jf-'T .\ m • ■ u ^0 iK N .-^ y-rr' ^.>',„f. m^ / r Indianapolis Illustrated. A Written by Ernest p. Bicknell. ii Edited by Edgar h. Evans. Indianapolis : BAKER-RANDOLPH LITHO. AND ENG. CO., PKINTKKS, BINDKKS, KNGRAVERS AND KLKCTROTYPEKS. 1893- Ah 29 ^^9^ r - Untekek AccoRKiNi; TO Act or Conckess in the Year 1S93, uv IIAKKR RANDOI.I'II l.lTIKi AND i:NO. CO.. In the Office of the I.iukarian of Conc.ress, AT WASItlNC.TllN, I). C. To THE Citizens of Indianapolis. .WING been impressed with the fact that Indianapolis had grown to be a great and important city in culture, vvealtli, manufacture and trade in the past ten years, without its own people fully recognizing the extent of the growth, our Mr. A. R. Baker applied to the Board of Trade and Commercial Club for their indorsement of a book intended to illustrate and bring out clearly to us and the world at large, the facts in regard to the wonderful development of this city. The request was granted, and under such sanction is issued this book, which we offer to your consideration. As all the work has been performed in our own establishment, the volume is distinctly an Indianapolis product. We have endeavored to secure a treatment which is free from advertising bias in favor of any individual, firm or compau) — giving only such as occurs incidental to a proper illustration — and have confined the text and engravings to a truthful and fair, but forcible representation of the city's interests. That Indianapolis should become a great city was perfectly clear to those who had studied its advantages: surrounded by the rich and varied resources of the great State of Indiana; crossed by all East and West lines of railway between the Atlantic and Pacific, and the principal North and vSoutli lines connecting the lakes and the gulf; and located in the center of po])ulation of the United States. Thus, we have the three essentials to success: resources, transportation, jjopulation. There is no location on the globe which combines all of the.se advanl.iges in a better proportion than Indianapolis. This is a source of gratification and security, and a promise of success to those who may come among us. Let us extend an invitation to all strong and vigorous workers or investors to locate in our thriving city and State, and reach out with renewed assurance of our continued develop- ment under such favored conditions. BAKI;R RANDOLI'II LITHO. AND KXG. CO. FlCBRT.VKV, 1893. CONTBNXS. PAGE. A Model City 5 TiiK City's Business Status 19 Indianapolis as a Railroad Cicntek 41 General Ri:marks About Resources 51 Agricultural and Horticultural 51 Natural Gas 69 Indiana Coal-Measures 81 Concerning Stone 87 Timber Supply loi Fuel from the Oil Field 105 Kaolin, Clay and Glass-Sand 109 Manufacturing Industries 115 The Wholesale Trade 131 The Retail Trade 137 Banks and Banking 143 Till-: Union Stock Yards 155 The Street Railway .System 159 The Spirit of Impro\"Emi:nt 163 Our Municipal Government 167 Savings and Loan Associations 171 Public Buildings 179 LiHKARIKS AND LiTlCKAKY SOCIETIES 203 Churches and Schools 209 A MODEL CITY. wo CO- which are united the physical and civil cou- ordiiiate ditions which are necessary to the attain- objects raeut of both of the prime objects noted, a r e t o In recording for the city of Indian- be sought in city life. The one is the apolis a claim to those qualities which multiform benefit which the strength of justly entitle it to a place among the many interests, crowded into narrow healthiest and best governed and nio.st territorial bounds, makes possible ; the prosperous and contented communities other, the avoidance of the multiform of the United States, it is not believed evil, which the aggregation of thousands there is any unwarrantable assumption of human beings upon small areas tends of excellence. This claim, undisputed constantly to produce. That city which enjoys physical advantages favor- able to the attainment of either of these objects is fortunate, and the same is true, in a greater degree, of a city whose civil condition^ are such as to make toward happiness and contentment and provide against the evils of immorality and dis- ease. But, if cities having either of the advantages of the character mentioned are to be called fortunate, how much more to be congratu- lated is that community in INDIANAPOLIvS, INDIANA, U. S. A. by those who best know, is based upon no jealous rivalry of other cities, nor has it any purpose to inflate values of realty; it is based siniplj' and solely upon facts easily demonstrated and un- answerable. In its very inception Indianapolis was singularly fortunate. The young State of Indiana had just been organized, and was without a satisfactory seat of govern- ment. The legislature, whicli in earlier be new and according to the best and most approved designs. The legislative committee traveled far and inspected the sites advocated by partisans of several different localities. Finally a spot was selected on the east bank of White River where the ground was almost level, was drained, not only by the river, but by several clear, winding streams, and was covered by a massive growth of forest trees. Here the infant capital was View from Stock Yards, Looking North. days had met at the old French trading post of Vincennes, assembled at Cory- don for some years