USA > Indiana > Marion County > Indianapolis > Hyman's Handbook of Indianapolis : an outline history and description of the capital of Indiana, with over three hundred illustrations from photographs made expressly for this work (1897) > Part 7
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The Police Department is under the control of the board of public safety, and comprises one chief, two captains, eight sergeants, and one hundred pa- trolmen. In addition there is a detective force, consisting of one chief and eight detectives. The arrests average about 6,000 yearly.
The Fire Department has one hundred and thirty-one employes ; six steam fire engines, three hook and ladder trucks, three chemical engines, one water tower, and sixty-eight horses, fourteen wagons and hose reels. There are 145 miles of wire and 172 signal-boxes for the fire alarm telegraph.
The Executive and administrative authority of the city is vested in the mayor, city clerk, and certain boards. The mayor receives a salary of $4,000 per annum.
The Department of Finance is under the charge of the comptroller, who
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is appointed by the mayor, with a salary of $3,000. All warrants on the treasury must be drawn by him.
The Department of Law is under the charge of the attorney and counsel of the city, appointed by the mayor. He has a salary of $4,000 per annum.
The Department of Public Works consists of three commissioners ap- pointed by the mayor. The board has control of the streets and all public buildings of the city. Each commissioner has a salary of $2,000 a year, and their expenditures amount to $395.348.06 per annum for 1896.
The Board of Public Safety con- sists of three commissioners appointed by the mayor, at a salary of $600 each. This board has control of the police and fire departments.
The Department of Health and Charities consists of a board of three commissioners appointed by the may- or. The board has direct control of all regulations for public health. The members of the board must be physi- cians.
The Department of Parks is com- posed of five commissioners appointed by the mayor, for five years, and who serve without compensation. They have charge of all the public parks.
The Number of Buildings, includ- ing dwelling houses, in the city, and business houses, makes a total of 35,000. In 1895 nine hundred and ninety-three residences were built, fifty-three busi- ness blocks, five churches, seventeen factories and nine warehouses, besides a number of other structures, at a cost of $2,868,695. In 1896, 651 residences, a SI business blocks, and the total value of building permits was $2,241,758.
COLFAX STATUE.
Streets and Sewers-The total length of the streets of the city is about 335 miles, of which forty-five miles are paved with asphaltum, brick or cedar blocks, and the rest is graveled. There are seventy-one miles of sewers, of which fifty miles have been constructed within the last five years, at a cost of more than $4,000,000. The streets are lighted by gas and electricity, there being about S50 electric lights.
The Water Supply comes from deep wells, some few miles from the city,
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and is brought to the city through large iron mains, and supplied to the houses by direct pressure from the pump house. The supply is abundant for all purposes. Coming from deep wells it is as pure as can be furnished in any city.
The Railways of Indianapolis reach to every part of the country. They number sixteen, and all enter and leave from the same passenger station Over one hundred and thirty passenger trains enter and depart every twenty- four hours.
The Belt Railroad-One of the most important features of the railroad system of Indianapolis is the Belt line which connects all the railroads which enter the city. It runs about three-fourths of the way around the entire city, and along its line are many of the most important manufacturing establish- ments, and the stock yards. Over it all freight passing from one road to an- other is transported.
The Union Railway Lines-Early in the railroad history of Indianapolis some of her enterprising citizens and railroad managers conceived the idea of bringing all the lines into one central passenger station. To this end the Union Railway Company was chartered, and tracks through the city were laid. This company now owns and manages the great Union Station, where- in about one hundred and fifty trains enter and depart every twenty-four hours.
The Street Railway System-Electricity is used as the motive power for rapid transit through the streets. The system reaches to every part of the city. The electric roads extend to all the suburbs, giving ready access to the city for those who dwell in the outlying districts. Strangers arriving in the city can reach all the hotels or any point of interest from the Union rail- way station by street cars, either direct or by transfer, for one fare.
The Custom House is a very important adjunct to the trade of the city. The value of goods imported into the district of Indianapolis for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1896, was $456, 625.
