Mayor Richard Hatcher of Gary
Richard Gordon Hatcher was born on July 10, 1933 in Michigan City, Indiana. He grew up during the Great Depression as the twelfth of thirteen children. His family went on welfare after his father lost his job with the Pullman Car Company [1]. Despite encouragement from his teachers to pursue a career in the trades, Hatcher aspired to be a lawyer, indicative of his future career in political office and civil rights activism. In 1951, Hatcher attended Indiana University on an athletic scholarship, with financial assistance from his older sisters. Hatcher began his activism as an active member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), participating in protests against segregated restaurants while still in college [2]. He earned a law degree from Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana, and then moved to East Chicago, Indiana, to practice law. While there, he served as a deputy prosecutor for Lake County.
In 1962, Hatcher moved to Gary, Indiana, to pursue a career in politics and civil rights. He ran for city council in the 1963 Democratic primary and won due to the large African American support in the city. He was then chosen to be council president. While in office, he helped pass a law to “end restrictive property covenants that forced blacks to live primarily in Gary's midtown section" [3]. In 1967, Hatcher ran for mayor and led a campaign that promoted racial unity and promised to rid the city of corruption and poverty, specifically among African American individuals. In November of that year, he won the election with the support of 96 percent of African American voters and twelve percent of white voters. His election made him the first African American mayor in Indiana and one of the first African American mayors of a large American city. He was elected despite the Democratic Party supporting his Republican opponent Joseph Radigan [4]. His campaign was largely funded by donors like Senator Robert Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey [5]. He appealed to voters as a “young, intelligent, a reputable lawyer, and a capable city council member" [6]. In order to appease white voters, he appointed a white police chief to help create a crime-free city. Hatcher served as mayor for twenty years and then went on to serve as chairman of Jesse Jackson’s Democratic presidential campaign in 1984 and as vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee in the early 1980s [7].
During his five terms as mayor, Hatcher was able to fundraise millions of dollars in order to change the face of Gary, Indiana, adding new public housing units, repaving streets, and coordinating regular garbage collection for multiple inner-city neighborhoods [8]. In supporting African Americans in political leadership, he appointed twenty-five African Americans as governmental department heads. Unfortunately, Hatcher could not resolve every problem Gary had, including the sharp decline in the steel industry, which caused many hardships within Gary and surrounding communities. By the early 1980s, about 25,000 people were laid off at U.S. Steel. Businesses closed down and crime increased [9]. By 1987, when Hatcher left office, about 50,000 people had left Gary, including considerable numbers of white individuals who moved south to Merrillville, Indiana [10].
As mayor, Hatcher fought against race-based inequalities in Gary. Hatcher was part of the lawsuit to allow African Americans to visit Miller Beach, a neighborhood on the southern shore of Lake Michigan. Despite pushback and eventual failure, Hatcher pushed for the development of a bank for Gary’s African American community and more regulations on gun usage. Hatcher also supported accessible housing, founding the $1 house program that allowed residents to purchase a house if they were able to improve it. He also brought African American leaders across the United States to Gary through as part of the first National Black Political Convention [11].
Hatcher continued to be recognized as a powerful voice for civil rights and African American representation in office throughout his life. According to former Lake Country Surveyor George Van Til, Former President Barack Obama personally thanked Hatcher during the 2008 presidential primaries for letting him stand on his shoulders and supporting African Americans running for American leadership position [12]. During his final years, Hatcher and his family lived in Chicago, Illinois. Richard Hatcher passed away on December 13, 2019 at the age of 86. He is still remembered in the African American community as someone who “did the impossible,” in the words of Democratic Representative Charlie Brown of Gary.
<a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/235">Junifer Hall interview 4</a><br /><a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/237">Junifer Hall interview 5</a><br /><a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/239">Junifer Hall interview 6</a><br /><a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/236">Junifer Hall interview 7</a>
[1] Emma L. Thornborough, Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 2000, pp. 175.
[2] Ibid, pp. 176.
[3] Associated Press. “Richard Hatcher, one of 1st black mayors of major city, dead at 86.” NBC News, 2019. Accessed May 1, 2020. Accessed at https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/richard-hatcher-gary-indiana-one-1st-black-mayors-major-u-n1102311.
[4] Craig Lyons. “1967 Gary election a ‘history marker’ with Richard Hatcher as Indiana’s first African-American major.” Chicago Tribune, 2017. Accessed February 2, 2021. Accessed at https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/ct-ptb-richard-hatcher-profile-st-1029-20171028-story.html.
[5] David Rutter. “Rutter: Hatcher still pays his dues for unforgiven ‘sins.’” Chicago Tribune, 2016. Accessed on February 2, 2021. https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/opinion/ct-ptb-rutter-hatcher-st-0309-20160308-story.html
[6] Emma L. Thornborough, Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century. pp. 177.
[7] Associated Press.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid.
[10] David Rutter.
[11] Craig Lyons.
[12] Craig Lyons.
Student Authors: Emma Cieslik and Robin Johnson
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Richard Hatcher 1967, Public domain, via Wikimedia commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Richard_Hatcher_1967_(a).jpg
Reverend Julius James
Julius James was born in 1918 [1]. After serving in the U.S Army, James graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1952, and the Morehouse School of Religion in 1954 [2]. James was a close friend with fellow Morehouse classmate Martin Luther King, Jr. [3] Reverend James served as pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church and Zion Hill Baptist Church in Georgia, [4] before accepting the call to become the Pastor of St. John Baptist Church in Gary, Indiana in October 1955 [5]. From 1959 to 1960, James served as president of the Baptist Minister’s Conference in Gary [6]. He was also involved in labor movements in Gary, walking among the picketers in the 1959 Steel Strike and supplying meals to protestors [7].
