Hidden Indy: The Catacombs Beneath Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church
Topic: Hoosier Oddities | Indianapolis Living
Posted: Mon, Jan 10, 2005 
Back in the early nineties, my friend Dennis Williams was a Franciscan friar. We met doing volunteer work, and once we were working on a fundraiser together and we needed folding chairs. Dennis asked the staff of Sacred Heart of Jesus Church (one of the oldest and the only Franciscan church in Indy) if they would donate the use of some chairs for the fundraiser. Dennis didn't mention until we were in the church that we were going down into the catacombs beneath to retrieve them.
We took one set of stairs into a basement area, and then another set of stairs further down, into a series of tunnels cut into the rock and dirt that wind around underneath the church. Dennis knew where he was going, but I quickly lost my bearings and would have been in trouble if I didn't have a guide.
The tunnels were musty and creepy, even more so because tucked into nooks and crannies in the tunnels were statuary from the church, antique furniture, old church pews, and the gaudily painted equipment for their bingo/casino nights. Dennis claimed that there were tombs in the catacombs, but I'm not sure if that was true, or if he was only saying that to creep me out.
We eventually found the cache of wooden folding chairs and made our way out, and none too soon for me. I purposely chose not to volunteer to return the chairs.
PLEASE NOTE: I was in the catacombs with permission, and this was over ten years ago! Since that time the church has had a catastrophic fire and restoration, so it's possible that the catacombs don't exist or are empty. Please don't get it into your head to go and visit.
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Comments
1. Feb 20, 06 12:09 AM | john d. wilson said:
i live in indianapolis, i'm hunting for a lost tunnel from the old stout field army base over to kentucky ave. built during world war 11, i'm hunting for the entrance/exit located off kentucky av., any help you can give me?
thank you
john
2. Feb 20, 06 10:07 AM | Steph Mineart said:
Wow, I haven't heard of that, but I'm intrigued. If you find it, will you let us know?
3. Feb 20, 06 06:25 PM | Norm said:
Stout Field had a lot of uses over the years ... but none of them suggest a need for a tunnel. What was it supposedly to be used for?
Geology wise ... the area would be pretty poor for a tunnel and if it were still there ... it would be full of water.
Stout Field is located west of Holt Road, north and south of Minnesota Street in west Indianapolis. Established in 1926, the airport was one of twelve stops along an early transcontinental route from New York to Los Angeles. The site was alternately known as Cox Field, Mars Hill Airport, the National Flying Field, and the Indianapolis National Guard Airport. The airport was officially named for Richard H. Stout, a decorated veteran of World War I.
4. Feb 21, 06 07:57 AM | Steph Mineart said:
I gotta get me one of them Encyclopedias of Indianapolis so I can be as smart as Norm. :-)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0253312221/
Seriously, though, Norm, you rock.
5. Feb 21, 06 09:11 AM | Norm said:
Hmmm ... Thanks Steph ... I think! :-) Looks like an interesting book ... you might save a few bucks on the new price at:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=493135
It's amazing the amount of trivia you can run across tracking down one little fact. I think I'd want my copy in electronic form ... easier to search and paste into messages! :-)
6. Feb 22, 06 08:54 PM | Norm said:
Looking at the air photo it is nearly a mile from the close (east) end of Stout Field to Kentucky Avenue ... you'd think they would have had a real good reason to build it ... and it would have had to of passed well below Mars Hill. I considered it might have been used for drainage, but that seems to have been taken care of with a ditch to the west. Doesn't seem likely that there was a tunnel.
7. May 30, 10 01:08 AM | Darcman said:
How & wut sites can i use to find the kind of info you guys acquired.Wut research do i hafta do.
I have a well in my backyard off 1800 s. madison ave.which was told to me was a tunnel that leads to downtown.
Can ya help me???
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12. Mar 29, 12 08:23 AM | Edgars F said:
Saint Peter and Paul Cathedral has catacombs too as well as complete maze crypt under the Church. The Crypt holds the original Bishops assigned to the then new Indianapolis parish when Cathedral was built. Its a complete maze crypt you need a map when you go down their else you get lost. Beyond the crypt though. There are doorways to the miles of passage ways (catacombs) that run under that part of Indianapolis. Even up to War Memorial and part there of! How do I know this? I had family that served as Alter boys when Cathedral had a grade school back in the 50s.
What are the Catacombs? They are the old Coal Service tunnels from the late 1800s and early 1900 back when buildings heated on coal fed boilers. Instead of lugging that coal building to building above ground. They'd use coal carts and move it building it building through the catacombs. Most of the Old Catacombs disappear with new construction downtown. But you can still find the remaining ones when you know where to look for the entrances.
13. Mar 29, 12 08:34 AM | Edgars F said:
When you go into St.Peter and Paul's Cathedral and your facing the Altar. The entrance to the crypt is on your left (North Wall) there is doorway running to back of the altar. In this hallway there is a iron gate now door often locked. This is will take you down into the crypt. Back in the 50s and 60s the Priests every so often when take the alter boys down there and change the eternal candles on some of tombs and a short mass said for bishops in rest there.