The United States Arsenal Grounds comprise seventy-six acres, extend- ing from Michigan street to Clifford avenue at the eastern limit of the city. The entrance gate is on Michigan street at the head of Arsenal avenue. The present government institution was laid out in IS63 and finished in IS6S. The seven buildings of the arsenal are of brick and stone. The most im- portant are the main storehouse, the artillery storehouse and the barracks. There are also residences for the officers stationed there.
The Banks include three national banks, with a capital of $1,600,000. and resources of $9,413,554.83; two private banks, with a capital of $1,200,000, and resources of $5,155,867,44, and three trust companies with a capital of $1,900,000 and resources of $2,816,682.14.
The Indianapolis Clearing House Association showed bank clearings for 1896 amounting to $204,576,890.29.
Office Buildings-There are several very fine office buildings, with all the modern conveniences. Among the most notable are: The Majestic. the
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Lombard, the Fitzgerald, the Leincke, the Thorpe, the Ingalls, the Indiana Trust Building, the Stevenson, and others.
Manufacturing-Every railroad on the continent has transported manu- factured wares from Indianapolis, and every line of ocean steamers touching the shores of the United States has borne to foreign lands the product of her industries. Various manufac- tories in the city have built up a large and steady trade in for- eign countries. Shipments of flouring mills, engines, chemi- cals, canned goods, bicycles, pork, woodenware, woolen goods and other products of our factories to Canada, Mex- ico, the South American States, Australia, Europe, the Sand- wich Islands, South Africa and Asia as well, are of so frequent occurrence as to have become common and are no longer thought worthy of special note. There are eleven hundred sep- arate manufacturing establish- ments located here, the number of employes in the different lines of production ranging from scores to thousands, and the total number of persons employed in manufacturing in the city reaching at least twen- ty-five thousand. The value of the combined production of all the manufactories in the city is estimated at about $70,000,000 a year.
The Wholesale Trade-In- dianapolis, with her sixteen railroads, is brought into direct DRINKING FOUNTAIN, FOOT OF VIR- GINIA AVE. and prompt communication with fully a thousand cities and towns for which she is the natural base of supplies. The thickly settled and prosperous agricultural communities which form a zone a hundred miles wide all around, send up a never satisfied demand for the necessaries and comforts of life. Millions of people are to be fed, and clothed, and housed, and every law of trade and geographical consideration fix Indianapolis as the place.
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As a natural course of events the wholesale and jobbing business of Indian- apolis is in a flourishing state. A trip through the wholesale district, along South Meridian, South Pennsylvania, South Delaware, Maryland, Georgia or McCrea streets, will impress this deeply on your memory. The rumble of heavily laden drays, the sidewalks blocked by mountains of boxes and crates and bales, the hurry and confusion of porters rolling the goods about, the short, sharp commands of men directing the work, all together impart a sense of an important business movement. That this impression is not a mistaken one is proven by the fact that the sales of the wholesale merchants of Indianapolis aggregate, in round numbers, $45,000,000 a year. There are in the city over three hundred wholesale and jobbing houses, and, in their employ, over one thousand traveling salesmen. It is a noteworthy fact that Indianapolis merchants have carried their trade into the very gates of sur- rounding cities, and have established strong business connections beyond them. They have gone beyond Louisville and Cincinnati, and built up a strong trade in the South. They have gone into Michigan and found per- manent patrons within a few miles of Detroit. They have beaten Chicago in Michigan. They have invaded Ohio and Illinois, and a large per cent. of their entire business is done in these two states. They have pushed beyond St. Louis and Kansas City, and annually send large quantities of goods west of the Missouri river. The city is especially strong in its wholesale dry goods, millinery, drugs, hardware, grocery and confectionery trades. The volume of business done in these lines is enormous. The summing up of all is, that whatever is to be purchased for the retail trade may be obtained in Indianapolis cheaply and promptly, and with the smallest amount of risk in transportation.
Papers and Periodicals-There are seven daily newspapers, two of which are printed in German. There are twenty-eight weekly and thirty monthly and semi-monthly periodicals. All the varied social, religious, literary, political and business interests are served by the periodicals.
