HISTORICAL BUILDINGS, THEATERS, SPORTS VENUES AND A PARK IN INDIANAPOLIS

A nice place to rest as you walk around Indianapolis is a National Historic Landmark, University Park with the Indiana War Memorial in the background.  

Located just north of Monument Circle, the history of this park can be traced to 1827 when the State designated this area as a future university.  As many plans that are made, a university was never developed.  Thus, we have the name of University Park.  

A seminary was built on the land and existed for only eight years from 1852 to 1860.  Then, the land was cleared to prepare the Union Soldiers for an upcoming confrontation with Morgan's Raiders during the Civil War. Once the war ended the land was transformed into the above park with the fountain as the center of attraction.  

Gracing the park are statues and sculptures.  A statue of Abraham Lincoln on the southeast corner has fascinated me from early childhood.

Statues of Schulyer Colfax an Indiana resident and Vice President under Ulysses E. Grant, Indiana's only President, Benjamin Harrison can be observed as you walk through the park.  

Growing up, our family attended a church at the corner to the left of the War Memorial.  Another church was on the right corner.  Both churches were purchased in order to complete the building in the background. 

Located on Monument Circle, the oldest church still in use in Indianapolis, Christ Church Cathedral, is dwarfed by modern construction.  The early Gothic Revival construction stands out amidst the glass and steel buildings of modern times.  

When you enter the cathedral, you are greeted by Tiffany stained glass windows and beautiful architectural sights.

As you continue around Monument Circle, you will come to the old Circle Theater, now home to our Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.  

As a youngster, this was one of three movie theaters to visit in downtown Indianapolis. Every Thanksgiving evening would find me and my many cousins being driven to a movie.  That was my highlight of every Thanksgiving, not the turkey dinner.  

The Circle Theater's next door neighbor is the Circle Tower built in the Art Deco style.  

Note the Egyptology style panels on the columns.  It is said that the discovery of King Tutankhamen's Tomb in 1921, eight years prior to the construction of Circle Tower had a huge effect on the the sculpture's work.  

After experiencing success, the developers of the Circle Theater, launched a new, better, bigger and more extravagant theater called the Indiana Theater. 

The building with a facade of Terra Cotta becoming the most ordinate building in Indianapolis.   
The Indiana theater building  with a possible capacity of 3,200 people contained a barber shop, a lunch counter and a bowling alley in addition to the movie theater.  Now that is a forward thinking place.  You could have lunch at the counter, get a haircut and bowl a few frames before going to your favorite movie.  





If a movie sounds dull, you can continue south two blocks to
 the Banker's Life Fieldhouse and watch an Indiana Pacers or Fever basketball game.  

If basket ball is not your interest, how about the Indianapolis Colts?  If you go to a Colts game you will enter the Lucas Oil statement, better known as the "house that Peyton Manning built."  But Peyton is no longer here and now we have good Luck.  

Two or three blocks north of Lucas Oil Stadium is Victory Field, home of baseball farm team the Indianapolis Indians.  

With all the sights
previously mentioned
in today's blog, you can
end your day at Victory Field, relax with some peanuts, popcorn or Cracker Jacks.  

Thank you for joining me on today's tour of the center of Indianapolis.  Feel free to ask questions about Indianapolis and central Indiana.  I will try to answer each one.  

God bless y'all

  

NEWS FLASH..... ! ! ! ! ! !..... WE FOUND THE WARP!  

DOUBLE NEWS FLASH ....! ! ! ! ! !......WE ARE NOW UNDER A TORNADO WARNING..... 

        

BACK HOME AGAIN IN INDIANA!

The title of today's blog is also a song that is sung each year at the Indianapolis 500.  It us usually sung by Indiana natives, Florence Henderson, Jim Neighbors and others.  

I was happy to be back home with my girls and grands.  I started to choke up about four blocks from Holly's home. John could not drive the motorhome fast enough through the busy Indianapolis streets to suit me.  

My plan was to surprise Holly, Lucy and Ross.  The house was dark. The surprise was on me.  The kiddo's gymnastic classes are now on Wednesday nights instead of last year's Monday nights.  

The "surprises" for our firstborn, Karen on Thursday since it was her birthday.  Now, that surprise did work out.  She was totally surprised and her mom had wet cheeks, once again.  A year is a long time not to see one's children.  I have no idea how we ever went so long without seeing Jojo.  

Karen is assistant director of an inner city center for the homeless and anyone who needs emotional, spiritual, economic help for their families.  

For the children in the area Karen is using her artistic abilities to run a very successful program called Art in the City.  She teaches the students all forms of art.  Many of her lessons are based on the works of famous artists.   The photos speak for themselves.  
  

An example of Karen's talent.

The rest you will see is the student's art works in various stages of completion.

A student's work in progress

Faces

"Angry Birds" ready to be fired in one of the kilns.

MONSTERS!

Students learn that they can create art from anything, even cardboard!

This is a project, again based on a famous artist's work. It was made from recycled plastic bottles that were, cut in spirals, painted then  hot glued together

When our visit was over, we went into Indianapolis and Stout's shoe store to try to find hiking shoes for this winter. Stouts is touted to be the oldest shoe store in the United States. Stouts opened their doors in 1886 and survived two world wars and the Great Depression. I remember shopping there with my grandmother as well as my parents. 


    





When I visited I would always visit with the store mascot, a Parrot.  Today, Ripley, a Macaw is the star of the show. 

When a pair of shoes is selected, the salesperson loads the box with the shoes into a basket and sends it to the balcony where the cashier finalizes the sale, wraps the box in brown paper, like a gift and sends the purchase zipping from the balcony back down to the sales person. 

 Next on our route was to finally see Holly, Lucy and Ross.  It was a very quick visit as they were on their way to get hair cuts.  

Last on our list was to stop at our granddaughter's home to see Megan and Harper.  Adam was at work, so we missed him.  

When we left for the southwest in December, Harper was an almost two year old that chose not to talk.  Let me tell you, this little one has found her voice and uses it every minute she is awake.  And not one word at a time either.  She carries on in full sentences.  

What a fun day Thursday was!  Wow, we were tired puppies Thursday evening. 

Friday started another whirl wind day.  We drove to Indiana's first capitol, Corydon, in southern Indiana, not far from the Ohio River.  We wanted to visit with our fiber friends who were at the Southern Indiana Fiber Festival, and felt we catch up with many friends in one day trip.  

It was wonderful seeing so many of our friends and to hear them tell John how great he looks.  I am sure that John was greatly encouraged by all the comments.  

Of course, I could not leave empty handed.  I am now the proud owner of a Tapestry Loom.  The history of this loom goes back to ancient Egypt and to the Native Americans right here in the desert southwest.   It is a smaller loom.  I will be able to weave tapestries up to two feet long.   

Yesterday, Saturday, was shopping day.  There is an International Market nearby and we were able to stock up on many Thai, Mexican, Chinese, fruits and vegetables that we have not had access to since we left California.  

Afterwards, we finished our shopping at Wally World and found that items that we did not purchase due to the "high" prices were lower than Wal Mart's.  Lesson learned for the time we are here.  

Today, we go to Megan and Adam's to play with Harper and to watch the Colts / Denver Bronco's game.  Peyton Manning was a joy to have as quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts and we were so sorry to see him go.  Tonight we will be rooting for the Colts and Peyton. We just do not want the Broncos to win.  

Till next time....God Bless you all and be safe in your travels.