Penny Postcards from Marion County, Indiana

Excellent! I love old postcards and always enjoy seeing former scenes from Indy.

"Some of the really fun ones are of Broadripple Park, which used to contain an amusement park and miniature "White City" like Chicago's World's Fair, and Garfield Park, which had a small Zoo, complete with bear cages."

I thought Broad Ripple was actually called White City. At least that is what the plaque by the merry-go-round in the Children's Museum says.

That's a good question, Keith. I'll have to look up some more info, because I have a vague recollection of reading that Broadripple's "White City" was just part of the park. But of course, I'm not an expert at all.

The IHS has a portion of the Indiana Jay Small collection digitzed, which you can search through here:
http://www.indianahistory.org/library/digital_image/digitalpics.html

My mom thinks the Pythian building is still there. Can't picture it in today's skyline, myself -- I'll have to look the next time I'm downtown...

The building is gone.

http://www.b-levi.com/research/arch/jfalexander/pythian.php

Oh, bummer. Wouldn't it be great if some builder was enterprising and willing enough to find those old plans, and use them to work up blueprints for a new building? We have some hideous creations downtown; something like this would be an improvement to our skyline, IMHO.

It appears the last builder had a little different interpretation of the space. They cut Massachusetts Avenue off at Delaware Street and made the block square instead of triangular ... and built a big new bank there in what was the middle of Massachusetts Avenue.

http://indianasoils.com/images/indianapolis.JPG

I'm sure that if the Louvre were built in the states we would tear it down and build a strip mall in its place. In this effort to make everything bigger and better, are we erasing great historical buildings? ...or maybe it really was a shoddy old building and what is there now really is better?

Yes, we replaced the beautiful pythias building with one of the most unoriginal skyscrapers that I have ever seen.

I am the Director of Garfield Park's new Arts Center. I would like to make an enlarged copy of the Garfield Park Postcard with the Bear Cages.

The new Arts Center at Garfield Park is hosting an exhibit called "Garfield Park We Remember" in December. Please contact me at 317.327.7066, so we can arrange a way to copy and enlarge that.

THANKS!

I am the Director of Garfield Park's new Arts Center. I would like to make an enlarged copy of the Garfield Park Postcard with the Bear Cages.

The new Arts Center at Garfield Park is hosting an exhibit called "Garfield Park We Remember" in December. Please contact me at 317.327.7066, so we can arrange a way to copy and enlarge that.

THANKS!

The first time my wife came to Indy with me, in '98 or '99 I guess, the downtown light pole banner of the week was "Indianapolis, Incredibly Always New!". "Is that supposed to be a good thing?" she asked, dismayed. The only thing I could say was "In Indianapolis, yes".

Remembering Jay Small, of Indiana,
I used to purchase paper items, books, and etc. from Jay Small. He always was a fair & honest person to deal with,
and it was my pleasure to have known
him.
Sonja Hammar