Amusements-Indianapolis has two opera-houses, first-class in appoint- ments and of a high grade. It also contains several theaters of the vaude- ville class.
Clubs-A number of social, political, and professional clubs are main- tained. The most prominent is the Commercial club, composed of the busi- ness men and occupying a magnificent eight-story building of its own. Among the noted political clubs are, The Columbia and Marion, Republican, and Gray, Democratic. The ladies have a club and occupy their own build- ing, the Propylæum, a beautiful stone structure. Das Deutsche Haus is the finest club building in the city. There are a number of literary clubs, but none of them owning their own club house.
Hotels and Cafes-For a city of its size Indianapolis is well supplied with hotels. Three of them, at least, have a reputation throughout the entire country. The Denison, for several years, has been known as the Republican headquarters, while the Grand has been that of the Democrats. The Bates
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house has long been known as one of the first hotels in the West. Hotel English, which has just been remodeled, is now one of the most attractive hotels in the state. There are also the Spencer House and Hotel Normandie, which are also popular hostelries. Prominent among a large number of res- taurants may be mentioned the Commercial Club restaurant and the Nor- mandie Cafe, where the service is good and at moderate rates. In addition to these are a number of smaller hotels, all well kept and well patronized.
Thoroughfares, Parks and Adorn- ments-Indianapolis is yet too young a city to be expected to have done very much in the way of adornment, but it can lay claim to some as handsome streets as any city in the country. At the original platting, with the evident intent to give the people plenty of light and air, the streets were made very broad. In some of the later additions to the city the streets have been somewhat narrowed, for the purpose of reducing the cost of maintain- ing them, but still they are broad enough to give plenty of room for abundant shade and adornment.
Washington Street is the main street of the city running east and west. It is 120 feet from curb to curb, with sidewalks of proportionate width. Along this street from Capitol avenue, on the west, to Ala- bama, on the east, is conducted the lead- ing retail trade of the city. It is crossed at right angles by numerous streets and from it running to the southeast and to the southwest are two broad avenues. Many of the business blocks are of mod- ern style and structure and some of them are very imposing in appearance. The extreme width of the street and the side- walks makes it a grand avenue for par- ades. Notwithstanding the retail business CROWNING FIGURE SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' MONUMENT. transacted on the street is very large it never has the appearance of being crowded. This, with nearly all the prin- cipal streets of the city, is paved with asphaltum, but some of the residence streets are paved with cedar blocks, and a few with brick.
Meridian Street is divided into two parts, north and south, the dividing line being Washington street. It is the center street of the original plat of the city, and extends from the extreme southern part to the extreme north-
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ern. a distance of nearly five miles. South Meridian street from Washington to the Union railway tracks is devoted almost exclusively to the wholesale trade. Nearly all the buildings are of modern style and conveniences. North Meridian street from Ohio to the extremne northern limit of the city is de- voted to residences and churches. It is beautifully shaded throughout its en- tire length, and in the summer time presents a beautiful woodland scene. The residences are all set back some distance from the street, having well shaded and well cared for lawns in front of them, giving to each one of them a villa-like appearance. Other notable residence streets are Pennsylvania, Delaware, Alabama, Broadway, Park avenue, College avenue and Capitol avenue North.
Adornments-We might well class the beautiful shade trees of the streets and the picturesque lawns of the residences as a part of the adornment to the city. In these two particulars no city in the country surpasses Indian- apolis. Washington surpasses it in shaded streets, but that beautiful city woefully lacks the lawns in front of the residences. Nowhere in Indianapo- lis are found those long rows of houses, built all alike, and fronting directly on the street, but nearly every residence sits on a lawn of its own with fresh air and light all around it, thus adding to the health and comfort of the people and the beauty of the city.
