Doan Family Arrives in 1892

Twenty years after its founding in 1870, Irvington still had hundreds of lots available to would-be investors or future residents. The independent community had many features that attracted folks including Butler College and the strict covenants regarding alcohol, factories, and slaughterhouses. It would be the perfect place for the newly-married Wilson and Myra Holbrook Doan in 1892.

Mr. Doan was a rising star as an attorney in the city and as an active member with both the Republican and later the Prohibition Party.  An Indianapolis Journal article revealed that the construction on a brand new home for the couple began in March of 1892 on Elm (later Irvington) Avenue. Mr. Doan must have been earning a comfortable living by that time as his two-and-a-half story residence stood amidst at least four lots owned by him. We do not know the name of the builder or if there was an architect, but the Upright-and-Wing home used to have a long front porch and the entire residence reflected the popular Queen Anne style of the time. The couple would have three children although only two would survive into adulthood. The Doans, who were strictly in favor of temperance, were likely attracted to Irvington for many reasons including the fact that it was a dry community.

 The first child to be born to the Doans was Florence in 1893 followed by Marcia in 1894. In 1896, the couple welcomed Dorothy but she she died on March 18, 1899, of "brain congestion." Her funeral was held in the home on March 21. Shortly after her funeral, the couple received a shock when an intruder snuck into their home at two in the morning on April 4, 1899. Awakened by a sound, Mr. Doan noticed a man creeping towards his bed. He leapt at him and the burglar fled the scene with Mr. Doan's wallet containing three dollars. Several other homes were hit that night.

By all accounts, the Doan children enjoyed their childhood along Irvington Avenue. They certainly witnessed many changes. In an unpublished history, Florence recalled that Irvington Avenue used to be gas-lit and that Italians paved the street with bricks. She also witnessed the construction of many houses along the avenue. Photos from the early twentieth century, show that the children enjoyed their time outdoors. Both girls went to Shortridge High School as the Doans valued education.

Meanwhile, while Mrs. Doan was heavily involved in clubs and in the First Friends Meeting House, Mr. Doan began to get actively involved in politics. In 1900, he withdrew from the Republican Party and publicly announced his support for the Prohibition Party. His involvement grew in that new party so much so that when he gave the opening speech at the party's national convention in 1904 at Tomilinson Hall in Indianapolis, people in the audience began to shout "Vice President." His oration on that summer day likely inspired other like-minded Prohibitionists. Curiously, they held up Abraham Lincoln as their role model. In fact, Mr. Doan spoke in front of a giant portrait of the sixteenth President to over 1200 enthusiastic delegates. His entire speech was printed in the Indianapolis News. About his city, he boasted: "We are proud of our sober, industrious, and manly citizens." Another interesting quote came in the middle of the speech when he said, "Lincoln had a vision for his country that there should be no slaves and no drunkards." He received thundering applause throughout his oration.

Society clips in the Indianapolis newspapers reveal that Mrs. Doan frequently hosted the Irvington Woman's Club. In 1913, the topic for the members included "Napoleon and his wife Josephine." In 1927, the club's topic was more political as Mrs. Doan gave a presentation about whether women should serve on juries. Mr. Doan was a prolific writer and frequently contributed to local Quaker journals. He also published a book called Bush River about the westward expansion of the Quakers who opposed slavery.

Tragedy struck the family in the summer of 1921 when both Doan girls along with their cousins were involved in a horrific accident in Greenfield. Marcia Doan, who had just purchased a new automobile, had offered to drive the group to Richmond for the yearly meeting of the Friends. When they arrived in Greenfield, there was a detour that took the group over the traction tracks. Marcia likely panicked as she didn't see the trolley and her new car died on the tracks. She was killed and the rest of the riders suffered some terrible injuries although they survived.

Mr. and Mrs. Doan continued to reside in the large house even after Florence married and moved out. After Mr. Doan's death, Florence worried about her mother living in the house all by herself and she along with her husband moved into the home. While their residence has had several owners since then, their home remains intact and still has most of its 1890s features.

Members of the Doan family posed on their front porch at 47 North Irvington Avenue c1910
(photo courtesy of Jim and Ann Brown; Indiana Album)

Florence Doan, who had a cast on her arm, sits with her sister, Marcia in wagon along the sidewalk in front of 47 North Irvington Avenue c1903. We do not know the name of the young girl standing next to the wagon. (photo courtesy of Jim and Ann Brown; Indiana Album)

The Doan sisters along with an unidentified boy rode in a carriage next to their home at 47 North Irvington Avenue c1904. (photo courtesy of Jim and Ann Brown; Indiana Album)

Marcia Doan, on the right, dressed in boy's clothes, posed in front of her childhood home at 47 North Irvington Avenue c1904. We do not know the name of the child on the left. 