Reverend James brought the Civil Rights movement to St. John Baptist Church by hosting meetings and planning sessions for civil rights organizations in the late 1950’s and early 1960s. He invited prominent African American leaders to speak, including Jesse Jackson and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. [8] His civil rights work in the community included serving as president of the Gary branch of the NAACP in the late 1950s [9]. James founded the “Gary Freedom Movement,” which coordinated economic boycotts of businesses that opposed civil rights legislation [10]. On posters, citizens were urged to “Sacrifice for Freedom in Gary. Don’t Buy Anything Anywhere for Easter. Wear Your Old Clothes for New Dignity. Boycott" [11]. In 1964, James organized a Christmas shopping boycott to protest businesses who opposed the Omnibus Civil Rights Bill [12].This organization later became the Gary Freedom Movement Council, and James served as chairman [13]. In the mid-1960s, he brought famous African Americans to the Gary for speaking engagements, including comedian and civil rights activist Dick Gregory, who encouraged 900 Gary residents to practice “selective shopping” at stores outside of Gary to protest continued racial injustice [14].
In recognition of his civil rights leadership, Reverend James was awarded the NAACP’s Mary White Ovington Award in 1964 for outstanding contributions to sustaining civil rights [15]. In March 1965, James bussed a group of congregants from St. John Baptist Church south to Atlanta to join the march from Selma to the state’s capital in Montgomery led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The protest march was in support of the supported the Voting Rights Act, prohibiting racial discrimination in voting. At home in Gary, James coordinated meetings between Dr. King and local Gary African American leaders. In 1966, Gary Mayor Richard Hatcher met Dr. King for the first time when Rev. James brought King to speak at St. John Baptist Church [16]. Dr. King spoke to 275 clergymen of various faiths at St. John Baptist Church, emphasizing interfaith solidarity [17].
Fair housing practices later became a focus of Reverend James’ activism. Under his leadership, St. John Baptist Church purchased a rundown housing complex at 22nd and Carolina Streets. Using government grants, the church remodeled the housing complex into the St. John Homes, which operated as one of the only viable non-profit housing developments in the U.S. until 1984 [18]. James founded the Fair Share Organization, focused on fair housing and employment practices, [19] with Cherrie White, secretary of the Gary NAACP, and Richard Gordon Hatcher, Gary’s first African America mayor [20].
Rev. James was inducted into the Steel City Hall of Fame in 1987, for making “broad, significant, and multiple contributions to the Gary community or to society at large" [21]. Rev. James died in 1994, after a lifetime dedicated to civil rights in Indiana and the nation [22].
[1] Correspondence from Julius James (Shiloh Baptist Church) to Martin Luther King, Jr, March 14, 1955. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. Accessed on February 5, 2021. https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/julius-james.
[2] Correspondence from Julius James, March 14, 1955.
[3] Becky Jacobs. “Man killed in Gary was great-grandson of pastor, civil rights activist.” Chicago Tribune, February 22, 2019. Accessed on February 5, 2021. https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/ct-ptb-julius-james-death-st-0213-story.html.
[4] Correspondence from Julius James, March 14, 1955.
[5] “Our Community.” St. John Baptist Church. Accessed on February 5, 2021. http://stjohnbcgary.com/community/
[6] Correspondence from Julius James, March 14, 1955.
[7] “Our Community.”
[8] “Our Community.”
[9] Correspondence from Julius James, March 14, 1955.
[10] James B. Lane. City of the Century: A History of Gary, Indiana. Indiana University Press, 1978, pp. 281.
[11] James H. Madison and Lee Ann Sandweiss. Chapter 11: Justice, Equality, and Democracy for All Hoosiers in Justice, Equality, and Democracy for All Hoosiers. http://indianahistory.org/wp-content/uploads/Hoosiers-and-the-American-Story-ch-11.pdf
[12] Becky Jacobs. “Man killed in Gary was great-grandson of pastor, civil rights activist.”
[13] “Gary woman heads Ind. Conference of NAACP.” Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 6 November 1965, pp. 12. Hoosier States Chronicles. Accessed February 5, 2021. https://newspapers.library.in.gov/cgi-bin/indiana?a=d&d=INR19651106-01.1.12&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------
[14] “Gregory Endorses Boycott.” Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 23 January 1965, pp. 6. Hoosier States Chronicles. Accessed February 5, 2021. https://newspapers.library.in.gov/cgi-bin/indiana?a=d&d=INR19650123-01.1.6&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------
[15] “Gary woman heads Ind. Conference of NAACP.”
[16] Joyce Russell. “Local residents recall the legacy of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the 50th anniversary of his death.” NWI.com. Accessed February 5, 2021. https://www.nwitimes.com/news/history/local-residents-recall-the-legacy-of-the-rev-martin-luther-king-jr-on-the-50th/article_9eb318e4-92e1-5fcd-b0a1-27058351c345.html
[17] Nancy Coltun Webster. “MILK’s life remembered as Northwest Indiana leaders continue to struggle.” Chicago Tribune, April 4, 2018. https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/ct-ptb-king-anniversary-indiana-st-0404-20180403-story.html
[18] “Our Community.”
[19] Correspondence from Julius James, March 14, 1955.
[20] Carmen M. Woodson-Wray and Gary Crusader. “After 103 years Cherrie White has truly had a productive life.” Crusader. Accessed on February 5, 2021. https://chicagocrusader.com/103-years-cherrie-white-truly-productive-life/ [21] “Steel City hall of Fame.” Gary Public Library. Accessed February 5, 2021. http://www.garypubliclibrary.org/steel-city-hall-of-fame/
[22] “Our Community.”
Student Author: Emma Cieslik
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Sacrifice: Join Rev. Martin Luther King, Indiana Historical Society.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/V0002/id/1148/rec/2
Pryor’s Country Place, Fox Lake
In the early 1900’s, African American families often lived in poverty as they were forced to move wherever labor jobs were available, living off very modest wages for exhausting, and often dangerous, work. This left families with little to no extra money for things like vacations or luxury goods. While the majority of African Americans in the early twentieth century lived in poverty conditions, a number of African Americans emerged as wealthy, influential members of society with disposable income. Despite this market, few white businessmen were willing to sell them goods or services. The growing demand for luxury amenities and attractions in the African-American community was soon filled by wealthy white investors, who began developing land targeted at this market. One example is Fox Lake, which was purchased and developed in the late 1920’s exclusively for use by African-Americans [1].
