Just A Hoosier Girl: James Whitcomb Riley

Showing posts with label James Whitcomb Riley. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Three Great Victorian Neighborhoods in Indianapolis

Statue of James Whitcomb Riley in Greenfield, Indiana (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Fall Creek Place, Indianapolis, Indiana, July 2008. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Houses on the eastern side of the 300 block of N. East Street in , , . This block of East is part of the , a historic district that is listed on the . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Front of , located at 416-418 E. Vermont Street in , , . Built in 1914, it is listed on the , and it lies within the boundaries of a Register-listed historic district, the . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: James Whitcomb Riley House / Charles L. Holstein House. James Whitcomb Riley Museum Home within the Lockerbie Square Historic District in Indianapolis. Category:Images of Indianapolis (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Front and western side of the James Whitcomb Riley House, located at 528 Lockerbie Street in , , . Built in 1872 and since converted into a museum, it was named a in 1962. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Indianapolis is a vibrant changing city, not a cornfield with a racetrack as many presumed. It was too a large degree settled by stoic and prosperous German immigrants in the mid 1800’s. These immigrants left a mark on the city in the really great neighborhoods they established. Many continued to live in these neighborhoods until the mid fifties when suburbs lured young families to the outskirts of the Indianapolis. These neighborhoods were still occupied by many new ethnic groups to the area over the year, sometimes adding flair to an area that it not really have in the past.

Neighborhoods like Woodruff and later Irvington were established to give the prosperous classes from all the immigrant groups a way to experience the park like living of a small town near the commerce of the city. The isolation did not last long as a Victorian era closed new groups like the “lace curtain” Irish were establishing their own unique neighborhoods with modest homes and businesses at their previously isolated edges.

During the 60’s many of these areas made a gallant attempt to keep their unquietcharacter, they in some ways experienced decline but in other ways were defined and enriched with new inhabitants. In the late seventies and early eighties many of these great places were rediscovered for the historic architecture and famous past residents. Today some our wholly restore and other have great urban flavor of wealth, poverty, art, and tradition that draws a new generation of urban families to their blocks.

Lockerbie Square is one of the structurally oldest neighborhoods in Indianapolis. It‘s graceful mid 19^th Century homes survived various periods of urban growth and decline. Lockerbie Square was designated as qualifying for National Register of Historic places in Marion County Indiana in 1973. Like many Midwestern historic neighborhoods it is noted for having a nice variety of Italianate, Federal, and Queen Anne style homes. It was platted my Scottish Immigrant named George Lockerbie in the late 1840’s. It sits on the northeast corner of East and New York streets. The neighborhood is just south of one of Indy’s hottest alternative neighborhoods known as Mass Ave.

Originally, the neighborhood was called Germantown. It was home to the numerous prosperous German Immigrants from about 1849 to 1880. The area is considered one of Indianapolis walk able neighborhoods and soon when Indianapolis began to prosper in the downtown area in the mid 1880’s it became one of the more desirable neighborhoods for Indianapolis growing Victorian middle class. It’s most well known resident of was James Wit comb Riley who lived in the neighborhood for two decades.

There is very little left to indicate the German Heritage of the area here are tierces from the period. A German Methodist church on the corner of New Jersey and Michigan St still exists Trinity Lutheran Church on the northeast corner of Ohio and East Standee of the largest churches built in the area was to serve the German Catholic St. Mary built in 1857. Both churches have been demolished. St. Mary’s relocated to New Jersey St. in 1912. This are was also home to the original St. Vincent Hospital and Home for the Aged Poor run by the Little Sisters of the Poor started in 1875. St. Vincent’s was located on Vermont St.

James Ray-Butcher House was home to the Indiana over nor who served from 1825 to 1831 is located in the neighborhood. It was moved to the neighborhood 1977. It is Indianapolis oldest known house having been built in 1835. It used to occupy the space that the Marion County jail stands now. Most visitors enter the neighborhood. They come to visit the home of James Whitcomb Riley for the last two decade of his life.

John H, Nicked was a very successful cracker make built a very stylish home in the neighborhood in 1873. It was an Italianate home at 528 Lockerbie Street. His son in-law Major Charles Holstein was friends with James Whitcomb Riley. A frequent visitor and then boarder he spent well over twenty years in the house. Known for being an exocentric bohemian the Hoosier Poet was said to walk the neighborhood spinning yarns for neighborhood children and giving out candy

One of the most continuously occupied Indianapolis historic neighborhoods is Fountain Square the arid was farm land before 1835 when it was purchased by Calvin Fletcher and Nicholas McCarty. This area too had growth fueled by many of Indiana’s German immigrant families. The Virginal Ave area became commercial in the 1860’s

The area was known as the,”tended “when the Citizens Street Railway Company laid tracks there in the mid 1860’s. A turnabout was created at the intersections of Virginia Ave, Shelby, and Prospect Streets. The list of businesses in this area that are iconic to the whole city is endless. This is a small sampling.