The Doan sisters posed on a swing with Telford Orbison in their front yard at 47 North Irvington Avenue in June of 1903. Behind the kids, you can see the curve of Irvington Avenue as it winds towards Washington Street. The man in the photo was most likely Charles Orbison, a law partner and future neighbor to Mr, Doan. (photo courtesy of Jim and Ann Brown; Indiana Album)

Wilson Doan, a prominent attorney, sat on a bench next to his house at 47 North Irvington Avenue c1904. He and his wife Myra Holbrook Doan had the house built in 1892. 

Florence and Marcia Doan posed with an unidentified boy on their front porch at 47 North Irvington Avenue c1903. (photo courtesy of Jim and Ann Brown; Indiana Album)

Marcia and Florence Doan posed on a bench with a young girl in their front yard at 47 North Irvington Avenue in May 1903.  Note that there are no houses across the street! (photo courtesy of Jim and Ann Brown; Indiana Album)

The Doan sisters hosted a croquet match in their side yard at 47 North Irvington Avenue in June of 1903. (photo courtesy of Jim and Ann Brown; Indiana Album)

One of the Doan children posed on her bike next to the family home at 47 North Irvington Avenue c1904. (photo courtesy of Jim and Ann Brown; Indiana Album)

The Doan sisters in the front of line posed with other children in their side yard at 47 North Irvington Avenue c1904. (photo courtesy of Jim and Ann Brown; Indiana Album)

All four members of the Doan family posed with their dog at the rear of 47 North Irvington Avenue c1910. (photo courtesy of Jim and Ann Brown; Indiana Album)

The Doan sisters, on the right, posed with other children on their front porch at 47 North Irvington Avenue c1904. (photo courtesy of Jim and Ann Brown; Indiana Album)

Marcia Doan posed with "Ralph" in front of her home at 47 North Irvington Avenue c1907. The Orbison home at 51 North Irvington Avenue can be seen behind the children as well. (photo courtesy of Jim and Ann Brown; Indiana Album)

Florence Doan posed next to her home at 47 North Irvington Avenue c1904. Perhaps it was the first day of school. (photo courtesy of Jim and Ann Brown; Indiana Album)

Marcia or Florence Doan posed on a bike next to her home at 47 North Irvington Avenue c1904.

The Doan sisters and some friends had fun in the snow in the lots north of their home at 47 North Irvington Avenue in the winter of 1904. (photo courtesy of Jim and Ann Brown; Indiana Album)

The ghostly and snowy image of 47 North Irvington Avenue c1904: Note the windmill visible behind the residence. (photo courtesy of Jim and Ann Brown; Indiana Album)

Wilson and Myra Holbrook Doan in 1918. (photo courtesy of Jim and Ann Brown; Indiana Album)

47 North Irvington Avenue in the winter of 2020

I wish to thank Jim and Ann Brown for their hospitality and information about 47 North Irvington Avenue. The Browns recently participated in a scan-a-thon for the Indiana Album, a digital museum dedicated to capturing images of Indiana. For more information on the Indiana Album, click on the link below. 

https://indianaalbum.pastperfectonline.com/randomimages

Sources:  Late nineteenth-century information:  "Suburban Notes," Indianapolis Journal, March 17, 1892, 6; "Burglars in Irvington," Indianapolis News, April 5, 1899, 8; Early twentieth-century information: "Joins Prohibitionists," Indianapolis News, September 29, 1900, 6; "One Cheering Mass of Prohibitionists," Indianapolis News, January 29, 1904, 1; Accident--"Traction Car Crashes into Automobile," Greenfield Daily Republican, July 25, 1921, 1; Obituaries:  "Services Are Held for Wilson S. Doan, Well-Known Friend," Richmond Palladian-Item, April 29, 1930, 12; "Mrs. Myra H. Doan," Indianapolis Star, July 31, 1958, 13; Unpublished history of Florence Doan Power posted on the Indiana Album (see above link).

Irvington Tragedy--1953

Not all was right in the formerly fashionable home at 5316 East Washington Street. Dr. Harold Bailey Cox and his third wife, Halene (sometimes spelled Helene) Wilson Cox, had been living in the stuccoed Mission-Revival American Four Square since their marriage in 1937. The couple welcomed Nedra Lucretia Cox into their lives in 1940. The home was perfect for Dr. Cox's family medical practice as patients could meet him downstairs while the family lived upstairs.

By 1953, Dr. Cox was seeing few patients as he was ailing. The sixty-eight-year-old physician was also dealing with another kind of sickness, the mental illness of his forty-year-old wife. Neighbors had noticed that the family had become quite reclusive. Few people ever went to the house and delivery men were asked to place parcels on the front porch. Then, on March 18, 1953, while working in his garage, Dr. Cox suffered a fatal heart attack. Halene Wilson Cox who seldom left her home, found her husband in the garage and dragged his body to the front porch. She then phoned a friend who was a physician, to check on Dr. Cox, but it was too late. While authorities found the scenario odd, no one was charged as he had clearly died of natural causes.