Built in 1927, Fox Lake included a dance hall, tennis courts, horseback riding trails, watersports, a bathhouse, piers, a barn and a small farmhouse, which was converted into a quaint hotel, Pryor’s Country Place, featured in the Green Book [2]. The Green Book was a 20th century motorist guide to establishments and towns that were safe for African-Americans to visit [3]. Pryor’s Country Place sites on five acres overlooking Fox Lake and is especially significant to the past and current owners of 32 Fox Lake cottages [4]. The cottages, nearly all of which were constructed before World War II, hold great historical and personal significance for the families who have been coming to Fox Lake for multiple generations. Pryor’s Country Place was a source of lively entertainment for wealthy individuals who owned vacation homes at Fox Lake [5],[6]. Pryor’s Country Place served as a getaway for African Americans of all walks of life, including teenagers, soldiers, famous athletes, even heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis. It offered these individuals and African American families a chance to escape from the racism that confronted them in their everyday lives and lines of work [7],[8].
Pryor’s Country Place has interesting historical connections to the past and present. For example, during prohibition, there was a still near the lakefront that manufactured liquor so Pryor’s Country Place could operate as a speakeasy [9]. Today, many residents of Fox Lake live in cottages that have been passed down through generations, including the prominent families of Freeman B. Ransom and Carl Wilson Sr., who is remembered by past and present residents as “the Father of Fox Lake" [10]. Wilson purchased the first plots of land available at Fox Lake and built three cottages, all overlooked by Pryor’s Country Place. He and his son, Carl Wilson Jr., continued to dedicate a large portion of their lives and wealth from Wilson Sr.’s successful exterminator business to the development of this “sanctuary of sorts for African Americans in the Midwest" [11]. Wilson Sr. played a major role in overseeing Fox Lakes’ development. He worked diligently throughout his life to shift power and ownership of Fox Lake primarily to African-Americans, effectively helping to organize the amenities like wells and trash pickup routes that the community still enjoys today [12].
The unique history of Pryor’s Country Place, and its historical and personal significance to the modern African American community in Fox Lake, supported its nomination to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001 [13]. Since then, however, Pryor’s Country Place has ended up on Indiana Landmarks’ list of “Indiana’s 10 Most Endangered” places twice. The first listing was in 2016, when the five-acre plot of land including Pryor’s Country Place went up for sale. Pryor’s Country Place is located in an area where developable premium lakeside property is becoming scarce, which worried members of the community [14]. In 2017, Indiana Landmarks placed it on their endangered list for a second time, with the intent to “identify a preservation-inclined buyer” in order to preserve its unique history [15].
[1] Mark S. Foster. “In the Face of “Jim Crow”: Prosperous Blacks and Vacations, Travel and Outdoor Leisure, 1890-1945,” Spring 1999. PDF accessed July 9, 2020 via JSTOR.
[2] “Fox Lake: Angola, Indiana,” National Register of Historic Places, 2002. Accessed July 9, 2020. https://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/afam/2002/foxlake.htm
[3] “Road Tripping in the Era of the Green Book,” Indiana Landmarks, March 10, 2017. Accessed July 9, 2020. https://www.indianalandmarks.org/2017/03/road-tripping-in-the-era-of-the-green-book/ [4] Darrin Wright. “Angola Building Among “Most Endangered” Landmarks,” May 2, 2017. Accessed July 9, 2020. https://www.wowo.com/angola-building-among-endangered-landmarks/
[5] “Fox Lake: Angola Indiana.”
[6] Angelica Robinson. “Hidden History: Fox Lake Grew from Era of Racism, Segregation,” February 12, 2018. Accessed July 9, 2020. https://www.wane.com/black-history-month/hidden-history-fox-lake-grew-from-era-of-racism-segregation/
[7] Ibid.
[8] “National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Fox Lake,” United States Department of the Interior National Park Service, March 6, 2001. Accessed July 9, 2020. https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/0c6b54b7-921f-4e4f-89c1-fa0f2eacaa13
[9] Ibid.
[10] Angelica Robinson.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Ibid.
[13] “Announcing Indiana’s 10 Most Endangered,” Indiana Landmarks, June 27, 2016. Accessed July 9, 2020. . https://www.indianalandmarks.org/2016/06/announcing-indianas-10-most-endangered/
[14] Ibid.
[15] “Pryor Country Place Returns to State 10 Most Endangered List,” KPC News Service, May 1, 2017. Accessed July 9, 2020. https://www.kpcnews.com/news/latest/heraldrepublican/article_09a978a1-454a-5a69-b7ad-4d041d3069f2.html
Student Authors: Joel Sharp and Emma Cieslik
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Pryor's Country Place, Angola, attributed to Indiana Landmarks, Public domain, via Flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/historic-landmarks-foundation-indiana/26631702516
<a href="https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fnpgallery.nps.gov%2FAssetDetail%2FNRIS%2F01000360&data=04%7C01%7Ctlhayes2%40bsu.edu%7Ca9ad6f224e4a4311ddae08d8c87acbdd%7C6fff909f07dc40da9e30fd7549c0f494%7C0%7C0%7C637479777153547548%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=qw9CYViDvGC6dh8XfMmdgZyf4H1725p%2F9pNsSFG1gag%3D&reserved=0">National Register of Historic Places</a>
Flanner Guild Settlement House
In 1898, the Charity Organization Society of Indianapolis established the Flanner Guild, a social service center dedicated to aiding Indianapolis’ African American population. The Guild originated as a center for black youth in the western part of Indianapolis as an attempt to create separate spaces for African American and white children. The guild was named after Frank W. Flanner, a white mortician from Indianapolis who offered the use of his land and cottage on Rhode Island Street to establish the “Negro Service Center" [1]. In Indianapolis specifically, racial prejudice and discrimination led to an absence of economic opportunity for the black community. The Flanner Guild’s solutions to the rise of unemployment and a lack of health care focused on “self-help” training and “the promotion of social, spiritual, moral and physical welfare of African Americans" [2]. The Flanner Guild social service program started in 1908, but lack of funding limited the abilities of the program. In the early 20th century, the Flanner Guild offered domestic training classes in millinery, sewing, and cooking [3]. Despite lack of funds, the Flanner Guild managed to care for unmarried mothers and their children in the Flanner Guild Rescue Home that opened in 1908 [4]. In 1909, the services of the Flanner Guild began to be recognized by the general public, and with the increase of donations, the Flanner Guild began to flourish. New programs emphaized children, including programs to prevent juvenile crime, boys’ and girls’ clubs, a day care nursery, and a Child Development Center [5].