after the State was admitted into the Union. The necessity of a capital near the center of the State was clear, but no town then existed near the center. The result was a determina- tion to create a capital. No old village, with tortuous, narrow streets, whose direction and width had been subject to the whims of individual settlers, was to handicap the town. Everything was to located, and no pains were spared to make it convenient and beautiful. A square mile was included in the plat of the city prepared at that time, when hardly a human habitation broke the primeval wilderness. The streets were laid out wide and straight. In the exact center of the square mile was formed a circular park, surrounded by a street called Circle street. p-rom this circle radiated four great avenues, to the northeast, south- '-S 7 INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. vS. A. 9 east, southwest and northwest, respect- daj' by men, of whom many were pio- ively. Everything was done upon a gen- neers, possessing little experience or erous scale, which showed far-seeing knowledge of cities, should have been of sagacit>- upon the part of the city's a character that could hardly be ini- founders, and which has put an obliga- proved upon to-day by people who have On North JIkkidian Strekt. tion of gratitude upon all who have spent their lives in cities. The explana- enjoyed the fruits of that sagacity in the tion of this is to be found in the choice three-quarters of a century which has of Alexander Ralston to prepare plans since elapsed. It is remarkable that the for the new capital. Ralston was a civil plans for the city .selected in that early engineer of note, who had assisted in 'i^^ Pork a.nd Fruit Packi.ng District. INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. vS. A. II laying out Washing-ton, and many of coniniunity or im])rove(l agricultural re- the ideas exemplified in the Nation's gion, the wonder is that the found- Capital were reproduced in the streets, ers of Indianapolis thought it necessary whose courses were now blazed on the to lay off so much ground into streets as forest trees on the banks of White they did, rather than that they did not River. When the plans were completed, dedicate sufficient area to the future the same broad and liberal spirit which city's occupation. In order that through caused them to meet with instant favor all time it might be known that the city led to a generous system of nomencla- had been founded for a .seat of government for the vState of Indi- ana, it was named In- dianapolis, that is, In- diana City. It was designed that in Circle Park, which was the exact center of the original square mile, should stand the executive mansion. This was in entire accord with square. Set as it was in the woods, near no great river or lake, with railroads not yet dreamed of, .separated by scores of miles from any well- settled country ture for the streets. The principal north and south street, dividing the square mile into two equal parts, was named Meridian, its name thus explaining its direction to any stranger hearing it. The principal east and west street was called Washington, for the great man whose life and face were then familiar to thousands. The other streets of the city were named after the States of the Union, except the four which bounded the .square mile of the city ]ilat. These, whose names ex])lain their ])osition, were called North, East, South and West streets. The meti who thus majjped out a city in the mid.st of a wilderness made one mi.stake. They seem not to have thought of its ever be- coming large enough to spread beyond the limits of a mile Y'fc'l'f |jtf / Union St.vtio.n. INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. the remainder of the comprehensive plans of the nieu in control. Their idea, briefly expressed, was : In the center of the State the capital; in the center of the capital the Governor; thus not only mak- ing the Governor the center and head of the government of the commonwealth, but also the center of the State itself. To-day this particular part of the great design seems more fanciful and poetic than useful, and that this came to be the general impression before many years had elapsed was proven by the fact that Indiana's Governors abandoned the plain. square house which stood in the precise center of Circle Park and preferred to live in other parts of the city. They complained that the executive mansion was inconvenient and uncomfortable and not pleasantly situated as a place of resi- dence. For a number of years the house was used for public oflBces, but gradually fell into disuse, and was finally torn down and the park converted to the public benefit. It has furnished a charm- ing breathing space in the heart of the city ever since. Another feature of the plan of those Public School, No. 2. INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 13 who prepared for the city's birth, was that the business center ol the commu- nity should be at the crossing of Merid- ian and Washington streets. This has been fulfilled to the letter. To-day the roar of the traffic of the city is loudest at that crossing : the price of property is greatest at the four corners which the crossing forms, and declines in all direc- tions from it ; at that point the wholesale district touches hands with the retail ,jf= K, .'