For the next eight months, conditions deteriorated in the Cox household.  Fourteen-year-old Nedra, who was supposed to be attending Arsenal Technical High School, failed to enroll. She remained inside the house although friends did say that over the summer of 1953 she showed up at Ellenberger Park. Few ever saw the mother-daughter team outside again. Over the years, Mrs. Cox had become a hoarder and her home was filled with refuse, boxes, and disorder. No one was ever allowed to come in. Worried about their daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Hal Wilson of 569 Middle Drive Woodruff Place, stopped by on Sunday, November 1, 1953, but Mrs. Cox refused to allow them into the home. Nedra  spoke to her grandparents through a peep hole in the front door.

At 1:05AM the next day, Harold Hunt, of Greenfield, Indiana was driving eastbound on Washington Street when he noticed flames shooting out of a downstairs living room window at 5316 East Washington Street. He then saw Mrs. Cox screaming from a second floor bedroom window. Mr. Hunt phoned the fire department and Irvington firemen rushed to the scene.  While the first floor was engulfed in flames, the second floor was filled with smoke. Fireman, Errol Evans, climbed up a ladder and found Mrs. Cox slumped over the headboard of a bed. He managed to get her down with help from three other firemen named Arthur Lynn, William Gearns, and John Thompson. Then, the fireman found Nedra Cox on a bed and they brought her down as well.

Both women were carried next door and wrapped in blankets and given oxygen; however, it became apparent that both had been shot. Detectives rushed to the scene and found a house in chaos. As the last of the embers burned, detectives in the house noticed trash and even a decaying cat corpse inside the wrecked residence. Dr. Bailey had been a gun enthusiast and had given his daughter a .22 caliber pistol as a present before his death. Nedra apparently used the gun to shoot both her mother and herself.  Mrs. Cox had been shot in the chest and had been burned on her back although strangely her clothes were not burned. She must have changed before the firemen arrived.

Detectives had a hard time sorting through the strange story. Mrs. Cox was coherent and managed to tell investigators that Nedra had accidentally shot her and then killed herself. The next day the story was captured in lurid headlines in newspapers all over the state. Both the Indianapolis Star and Indianapolis News seemed obsessed with Nedra's appearance and behavior. They called her "exotic" and "sultry." Reporters noted that she had worn bikinis in the summer and had grown immensely long fingernails. They seemed to have overlooked the major plot that a fourteen-year-old girl was trapped in a home with a mother who was clearly mentally ill. In the end, the county coroner ruled that Nedra had indeed shot her mother and then killed herself, but why did Mrs. Cox have burn marks on her back when the fire was on the first floor and she was on the second floor? Did she try to escape but then realized that she could not get out? Some aspects of this story will never be known.

Mrs. Cox eventually moved in with her parents in Woodruff Place. Sadly, she killed herself on July 8, 1954. The Cox home was torn down shortly after the fire and in 2019, the site serves as a parking lot for a medical facility.

Dr. Harold B. and Halene Cox along with their daughter, Nedra, resided at 5316 East Washington Street. Fourteen-year-old Nedra shot her mother and then herself. It is not known which of the women set the fire on the first floor. If you look closely, you can see Dr. Bailey's physician sign hanging on the front porch. He died eight months before the fire. (Image courtesy of Patrick Pearsey)

A fireman combs through a messy second-story bedroom. The house at 5316 East Washington Street was in complete disarray when the department arrived on the scene. Mrs. Cox appears to have been a hoarder and suffered from mental illness. (Image courtesy of Patrick Pearsey)

Nedra Lucretia Cox was fourteen years when she fired a shot at her mother and then took her own life. Local newspapers focused on her attire and looks. (Image courtesy of the Indianapolis Star, November 3, 1953)

A special thanks to Patrick Pearsey, who chronicles the history of the Indianapolis Police Department, for the images and links to the stories about the Cox tragedy. 

Sources: "Girl Set Fire to House, Shot to 'Escape?'" Columbus Republic, November 3, 1953, 1; "Exotic Irvington Girl Shot Mom, Committee Suicide, Police Theorize," Indianapolis Star, November 3, 1953, 1;  "Tests Hint Slain Girl Shot Recluse Mother," Indianapolis Star, November 4, 1953, 13; "Widow of Doctor Takes Own Life," Terre Haute Tribune, July 8, 1954, 2. "Dr. Harold B. Cox Found Dead in Garage at Home," Indianapolis Star, March 20, 1953, 9; "Dr Cox Wins Shoot with Perfect Score," Indianapolis Star, June 9, 1940, 38.