Financial worry was further quelled in 1912, when Flanner Guild became affiliated with the Christian Women’s Board of Missions (CWBM). In the same year, Frank Flanner passed away, and the CWBM changed the name of the organization to Flanner House [6]. In 1918, Flanner House relocated to a series of buildings on north West Street, which allowed the organization to expand its services to help the Indianapolis black community in new ways [7]. Some of the new services included a settlement house for training domestic servants and providing more self-help training, as well as health programs and a tuberculosis clinic [8]. The clinic was especially helpful to the black community because diseases like tuberculosis were rampant in poor neighborhoods and African Americans were not welcome in white hospitals [9].
In 1935, Flanner House was rebranded as a non-profit organization by the newly appointed director, Cleo W. Blackburn [10]. Under the leadership of Blackburn, Flanner House managed to target key issues that were facing the black community at large. By 1944, the once small organization offered a large assortment of programs including social services, vocational aids, self-help services, and garden cultivation [11]. Flanner House did its best to fulfill any possible need the black community had. In 1950, Blackburn created Flanner House Homes, Inc., a housing project that provided low-cost homes to African American families. To make the houses affordable, men built their future homes with their own hands, all while keeping a full-time job. Ultimately, 181 houses were built as part of the Flanner Homes, Inc. project [12].
Today, Flanner House is located on Martin Luther King Jr. Street, where it was moved in 1979. The cluster of buildings include a child development center, a senior center, and the Flanner House Branch of the Indianapolis Public Library [13]. In the 1990s, the Flanner House Homes district was placed on the National Register of Historic Places for its significant contribution to Indianapolis’ African American history [14].
[1] Flanner House History in Highlights: 1898 to 1976. Manuscript. From Indiana Historical Society, Flanner House of Indianapolis. https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/dc018/id/3772 (accessed January 27, 2021.
[2] Flanner House Records: ca. 1906-1979. Manuscript. From Indiana Historical Society, Flanner House of Indianapolis. https://indianahistory.org/wp-content/uploads/flanner-house-records.pdf.
[3] Flanner House Records: ca. 1906-1979.
[4] Flanner House History in Highlights: 1898 to 1976.
[5] Flanner House Records: ca. 1906-1979.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Britanny D. Kropf, “Flanner House,” Discover Indiana, Public History IUPUI, April 2, 2019, https://publichistory.iupui.edu/items/show/16.
[8] “Flanner House Homes,” National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, United States Department of the Interior National Park Service, October 1990. https://secure.in.gov/apps/dnr/shaard/r/235c6/N/Flanner_House_Homes_Marion_CO_Nom.pdf.
[9] Flanner House Records: ca. 1906-1979.
[10] “Flanner House Homes,” National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, United States Department of the Interior National Park Service, October 1990.
[11] Flanner House Records: ca. 1906-1979.
[12] “Flanner House Homes,” National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, United States Department of the Interior National Park Service, October 1990.
[13] Britanny D. Kropf, “Flanner House,” Discover Indiana, Public History IUPUI.
[14] “Flanner House Homes,” National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, United States Department of the Interior National Park Service, October 1990.
Student Authors: Gwyneth Harris and Phillip Brooks
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Flanner House Guild Tea, Indianapolis Recorder Collection, Indiana Historical Society.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/dc018/id/2659/
<a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/132003839">National Register of Historic Places</a>
Ransom Place Neighborhood, Indianapolis
<p>Ransom Place Neighborhood is a historic district located northwest of Monument Circle in the center of downtown Indianapolis. Bounded by 10th, St. Clair, West, and Camp Streets, this area includes subdivisions platted 1865 and 1871, and features historic homes built in the eclectic Queen Anne architectural style that was popular at the end of the nineteenth century. Ransom Place Neighborhood is considered the most intact neighborhood associated with the African American population of Indianapolis.[1] Named after prominent resident Freeman Briley Ransom, the district was listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1992.[2]</p>
<p>As early as the 1830s, the area that is now Ransom Place Neighborhood was identified as an African American settlement.[3] The land was originally developed by free African Americans and former slaves who moved north to find prosperity during the nineteenth century. This western section of Indianapolis, close to Fall Creek and the White River, was notoriously marshy and prone to flooding. The undesirable land was the only land that early African American settlers were permitted to purchase. Over the course of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, a thriving African American community formed in Ransom Place Neighborhood, and the area was converted into a residential area and profitable business district for African American families. Ransom Place Neighborhood was also the site of the first public housing project in Indianapolis, Lockefield Gardens.[4]</p>
<p>Many prominent professionals lived in Ransom Place Neighborhood, including African American community leaders, doctors, and attorneys. Churches, schools, and businesses provided for the needs of the residents.[5] Freeman Briley Ransom (1882-1947), the namesake of the neighborhood, lived with his family at 828 N. California St.[6] F. B. Ransom was a successful lawyer, business man, and civic leader who moved to Indianapolis in 1910. Most notably, Ransom served as the corporate attorney and manager of the Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company, a pioneering African American cosmetics company. In addition to his legal work for Madam C. J. Walker, Ransom was an accomplished community leader who served as legal counsel for the Senate Avenue YMCA, Phyllis Wheatley YWCA, Indianapolis branch of the NAACP, and the Frederick Douglass Life Insurance Company, helped found the National Negro Business League and the Marion County Bar Association, and served on the Indianapolis City Council from 1939-1942.[7] F. B. Ransom’s son, Willard Ransom, was also a noted attorney and resident of Ransom Place Neighborhood.[8]</p>