Fountain Square State Bank (1909),

Fountain Square Post Office (1927),

Have camp and Dirk's Grocery (1905),

Cohering & Son Warehouse (1900),

), the Frank E. Reese Company (1904),

Wiese-Wenzel Pharmacy (1905)

, the Sommer-Roempke Bakery (1909), the

Fountain Square Hardware Company (1912),

Horuff & Son Shoe Store (1911),

The Fountain Block Commercial Building (1902

The neighborhood was also noted for it’s unique contribution to Indianapolis Theater. It boosted the most theaters in the Indianapolis area from 1910 to 1950. These included movie theaters, vaudeville theaters, and amateur dramatic theaters. The area declined with the suburban growth of the 1950’s and became improvised and forgotten. The historic fountain in Fountain Square was removed to Garfield Park in 1954.

The area has experienced a comeback, but it still reflects of many decades of urban decline and grit. It is becoming once again Indy entertainment micas. It has a number of great kinky restaurants. The art flourish in the area with many galleries and unique shops. It is home to Wheeler Arts Community and Murphy Art Center. It is quite a bit more of an authentically urban bohemian neighborhood then Broad ripple or the highly polished Mass Ave.

The area has experienced a unique rise of the rival of swing dancing, very similar to the kind going on in the lively clubs there in the 1940’s.However even then the area would not have had the flair of more urban area because the Hoosier temperament tends to be a little on the bland German farmer side .

James O. Woodruff was from Auburn New York and came to Indy as a civil engineer to work on the water works. He was taken by the beauty of the wooded area joist east of the city. It however, with no real tradable roads could take a hour by wagon to reach this lovely area on the outskirts of growing Indianapolis,

In 1871 he purchased this area and opted to create a park like setting of stately Victorian homes that would give Indianapolis growing elite upper class a way escape the grime and grit of the increasingly industrial Indianapolis. In 187 3 he completed his home in Woodruff Place. He laid out very large palettes on three streets with esplanades, Italian fountains and statuary. The focus was the cast iron multi tiered fustians Very large and extremely ornate Victorian homes featuring the Italianate,

English Tudors, Queen Anne’s, and many more dominate the neighborhood. These homes were some of the largest built at the time. The homes in the neighborhood date from the 1880’s to the early 1900’s. During the twenties when some of the larger home burned, ornate and exclusive apartment buildings were built. Many of the servants of and tradesman whoa worked on the homes built modest cottages with ornate craftsman’s shift to reflect some of the work done on the big homes in a small suburban area that grew outside of Woodruff Place called Cottage Home.

Woodruff was determined to keep the growing city out and incorporated as it’s own town. Children who attended the public schools on the outskirts of the neighborhood paid tuition. It was the homes and families of the neighborhood who inspired Booth Tarkington to write the <” The magnificent Amber sons”. During the Depression many Woodruff families lost their fortunes and were forced to take in borders or break up their very large homes into apartments. The housing shortage of the 1940’s caused many long time families to sell their large homes to rental groups who father canalized the magnificent homes. Fortunately some families stayed and maintained their homes against the odes. A very active and aggressive neighborhood association has worked for over 4 decade to preserve the unique character of Indianapolis’s park like first suburb.

The neighborhood is full of young families spending their lives restoring these old homes to their previous glory and continuing the tradition of children playing in the fountains and neighbors talking on porches. I raised my kids in this neighborhood as a renter. The neighbor hood welcomes a mixture of urban singles, older couples restoring homes in their retirement and young families looking for large homes in a great neighborhood. Still somewhat a victim of urban decline the neighborhood is still one of the best places to raise a family in urban Indy. There is a great diversity in the neighborhood, but a genuine small town feel.

C. Bedford Crenshaw James Whitcomb riley house t he Chronicle of Your State in Picturesnuttmegger woodruff place.

Saturday, August 9, 2014

The Hoosier Poet To American Children: James Whitcomb Riley

See all 8 photos

The second house built on the land of James Whitcomb Riley's birth place.

Source: By Nyttend (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

See all 8 photos

Statue of James Whitcomb Riley in Greenfield

Source: By Sculptor: Myra Reynolds Richards (1882-1934); photo: en:User:Pollinator (English Wikipedia) [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (

Humble Hoosier Roots

Back when Indiana had primitive forest surrounding new farmlands, James Whitcomb Riley was born. He came into the world as the second son and third child of Ruben and Elizabeth Riley. James Whitcomb Riley was born on October 7, 1849 in near the tiny village of Greenfield Indiana.
Ruben Riley was a well-educated man would served in the Civil War. He was also a lawyer and politician. Ruben Riley was in great demand locally for his political speeches. James Whitcomb Riley’s mother, was equally as talented. Elizabeth Riley was known as a local poet, and was sought after for her whimsical tales.Her best audience were the children of the village who loved her dramatic renderings of fairy tales and folklore..
Despite his parents education, James did not have a privileged upbringing. His childhood home was a log cabin not unlike the others on the Hoosier frontier. His family had great appreciation for the newfound state. The main Street of Greenfield Village was was plotted to be part of the national Road. James Whitcomb Riley was actually named after an Indiana Gov. James Whitcomb

See all 8 photos

James Whitcomb Riley With nephew 1891.