The Indiana State Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument-Indianapolis has the proud distinction of containing the first monument ever erected directly in honor of the private soldier. It is also one of the few real works of art in this line to be found in America. It is not a plain and unsightly shaft like that on Bunker Hill or in Washington City, but is a beautiful obelisk of ar- tistic design. It was designed by Bruno Schmidt, the great German archi- tect. Its construction was authorized by an act of the general assembly of the state of Indiana, and passed at the session of ISS7. This act appropriated the sum of $200,000 to defray the cost of erection, and empowered certain of the state officers to appoint five commissioners who should have charge of the work. In addition to the amount appropriated by the legislature, the sum raised by the monument committee of the G. A. R. was paid over to the commissioners to be expended by them. In IS91 the state legislature made a further appropriation of $100,000 to aid in the construction. The monu- ment is situated in the very heart of the city on a circle of ground that was originally designed for the residence of the governor. It is constructed of Indiana oohtic limestone. The park in which it stands has an area of 3 and Tog acres, and lies at the intersection of Meridian and Market streets. It is surrounded by a circular street, paved with asphalt. There are four ap- proaches to the monument from the surrounding street, the approaches on the north and south sides leading directly to the stairway by which the ter- race surrounding the base of the pedestal shaft is reached. The monument, including erowning figure, is 26S feet in height. The top of the monument is reached by an elevator and stairway from the base of the interior of the
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shaft. A magnificent view of the city of Indianapolis and the surrounding country is obtained from the top of the monument.
Morton Statue-In front of the soldiers' monument and facing southward stands a fine bronze statue of Oliver P. Morton, the great war governor of the state. It was erected by the voluntary subscriptions of the people in 1SS4. The designer was Franklin Simmons, of Rome, Italy, and it was cast there. Geo. Rogers Clark Statue-At the western entrance of Monument Circle is a bronze statue of Gen. George Rogers Clark, the great hero of Kaskaskia and Vincennes. It was erected by the state as an accompaniment of the sol- diers' monument.
DEITCH MAUSOLEUM-JEWISH CEMETERY.
James Whitcomb Stat- ue-At the North entrance of the circle stands a bronze statue of Governor James Whitcomb, who was gov- ernor of the state during the Mexican war, and was long one of its most dis- tinguished citizens. It was erected at the expense of the state.
William Henry Harri- son Statue - Facing the east is another of the group of the four distinguished citizens chosen to accom- pany this great monument to the Indiana soldiery. It is a bronze statue of Gen. William Henry Harrison, who for many years was governor of the Indiana Territory, and who com- manded at the battle of Tippecanoe, and who after-
wards became president of the United States. The designer of this, the Har- rison and Clark statues, was John H. Mahoney, of Indianapolis.
Schuyler Colfax Statue-The first citizen of Indiana to reach the vice- presidential chair was Schuyler Colfax, who had served three terms as speaker of the national house of representatives. He was a leading member of the Odd Fellows, and to his memory that organization has erected a bronze
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statue in University Park. It was erected in ISS7. The designer was Laredo Taft of Chicago.
Thomas A. Hendricks Statue-Governor, senator and vice-president of the United States, Thomas A. Hendricks was one of the distinguished sons of Indiana, and to him the people of the state have erected a bronze statue in the southeast corner of the state-house grounds. It was erected by popular subscription, and unveiled in July, 1890. The statue itself is four- teen feet six inches high, and the monument as a whole has a height of thirty- eight feet six inches. The statue is of bronze; the pedestal is of Bavano gran- ite from the quarries at lake Maggiore, Italy. Two allegorical statues rep- resenting " History" and " Peace" stand upon the base of the monument to its right and left. The monument was designed by R. H. Parks, of Florence, Italy.
Military Park lies between New York street and the Indiana Central Canal on the north and south, and West and Blackford streets on the east and west, and includes fourteen acres. In the early days of the city's history it was known as the "Military Reservation," and was the place where the militia musters were held. All the military companies of the city during the pio- neer days camped and drilled there, and at the time of the Blackhawk out- break 300 Indiana militia camped there before marching to Chicago. It was also the first camping ground of Indiana's quota of six regiments under President Lincoln's first call for troops, and throughout the war it was used as a camp ground. The park was then known as Camp Sullivan. Many of the old forest trees still stand, with some hundreds of younger growth. A large fountain is situated in the center of the park at the meeting place of the converging pathways. Reached by Blake street and Ilaughville cars.