<p>Ransom Place Neighborhood was expanded in 1945 when the Indianapolis Redevelopment Commission selected the area as its first redevelopment project. Helping repair houses in older parts of the neighborhood and constructing new homes in surrounding areas, the assistance of the Indianapolis Redevelopment Commission revitalized Ransom Place Neighborhood.[9] During the early 1960s, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) began buying property in order to develop a downtown Indianapolis campus. Between 1960 and 1980, IUPUI had obtained nearly 1,000 properties and had effectively surrounded Ransom Place Neighborhood.[10] The university’s pressures to redevelop the area for their own purposes, combined with the flight of many prominent African Americans to more prosperous Indianapolis neighborhoods in the early 1970s, led to a period of denigration for the historic neighborhood. In 1976, Lockefield Gardens, a major source of pride for Ransom Place’s community, was closed and converted into private apartments for IUPUI students.[11] Construction of the United Life Building in the 1980s removed a portion of Indiana Avenue, effectively blocking access from Ransom Place to downtown Indianapolis furthering marginalizing the African American community.[12]</p>
<p>Following a period of decline in the 1970s and early 1980s, Ransom Place Neighborhood was revitalized in the late 1980s when Jean Spears, an African American community leader who worked with the Indiana Avenue Association helped to renovate African American homes and businesses in Indianapolis, moved into 849 Camp Street in Ransom Place Neighborhood.[13] Spears started a campaign to promote the African American history of the neighborhood and, with a team of other community leaders, officially named the district Ransom Place Neighborhood in memory of the successful attorney Freedman Briley Ransom.[14] Following the naming, the Ransom Place Historic District was accredited by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, and the Ransom Place Neighborhood was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.</p>
<p>While Ransom Place Neighborhood is protected as a historic landmark, many locals fear that the neighborhood- a symbol of African American persistence and ingenuity- could be erased by gentrification. With much of the land surrounding Ransom Place being developed for private businesses and apartments, it is becoming increasingly expensive for long-time residents to remain in the area. Unless the gentrification includes local African American families, many fear that the African American community that built and sustained the neighborhood for generations will disappear.[15]</p>
[1] <span>“Ransom Place Historic District,” National Park Service, accessed May 25, 2020, https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/indianapolis/ransomplace.htm.<br />[2] “Ransom Place Historic District,” Indiana Historical Bureau, accessed May 25, 2020 https://www.in.gov/history/markers/216.htm.<br />[3] “Ransom Place Historic District,” National Park Service.<br />[4] Richard Essex, “A changing neighborhood: Ransom Place,” Indianapolis WISH-TV, February 15, 2019, https://www.wishtv.com/news/a-changing-neighborhood-ransom-place/.<br />[5] “Ransom Place Historic District,” National Park Service.<br />[6] “Ransom Family Papers, 1912-2011,” Indiana Historical Society, accessed May 26, 2020, https://indianahistory.org/wp-content/uploads/ransom-family-papers.pdf.<br />[7] Ibid.<br />[8] “Ransom Place Historic District,” National Park Service.<br />[9] Ibid.<br />[10] Essex, “A changing neighborhood.”<br />[11] Ibid.<br />[12] National Park Service."Go Diagonal." Indianapolis: Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary. Accessed May 31, 2020. https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/indianapolis/textonly.html#diagonalessay.<br />[13] “Spears Family Papers, 1930-1986,” Indiana Historical Society, accessed May 26, 2020, https://indianahistory.org/wp-content/uploads/spears-family-papers-1930-1986.pdf. “Historical Ransom Place,” City of Indianapolis, accessed May 26, 2020, https://sites.google.com/view/city-of-indianapolis/home/ransom-place.<br />[14] Ibid.<br />[15] Essex, “A changing neighborhood.”</span>
Student Author: Natalie Bradshaw
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Camp Street in Ransom Place, attributed to Nyttend, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Camp_Street_in_Ransom_Place.jpg
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/216.htm">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
Andrew Means Park Manor
<p>Born in Alabama, Andrew Means graduated from the Tuskegee Institute in 1918. He studied under George Washington Carver and was befriended by Tuskegee Institute President Booker T. Washington. After graduation, Means spent a few years in the US Army and subsequently worked as a railroad porter.[1] Means then traveled north to Gary, Indiana, in order to work in the steel mills, a path taken by many African Americans at the time.[2] This influx of African Americans moving north for fair and equal jobs, and to escape segregation in the South was known as the Great Migration. From the 1910s to 1970, over 6 million African Americans from the rural South migrated to northern cities, including Gary.[3]</p>
<p>In 1922, Andrew Means and his brother, Geter, created a homebuilding business with $90 and a borrowed typewriter. Means Brothers, Inc. became one of the Midwest’s largest African American real estate development companies.[4] The brothers created 11 housing developments with nearly 2000 homes and/or rental properties in Gary alone. They created homes for African Americans using African American employees and sub-contractors.[5] In addition to housing developments, Andrew Means also constructed the Gary First Baptist church, where he was a member, within the Andrew Means Park Manor neighborhood.[6]</p>
<p>Of all the housing the brothers developed, Andrew Means Park Manor, also known as “Means Manor”, was the most impactful to the Gary community and still exists today. The neighborhood consists of nearly 150 homes[7] including Andrews Means’ own home. At the time of construction in the early 1950s, Means Manor provided African American families safe affordable single family housing at a time when many neighborhoods did not welcome African Americans and Gary was deeply segregated.[8] Remembered by a former resident “I think the community flourished because everyone there was there under the same circumstances. A lot of the families that came, that lived in my neighborhood, their parents came from the South and they were there primarily because of the steel mills, because those were guaranteed jobs, that was guaranteed income.”[9] At the time of its construction, the homes in Means Manor were priced from $15,000 to $75,000.[10]</p>
<p>Means Manor is located in Gary’s Midtown neighborhood. When Means Manor was constructed, 97% of Gary’s African American population lived in the Midtown neighborhood. The neighborhood was mostly self-contained with many retail outlets as African Americans were excluded from Downtown Gary prior to desegregation in the 1960s and 1970s.[11] Means Manor remains as a legacy to Andrew Means and his brother’s achievements of providing affordable and equal housing to Gary’s African American community.</p>
