed in 1969 for a filling station. This photo shows the home in a publication celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the neighborhood in 1912. (image courtesy of the Irvington Historical Society)

Robert Selby, the son-in-law of William and Alice Forsyth, painted this image of Brown's Hill. You can also see the Brown home in the painting. (photo courtesy of Irvington Historical Society) 

     I would like to thank members of the Widner family and Susan Forsyth Selby Sklar for their incredible photographs and Paula Schmidt, the archivist at the Irvington Historical Society. 

Sources:  Information about the construction of the Brown home and the rules for sledding on Brown's Hill--Hilton U. Brown, A Book of Memories, Old Swimmin' Hole Press, Greenfield, IN, pp 278-288; Jean Brown Wagoner, "Downhill All the Way," Indianapolis News, December 23, 1975, 13; Last years of the Brown home and hill--"Hilton U. Brown Home Sold, Indianapolis News, March 31, 1959, 15; Wayne Guthrie, "When Mary's Marry, It's a Grand Mix-up," Indianapolis News, April 15, 1959, 13; "Hilton U. Brown Home Entered by Vandals," Indianapolis Star, May 16, 1959, 4; "Landmark Passes," Indianapolis News, June 24, 1959, 23; Art Harris, "Brown's Snowy Hill May Lose its Slide," Indianapolis News, October 12, 1968, 1;  Wayne Guthrie, "Efforts to Save the Hill Laudable," Indianapolis News, February 6, 1969; "Saving Brown's Hill," Indianapolis News, April 21, 1969, 6; Letter to Editor, Mary Elizabeth Ramier, "Disenfranchised," Indianapolis News, June 9, 1969, 9; Information William Forsyth family--Rachel Berenson Perry, William J. Forsyth: The Life and Work of an Indiana Artist, Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2014. 

215 South Butler Avenue Then and Now

With its ideal location across from the Butler University campus, the Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority moved into this new dwelling at 215 South Butler Avenue in 1923. It is not known at this time whether the house was built for the organization or on speculation, but the young women lived in the house until Butler moved out of Irvington in 1928. Clarence C. and Hester Finch lived in the home for a year until 1930 when Henry Schwimmer, an electrician, and his wife Rose moved in and stayed until 1933.

Beginning in 1934, Clifford E. Wagoner, an insurance agent, and his wife Jean Brown Wagoner moved in and remained in the home until the 1980s. Mrs. Wagoner received national attention as a children's book biographer. She also became a beloved figure in the neighborhood reminding children that it was "going to be a good day!" (Interview with Sherri Wood Emmons, a former resident of 234 South Butler) You may learn more about her by clicking on the Wagoner Family link below.

The historic photos show the home shortly after it was completed in 1923. Members of the Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority pose both inside and outside of their home. Note the beautiful woodwork, wall sconces, and interesting staircase. The historic images are courtesy of Amy Friedly. The contemporary image was shot in the autumn of 2011.

Jean Brown Wagoner--Noted Irvington Author

Jean Brown Wagoner (1896-1996), the daughter of Hilton U. and Jennie Brown, grew up in the Brown mansion at the southwest corner of East Washington Street and Emerson Avenue. Her storied childhood was documented in 1980 and 1981 when she was interviewed by Lois Lemon at the then called Hilton U. Brown Library in Irvington. The tape and transcript of the interview may now be heard or read online in the digital collections of the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library website.

One of ten children and a twin, Ms. Wagoner was a highly creative child who could recall playing in the Pleasant Run stream, sledding down her family's hill along with every other neighborhood child, and running through the family's orchard and lush gardens in the summers and autumns of her youth.

She attended School 57, Shortridge High School, and eventually graduated from Butler University, where her father was a member of the Board of Directors. She tried her hand at teaching and as a clerk for the Marion County Probate Court. In 1925, she married Clifford E. Wagoner. Her sister Jessica, an editor for the Bobbs-Merrill Printing Company in Indianapolis, encouraged Ms. Wagoner to write.

In 1943, Bobbs-Merrill published her first book, Louisa Alcott, Girl of Old Boston. It was the first of eight biographies written for children. Her books sold well to school libraries all over the country. She mainly wrote profiles of famous young women, but in the 1950s she deviated from her successful genre by writing biblical biographies for young people. Her books are still highly sought out today and many are still checked out from libraries all across the country. Other books by Ms. Wagoner include: Jane Addams, Little Lame Girl (1944); Martha Washington, Girl of Old Virginia (1947); Abigail Adams, A Girl of Colonial Days (1949); The Shepherd Lad, A Story of David of Bethlehem (1953); The Captive Lad, The Story of Daniel, the Lionhearted (1954); Jessie Fremont, A Girl of Capitol Hill (1960); and Julia Ward Howe, Girl of Old New York (1962).

The historic image shows Ms. Wagoner (upper far left) sitting on her son's (Philip Wagoner) front porch with numerous neighborhood children, including her own grandchildren at 221 South Butler Avenue. She dwelled next door at 215 South Butler Avenue. Several of John and Anna Cannaday's children from 223 South Butler and the Wood children from 234 South Butler pose with "Gray Granny" as the neighborhood affectionally called her. Ms. Wagoner's daughter-in-law, Mary, may be seen (upper right) holding one of the Wagoner children.

Sherri Wood Emmons, now an author herself (Prayers and Lies-2011), is in the front row and next to her sisters. The photo was likely taken in 1963 and perfectly captures Ms. Wagoner's love of children. Ms. Emmons reports that Ms. Wagoner frequently hosted teas for the young ladies along the avenue and used real silver. She was a highly creative person and turned a fallen tree into a pirate ship for the neighborhood children to play on and pretend. Ms.Emmons recalled that on each birthday, Ms. Wagoner gave her one of her books.

To learn more about Jean Brown Wagoner be sure to visit the public library's website and listen to her interviews. She tells much about the early history of Irvington. The historic image is courtesy of Sherri Wood Emmons. The contemporary photos show the same house today at 221 South Butler Avenue and Ms. Wagoner's home at 215 South Butler Avenue.

http://www.digitalindy.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/ioh/id/2020/rec/75