University Park comprises four acres, lying between Pennsylvania and Meridian streets on the east and west, and Vermont and New York streets on the north and south. It was the site of a university that flourished from IS34 to 1846, and thus acquired its name. A statue of Schuyler Colfax stands in the southwestern side. Reached by North Pennsylvania street cars.
St. Clair Park adjoins the grounds of the Institution for the Blind on the north, from Meridian to Pennsylvania streets, extending to St. Clair street. It is four acres in extent, and in its center there is a fountain. Reached by North Pennsylvania street cars.
Garfield Park is the largest park within the limits of the city. It lies to the extreme south, and covers 110 acres. It is the most pleasing bit of land- scape in the immediate neighborhood of Indianapolis. The principal drive- way is over what was once one of the best known race tracks in the country. A small stream winds through the park. Reached by Alabama street and Garfield Park cars.
Fairview Park, seven miles northwest of the city, is a beautiful expanse of about 200 acres of wooded hills and ravines overlooking White river and the Indiana Central Canal. It is reached by two lines of electric cars run- ning at intervals of five minutes, and is a favorite outing place on summer
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evenings. A restaurant is located there, with bowling alleys, boat livery and various other means of amusement. Concerts are given in the park several times a week during the summer months.
Woodruff Place, nominally a town, but really a park, lies within the limits of the city. yet is not a part of it. It adjoins the Arsenal grounds on the east, and stretches from Michigan street to Clifford avenue. It is a most beautiful residence park. Many fountains and pieces of statuary are in it. Reached by Clifford avenue street cars.
The State Fair Grounds embrace a tract of 160 acres, three miles northeast of the city. Reached by street cars.
Armstrong Park is two miles northwest of the city, upon the bank of the canal. It is beautifully wooded, and a favorite boating resort. Reached by North Indianapolis street cars.
Churches and Missions-There are in all in Indianapolis 175 places of worship, including regularly organized churches and missions representing almost every denomi- nation and creed. Millions of dollars have been expended in the erection of church property, and many of the buildings are the most elegant types of church architect- ure. The strongest denominations are the Methodist Episcopal, Presbyterian, Baptist, Roman Catholic, Protestant Episcopal, Christian, Lutheran and Jewish, and there are numerous others which have one or more congregations each in the city. Some of the most eminent divines which the coun- try has produced have passed a part of their lives in Indianapolis. One instance is the years of Henry Ward Beecher's pastorate, also that of Myron W. Reed.
VINGENNES
The Charities-Several organizations are maintained for charitable work, and labor GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. very effectively in relieving the poor and suffering. Homes are maintained for orphan children, for friendless women, and for the aged, besides hospitals for the treatment of the afflicted. In addition there is a summer sanitarium for the purpose of furnishing fresh air, nourishment, and medical treatment to sick children. These charities are all maintained by private contributions, with the exception that the city makes an annual allowance to the Orphan Homes and to the Home for Friendless Women.
Religious Work is carried on by several societies outside of the churches.
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The most prominent society is the Young Men's Christian Association, which has a fine building of its own, and a large membership. It occupies a broad field of usefulness in promoting the spiritual, intellectual, social and physical welfare of the community. It supports one branch especially for railroad employes.
The Hospitals of Indianapolis rank with those of any other city in their care and management. The city maintains one at which about 1,500 persons are treated annually. A regular corps of physicians and surgeons is main- tained at a total cost of about $35,000 a year. In addition to this the city main- tains a free dispensary, where patients are treated and medicines furnished free. About 14,000 persons are treated annually. The Sisters of Mercy also maintain a hospital where large numbers are treated each year.
Crown Hill Cemetery, covering 400 acres of ground, three and one-half miles northwest of the city, in which is the national cemetery in which are buried the Union soldiers who died in Indianapolis, and also those whose bodies were brought here for interment. There, among the soldiers for whose welfare he worked so tirelessly, lies the body of Governor Morton. No more beautiful cemetery can be found in the country than Crown Hill.
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