[1] <span>Indiana Landmarks. African American Landmarks. Indiana Landmarks, 2019. Accessed May 21, 2020. https://www.indianalandmarks.org/2019/02/andrew-means-gary-developer/<br />[2] Allison Shuette. Didn’t Want Us To Grow Up Thinking the World Was Terrible. Welcome Project, 2017. Accessed May 21, 2020. https://welcomeproject.valpo.edu/2017/01/27/didnt-want-us-to-grow-up-thinking-the-world-was-terrible/<br />[3] The Great Migration, 2020. https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/great-migration. Accessed May 22, 2020.<br />[4] Indiana Landmarks.<br />[5] African American businessman, Andrew Means,of Gary Indiana. He is successful in real estate and construction. https://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675045071_Negro-Americans_Leslie-Builders-and-Contractors_construction-site_buildings. Accessed May 22, 2020.<br />[6] Indiana Landmarks.<br />[7] Leroy W. Jeffries. Blueprint for better negro business. Negro Digest. December 1961. Accessed May 21, 2020. https://books.google.com/books?id=b7MDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA62&lpg=PA62&dq=%22means+park+manor%22+gary&source=bl&ots=Qgmdcz3Y7Z&sig=ACfU3U1sL9M0rnOo3H_srKnYBY2JdKQ-fg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiHnMC4nZrpAhXGKM0KHYMUAfIQ6AEwB3oECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22means%20park%20manor%22%20gary&f=false<br />[8] Indiana Landmarks.<br />[9] Allison Shuette.<br />[10] Leroy W. Jeffries.<br />[11] Andrew Hurley. Environmental Inequalities: Class, Race, and Industrial Pollution in Gary, Indiana, 1945-1980. 1993. University of North Caroline Press.</span>
Student Author: Mary Swartz
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Courtesy Indiana Landmarks https://www.indianalandmarks.org/2019/02/andrew-means-gary-developer/
Lincoln Gardens
In Evansville, Indiana, the early 20th century proved to be a time of hardship for its African American residents. In the early 1900s, due to the increase of racial segregation within the city, the majority of the African American population resided in an area known as Baptistown. By 1916, overcrowding and unsanitary conditions became an issue, to the point where over a third of Baptistown residents had no access to sewage systems.[1] Segregated Evansville had few good-paying jobs for African Americans and white neighborhoods did not welcome those African Americans that could afford better homes. To accommodate for the growing population of African American residents in Baptistown, dilapidated buildings were torn down and streets were extended and repaved.[2] None of the city’s actions proved enough to improve what was described by the African American newspaper The Evansville Argus as “slum” and “an area dominated by filthy shacks without sanitary facilities.” [3] <br /><br />Under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the Public Works Administration (created in 1933 during the Depression as part of the New Deal) made Evansville’s Lincoln Gardens its second housing project. As with most Public Works Administration housing projects, Lincoln Gardens was built for a specific community, and in Evansville, it was for low-income African American residents. Because of segregation and other racist policies at the time, African Americans needed their own community with their own businesses in order to succeed and prosper. Many groups in the city were in favor of the project, but there were some concerns. It was debated whether new low-income housing located on vacant land on the edge of the city was more cost effective and efficient that building in the central city. It was finally decided that the central city option was the best fit with the planning engineer’s description that “the federal government is interested in slum clearance in connection with low-cost housing.”[4] <br /><br />Construction of the Lincoln Gardens complex began in June 1937 and was dedicated by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt who visited the building site in November 1937.[5] Four city blocks, nearly eleven acres, of Baptistown “slum” housing was razed and residents temporarily relocated. In its place, 16 apartment buildings were constructed. Lincoln Gardens opened on July 1, 1938.[6] The Evansville Argus, proclaimed Lincoln Gardens as the “Pride of City”, “rising as a monument to the relentless spirit and efforts of the public spirited citizens of Evansville.” Lincoln Gardens reported 100% occupancy rate as of November 23, 1938.[7] <br /><br />Lincoln Gardens included 191 “modern sanitary” homes for 500 African American residents. It included a social room, and four rooms used for recreation, youth classes, and adult education. The housing project included “beautiful wide lawns, shrubbery, plenty of fresh air and ample supervised play.” Residents were considered low income with a family income that did not exceed five times the rental charge.[8] Initial average monthly rents including electricity and gas ranged from $12.65 to $20.20 depending on room size and location within the apartment buildings.[9] Renters were chosen by need, character, and priority of application.[10] Lincoln High School, Evansville’s only African American high school and constructed in 1928, was directly across the street from Lincoln Gardens. During WWII, Lincoln Gardens had its own United Service Organization (USO), welcoming African American troops.[11] In the 1930s and 1940s, Lincoln Gardens became a center of African American social life within the bigger neighborhood, revitalizing Baptistown, which became a de-facto African American social hub within segregated southwestern Indiana. <br /><br />By the 1990s, Lincoln Gardens had fallen into disrepair and eventually all buildings except one were demolished. Sondra Matthews, who grew up in Lincoln Gardens felt that it was important to save this legacy. “The basis of our economic life was going to be torn down as well. I just thought that if this happens, our grandchildren will not know what we had, the life we lived in the Lincoln Gardens area. They would not know how successful and prosperous we were.”[12] Lincoln Gardens’ surviving building was deeded to the board of the Evansville African American Museum. The museum opened in 2007, dedicated to retelling the story of African American culture in Evansville. One of the featured exhibits includes a restored one-bedroom Lincoln Gardens apartment, which typically housed a family of six.
[1] Tamera L. Hunt and Donavan Weight. Rediscovering “Baptistown”: A Historical Geography Project on Local African American History. University of Southern Indiana and Texas A&M International University. P.389.<br />[2] Ibid. <br />[3] “New Lincoln Gardens, Pride of City, Now 100 Percent Occupied,” The Evansville Argus, 3 December 1938, 1,<https://newspapers.library.in.gov/cgi-bin/indiana?a=d&d=EA19381203. Accessed February 2020. <br />[4] Robert G. Barrows. New Deal Public Housing in the Ohio Valley: The Creation of Lincoln Gardens in Evansville, Indiana. Ohio River Valley, P. 56<br />[5] Ibid., P.72<br />[6] "Lincoln Gardens Housing Project-Evansville IN." Living New Deal. Accessed April 2019.<br />[7] “New Lincoln Gardens, Pride of City, Now 100 Percent Occupied,” The Evansville Argus, 3 December 1938, 1. Accessed February 2020.<br />[8] Ibid. <br />[9] Robert G. Barrows. New Deal Public Housing in the Ohio Valley: The Creation of Lincoln Gardens in Evansville, Indiana. Ohio River Valley, P. 66.<br />[10] “New Lincoln Gardens, Pride of City, Now 100 Percent Occupied,” The Evansville Argus, 3 December 1938, 1. Accessed February 2020.<br />[11] “Moment of Indiana History: Evansville African American Museum.” Accessed April 2019.<br />[12] "Preserving History." Preserving History | Evansville Living Magazine. Accessed April 22, 2019.
