Oliver Johnson left us a wooded legacy
By CONNIE ZEIGLER Contributing editor, Urban Times Oliver Johnson, whose family pioneered in the early settlement of Indianapolis, left a green legacy in that village that became this city. His …
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History 301: Highland currently in its second reincarnation
By CONNIE ZEIGLER Contributing editor, Urban Times In 1904, the Highland Golf Club opened on land west of the White River in Riverside Park. The clubhouse that members built for …
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History 301: Girls Inc. traces its roots to two girls clubs
By CONNIE ZEIGLER Contributing editor In 1969, the #Metoo movement was still far in the future. Women were earning 58.9 percent of men’s wages and the Mary Tyler Moore Show …
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Polk’s history was a sanitary one
By CONNIE ZEIGLER If you had lived on short 15th Street on the Near Eastside of Indianapolis 100 years ago, you would have undoubtedly used the Polk Sanitary Milk Co. …
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Indy was a bit behind the curve on original Tiki craze
By CONNIE ZEIGLER Urban Times contributing editor The next time you see a guy in a tropical shirt or a gal in a mumu, don’t feel disdain about their fashion …
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When German POWs partied in an Indy home
By CONNIE ZEIGLER During World War II the United States housed nearly a half-million German prisoners of war. Indiana had its own contingent of German POWs housed at several locations …
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History 301: How zoning affected city’s development
This essay was originally published in the February 2010 issue of Urban Times. Time will tell how the currently pending upgrades in the IndyGo bus system, including the Rapid Transit …
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History 301: Hotels served black visitors
By CONNIE ZEIGLER In 1957, an article in the Indianapolis Recorder, the city’s black-owned newspaper, featured the following report on the International Motor Club, which had offices at 241 E. …
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History 301: Building helps celebrate 100 years of Slovenians
By CONNIE ZEIGLER If a friend invited you to “the Nash,” would you know where to go? You would if you grew up in the Haughville area west of White …
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When children began writing letters to Santa
By CONNIE ZEIGLER Famous illustrator Thomas Nast is credited with popularizing the idea of children sending letters to Santa Claus. In 1871, he published in Harper’s Weekly an illustration of …
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