Source: By James Whitcomb Riley [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

See all 8 photos

The swimming hole referred to in poems by James Whitcomb Riley

Source: This work has been released into the public domain by its author, William Eccles.

s

Riley Child-Rhymes with Hoosier Pictures (Library of Indiana Classics)

Amazon Price: $10.35
List Price: $17.95

Carefree Indiana Boyhood

James Whitcomb Riley’s childhood was a simple one. He was known locally as a shy slender boy who loved practical jokes.James saw his parents influence increase as the community the little log cabin in which James Whitcomb Riley was born was eventually replaced by a two-story house.The house stood out having bright green shutters. He’s been his young days swimming, fishing , and playing Indians in the woods. Sometimes James and his friends would steal watermelons from neighbors gardens. James Whitcomb Riley had an idyllic boyhood, that would influence much of his writings. However, James was a poor student who often day dreamed in class and put forth little effort to memorize lessons.
His parents were desperately afraid that he. James Whitcomb Riley would not amount anything. He appeared to have little aptitude for history or mathematics. James Whitcomb Riley used to used to tell a joke about his lack of understanding of most things in school. He remembers a teacher asking once where Christopher Columbus sailed on the second his voyage? James after thinking about the question for a while replied,” I don’t know where he went on his first journey”.
Frustrated with his lack of ability to be successful in school James Whitcomb Riley left school at 16. He sought some and adventure with his newfound adulthood, so he and a group of friends formed a painting company. The boys traveled the state painting houses and signs. The group of teenage boys, called their new painting enterprise "the graphic company" .

See all 8 photos

Advertisment for James Whitcomb Riley and friends house painting company.

Source: By James Whitcomb Riley [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Young James Whitcomb Riley Finds His Place In the World

Riley soon grew bored painting houses and tried his hand at poetry. He joined the traveling medicine show reciting his poetry for a meager wage. When James Whitcomb Riley returned home his father helped him get a job as editor of a local paper.
Riley was convinced that people only read poetry if was the work of an already published poet.. So to prove his point he wrote a poem in the style of Edgar Allen Poe. The crafty Riley credited it to Poe. When imposter poetry was published in the paper it turned out to be widely read so It was a very widely read poem so James took credit for it. When the paper had published the supposed Poe poem they were excited that James had managed to get it from Poe for publication. When when Riley publically took credit for the poem and the prank, the whole affair ended up costing him his job as newspaper editor.
Riley was an unsettled young man. He had tried to even study law once to follow in his fathers footstep ,but he was distracted by a romance with a local girl named Nellie Millikan. But eventually Riley found his calling at least temporarily and tried his hand at big city journalist,. He took a job with the Indianapolis Journal, which he kept from 1878 til his published his first book of poetry in 1883.

See all 8 photos

Riley earned royalties from books of poetry that were read by most American children.

Source: http://www.ebay.com/bhp/james-whitcomb-riley

Hear Little Orphant Annie

Speaking In the Voice of the Hoosier Frontier

Riley’s best poems were about growing up on the Hoosier frontier. His characters like the “Raggedy man ’ and ‘orphant Annie’ became beloved by Hoosier children . When Riley performed his poems publically he did so with great drama ultitilzing the accents that were common in his boyhood home.
\The frontier in Indiana drew immigrants from all parts of the country and world so there were great diversity and unique Hoosier accents in the community James Whitcomb Riley was from. His own parents spoke a version of Hoosier Deutsch which Riley would imitate when he recited , “Dot Little boy of Mine.”
James Whitcomb Riley was known as a poet who was a ‘dialect singer”. Later analysis showed his accents were more like the speech of a small child instead of any particular dialect.
James Whitcomb Riley career as a poet took off after his first book was published. He took his dialect filled poetry readings on the road with the likes of Mark Twain and Bill Nye. He was treated like a Victorian rockstar, in every town he performed in . The crowd could not get enough of James Whitcomb Rileys poems about growing up in the Hoosier heartland..
Riley was not only having success with his poetry readings. His poems were also published in well illustrated books that gave James Whitcomb Riley an international audience. The royalties he received from these books made Mr. Riley the best paid living poet of his time. He was known as the “Hoosier Poet” and America’s children’s poet.

See all 8 photos

James Whitcomb Riley with the children of Lockerbie.

Source: Public Domain

See all 8 photos

James Whitcomb Riley's home in Lockerbie Square.

Source: By Nyttend (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The Old Gentlemen of Lockerbie Square

James Whitcomb Riley unfortunately had a stroke in his early fifties after returning from a friend’s funeral in Greenfield. This stroke would leave him confined to a home in Lockerbie Square in Indiana for the last 23 years of his life.His friends the Nickum and Holstein families invited him to be a permanent house guest at a gracious home at 528 Lockerbie street. There the now aging Riley , could be seen walking with his cane entertaining the neighborhood children with stories. He died from a fatal stroke on July 22, 1916.
President Woodrow Wilson sent a note of sympathy to the surviving friends and relatives of Riley. He stated. “With his departure a notable figure passes out of the nation’s life; a man who imparted joyful pleasure and a thoughtful view of many things that other men would have missed.”