Student Authors: Emma Brauer and Robin Johnson
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Courtesy Indiana Landmarks https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indianalandmarks.org%2F2020%2F10%2Fevansville-marker-is-countys-first-to-recognize-african-american-history%2F&data=04%7C01%7Clsajewski%40bsu.edu%7C5033ca60161d4b3199cd08d9ec0369c1%7C6fff909f07dc40da9e30fd7549c0f494%7C0%7C0%7C637800323632758953%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=Hdlz7PlV2DpAdE9Z%2FE9XNK%2BaDX76ZIS%2Byy5jHK09ABs%3D&reserved=0
<a href="https://evvafricanamericanmuseum.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Evansville African American Museum</a>
Better Homes of South Bend
<p>Better Homes of South Bend was a corporation created in May 1950 in an effort to combat housing discrimination against African Americans. African Americans who worked at the South Bend Studebaker plant started the group. Most members lived in World War II-era prefabricated houses on Prairie Street near the Studebaker factory. They established a corporation to provide a better chance of securing homes outside of the slums near the factories.The members “wanted to find homes away from the factories and slums that surrounded them and give their children a better start in life than they themselves had."[1] Better Homes of South Bend’s attorney, J. Chester Allen, kept the location of potential neighborhoods a secret in an effort to get families moved into anew area with as little resistance as possible. In the 1950s, not everyone was open to the idea of African American families living in their neighborhood.[2] <br /><br />The members of Better Homes of South Bend all had Southern roots. Either they or their parents had moved to the North to escape Jim Crow laws that enforced racial segregation. Although the members had moved to South Bend looking for a better lifeamid relatively good paying manufacturing jobs, they were unable to escape discrimination. Two of the biggest challenges they faced were discrimination in housing and employment. Reverend B.F. Gordon attested to the discrimination of African Americans in South Bend in his 1922 book The Negro in South Bend: A Social Study. “Give him the same recreational opportunities, the same educational opportunities, the same industrial advantages (in particular those advantages that call for better education, and personal conduct,) and the same privileges to buy and sell, land or commodities...”[3]<br /><br />African Americans in South Bend were seeking equal opportunities.On June 25, 1941, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802, which states,“I do hereby reaffirm the policy of the United States that there shall be no discrimination in the employment of workers in defense industries or government because of race, creed, color, or national origin.”[4] However, as was evident in South Bend, public opinion was strong enough to disregard the executive order in the workplace. Gabrielle Robinson addresses the employment discrimination of African Americans in the book, The Better Homes of South Bend. “Yet they had not found the equal treatment in the North for which they had hoped. Many factories in South Bend did not hire African Americans.”[5] The Studebaker plant was the biggest employer of African Americans in South Bend. <br /><br />After World War II, housing discrimination intensified. White families moved to the suburbs and the west side of South Bend by the factories became almost exclusively African American. Better Homes of South Bend members lived primarily on Prairie Avenue, defined as “slum” in the Fact Sheet on Housing in 1952.[6] "This white flight took with it private and public investment in housing, schools, roads and infrastructure, leaving a deteriorating center to the poor."[7] This deterioration of infrastructure drove Better Homes for South Bend members to secure land to buildhousing in a less developed part of the city. The corporation settled on the 1700-1800 block on North Elmer Street as their housing destination, where a handful of white families currently resided. The collective power of the corporation enabled the members to secure land, loans, and contractors for 22 houses.[8] After extensive discrimination and hardship, the group was able to secure a contractor, Max Meyer, at a reasonable price. Three years after Better Homes of South Bend was created, the members finally had houses built and ready to occupyon North Elmer Street. The discrimination that Better Homes of South Bend members faced was notisolated to South Bend. Housing discrimination against African Americans occurred in Indianapolis as well. An article in the 1944 Indianapolis Recorder discusses the utter lack of acceptable housing for African American workers in the city.[9] Many of these workers migrated to Indianapolis as part of The Great Migration. From 1916 to 1970, over six million African Americans migrated from the South to cities in the North, including Indianapolis and South Bend. The first wave occurred prior to World War I and the second wave prior to World War II. “African Americans sought an alternative to sharecropping, disenfranchisement, and racial injustice in the South.”[10] <br /><br />Before the Better Homes of South Bend formed in 1950, Congress passed the Housing Act of 1949. “In passing the Housing Act of 1949, Congress defined the policy of the United States to include the requirements of a decent home and a suitable living environment for every American family.”[11] However, this Act did not change the living situation for Better Homes of South Bend members; they fought and improved their situation themselves. For instance, in order to build homes for black members, a competent contractor was needed, one that would use the same quality of material that was used to build white homes. Margaret Cobb stated “the contractors they met with ‘only wanted to give us substandard materials’ to build their homes because members were black.”[12] Fortunately, Better Homes for South Bend were able to hire contractors who were willing to build homes with high-quality materials regardless of the race of the occupants-to-be. Many of those 22 homes still stand today on North Elmer Street, a testament to one group’s efforts to fight racial discrimination.[13]</p>
<p><span>[1]</span> Gabrielle Robinson, <em>Better Homes of South Bend</em> (Charleston: The History Press, 2015), 26.<br /><span>[2]</span> Ibid, 14.<br /><span>[3]</span> Reverend B.F. Gordon, <em>The Negro in South Bend</em> (South Bend: 1922), 2.<br /><span>[4]</span> Executive Order 8802 dated June 25, 1941, General Records of the United States Government; Record Group 11; National Archives.<br /><span>[5]</span> Gabrielle Robinson, <em>Better Homes of South Bend</em> (Charleston: The History Press, 2015), 14.<br /><span>[6]</span> “Fact sheet on housing, South Bend, circa 1952” (South Bend, 1952), 1.<br /><span>[7]</span> Gabrielle Robinson, <em>Better Homes of South Bend</em> (Charleston: The History Press, 2015), 48.<br /><span>[8]</span> Better Homes for South Bend Historical Marker. Indiana Historical Bureau, 2017. Accessed January 14, 2020. <br /><span>[9]</span> “Local Housing Evils Cited to FHA Officers,” <em>Indianapolis Recorder 48,</em> 20 (1944): 2, accessed April 5, 2019.<br /><span>[10]</span> Joe William Trotter, "The Great Migration," OAH Magazine of History 17, no. 1 (2002): 31.<br /><span>[11]</span> “Discrimination Against Minorities In The Federal Housing Programs,” <em>Indiana Law Journal 31</em>, 4 (1956): 501, accessed April 5, 2019, <br /><span>[12]</span> Annette Scherber, “‘Better Homes Wants to Have a Fair Shake’: Fighting Housing Discrimination in Postwar South Bend” Indiana History Blog. Accessed January 7, 2020.<br />[13] Better Homes for South Bend Historical Marker. Indiana Historical Bureau, 2017. Accessed January 14, 2020. </p>
Student Authors: Jordan Girard and Robin Johnson <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Houses on North Shore Drive, attributed to Patrick Walter Collection, Public domain, via The Indiana Album, Inc.
https://indianaalbum.pastperfectonline.com/photo/5FDE7EBF-F9DF-4450-BB21-101123584988
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4365.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
Lockefield Gardens
The Public Works Administration (PWA) proposed to improve living conditions for African Americans in 1934, and the Housing Division administrators “named the city [Indianapolis] as recipient of a slum-clearance public housing project.”[1] The Lockefield Garden Apartments, also known as Lockefield Gardens, were “one of the first group of peace time projects, initiated, funded, and supervised by the Federal Government as part of the recovery programs of the New Deal.”[2] The project also involved considerable local initiative as the first public housing project in Indianapolis.[3] The Lockefield Garden Apartments were built between 1935 and 1938.[4] Bounded by Indiana Avenue, Locke, Blake and North Streets, the 24 buildings, and 748 apartment units required the clearing of 22 acres of land. The apartments replaced “more than 350 unsightly and unsafe structures” that originally were on the site.[5] The apartments were located in a traditional African American neighborhood known for its black-owned businesses and jazz clubs, and were built specifically for low income African Americans.[6] <br /><br />The goals of the Lockefield Garden Apartments project were to demolish substandard housing and make new public housing available, while providing jobs in the construction industry.[7] Groundbreaking for Lockefield Gardens occurred on July 31, 1935. The complex was designed “to maintain the spirit and vitality of its constituent African American community while offering a modern, modestly priced place to live.”[8] Lockefield Gardens cost “approximately $3 million, or $899 per room, which was less than the national average.”[9] <br /><br />The buildings were finished by the summer of 1937. However, construction problems delayed occupancy of the buildings by half a year. By the spring of 1938, the construction issues were resolved and residents began to move in as individual buildings were certified. “Lockefield was a model of thoughtful design, providing plenty of light and air, open spaces for recreation, and stores and shops to serve its residents.”[10] <br /><br />In 1964, the federal government transferred the property to the City of Indianapolis with a deed stipulation that Lockefield Gardens would be used for public housing until 2004 or would revert to the federal government.[11] As the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s progressed, “residential segregation waned.”[12] Indianapolis city officials made the claim that “Lockefield Gardens had declined in quality, and other housing options for low-income residents existed.”[13] The city proposed demolishing the housing project using federal funds to expand campus housing for Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI) in the 1970s. The apartments officially closed in 1976, and several of the buildings were demolished in the early 1980s, replaced by IUPUI campus housing. Seven original buildings were rehabilitated and brought up to modern living standards, and 11 new buildings were designed. The apartment complex is still known as Lockefield Gardens.[14] <br /><br />In 1983, the Lockefield Garden Apartments was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The structures of the original Lockefield Garden Apartments that still stand today are located on Blake Street.
<p>[1] Drenovsky, Rachel L. "A Community within a Community: Indianapolis's Lockefield Gardens." <em>Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History.<br /></em>[2] "Lockefield Gardens Apartments--Indianapolis: A Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary." National Parks Service.<br />[3] Barrows, Robert G. "The Local Origins of a New Deal Housing Project: The Case of Lockefield Gardens in Indianapolis." <em>Indiana Magazine of History.<br /></em>[4] Historic District: Lockefield Gardens." Indy.gov. Accessed April 10, 2019.<br />[5] Drenovsky, Rachel L. "A Community within a Community: Indianapolis's Lockefield Gardens." <em>Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History<br /></em><span>[6]</span>"Historic District: Lockefield Gardens." Indy.gov. Accessed April 10, 2019.<br />[7] Ibid.<br />[8] “106 Success Story: New Deal Public Housing Gets New Life.” Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. Washington, D.C., n.d.<br />[9] Ibid.<br />[10] Staff, WFIU. "Lockfield Gardens." Moment of Indiana History - Indiana Public Media. February 14, 2005.<br />[11] “106 Success Story: New Deal Public Housing Gets New Life.” Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. Washington, D.C., n.d.<br /><span>[12]</span> Jaynes, Gerald D. Encyclopedia of African American Society, Volume 2. Sage Publications. 2005.<br />[13] “106 Success Story: New Deal Public Housing Gets New Life.” Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. Washington, D.C., n.d.<br /><span>[14]</span> "Lockefield Gardens Apartments--Indianapolis: A Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary." National Parks Service.</p>
Student Authors: Caitlin Maloney and Robin Johnson <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
PHOTO & VIDEO<br />Lockefield Garden Apartments Buildings 18 and 16, attributed to Nyttend, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lockefield_Garden_Apartments_buildings_18_and_16.jpg<br /><br />Lockefield Gardens- central mall looking northwest, 1983, attributed to Ray Hartill, National Park Service, for the Historic American Buildings Survey, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lockefield_Gardens_-_central_mall_looking_northwest,_1983.jpg
<a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/132003952" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Register of Historic Places</a>