-^ ^^^I'&^f- body of water. In order that there might be ample room for the commerce which it was hoped would be carried on, Washington street was made one hun- dred and twenty feet wide, and the great diagonal avenues, which from their direc- tion and arrangement were destined to become the chief arteries of communica- tion with the heart of the city, were made ninety feet wide. The foundations of Indiana's capital district, and the va.st tide of business which ever connects the two, flows with a constant rumble about the adjacent .streets. The principal blocks of the city clu-ster within a few squares of this crossing, and as commerce grows and overflows its quarters, the first necessity for enlargement and improvement is felt in the vicinity of this spot and .spreads abroad like concentric waves upon a thus laid broad and deep, the .super- structure began to rise. But this was, in the verj- nature of things, slow. There was no surrounding cultivated country to draw upon. Between Indianapolis and the sources of its supplies stretched a hundred miles of roads hardly better than foot-paths, and the only means of trans- portation was by horseback or wagon. The young city could not grow until INDIANArOIJvS, INDIANA, U. vS. A. 15 the countr}' round ahout was developed. In 1820 the town was laid out, but it was not until 1824 that it had grown suffic- iently to enable it to lodge and feed the members of the State government and the legislature. Accordingly, in 1.S24, it became the capital, although its popula- tion was numbered by scores, a hundred being altogether too great a unit of commercial and industrial growth of the greatest inland city on the continent. This is well shown l)y the population statistics. In the first twenty-five years of the city's history the ]i()inilation did not reach five thousand. Then the rail- road building began, and the close of the second twenty-five years saw a city of fortv-eight thousand souls. The close PRKSinUNT Harrison's Residence. enumeration. In 1840, the pojHilalion had grown to but 2,692, and, in truth, it was not until the building of the rail- road from the Ohio River at Madison to Indianapolis, several years later, that the city's promise of commercial importance began to be appreciated. . The day the first railroad train rolled into Indianapo- lis was the actual commeucemenl of the of the third quarter of a century, three years hence, will find Indianapolis con- taining a population of one hundred and fifty thousand. In this growth may be read the promise of the future: In the twenty-five years from 1845 to 1S70, an increase of forty-five thou.sand iu popu- lation ; in the same length of time, from 1870 to 1895, a growth of eighty-five i6 INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. vS. A. thousand. At this rate of increase, the growth during the twenty-five years from 1895 to 1920, will be one hundred and seventy-five thousand, making the city's population in the latter year three hun- dred and twenty thousand. But, history has shown that cities increase with a constantly accelerating rapidity, so that the larger they become the faster they grow. The rolling up of a great snow- ball by the boys at play is a familiar comparison, but it illustrates this well. In view of this established law of the growth of cities, a conservative estimate of the population of Indianapolis at the end of another quarter of a century is three hundred and fifty thousand persons. Now the achievement of this remarka- ble building up of population can not be traced to any single cause. The laying out of a handsome and convenient plan for the city alone could have onh- a minor influence in this result. The fact that Indianapolis is the capital of the State is also of secondary importance among the factors of its growth, though iNSTITlTi; lOK Thk Hi.inu. INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 17 an influence not to be underestimated. The truth is that Indianapolis has grown up with due attention to all the influ- ences which cause cities to exist and which make them desirable places of habitation. She has sprung from no great mining "boom;" no .special branch of manufacture ; no particular kind of traffic; no single predominating influence, such as has caused a mushroom growth of cities strong in some few points of greatness, but lacking in all others. She is symmetrical in all her members. Her manufactures are extensive and varied ; her commerce is comprehensive in variet)^ and territory penetrated ; her railroads reach great forests of hard and soft woods and limitless beds of stone, coal, kaolin and cla}' for architectural uses ; she is in the center of as rich an agri- cultural region as the sun shines upon, an area covering an hundred thousand square miles ; she is blest with the finest fuel that nature ever made ; the enor- mous traffic between the manufacturing East and the agricultural West passes, in large part, through her portals, and the same is true of the great carrying trade between the North and South. The beauty of the city's symmetry is shown especially in this, that with all this ma- terial progress her intellectual and moral development has kept even step. In her schools, her literary men, her artists, her societies for mental culture, her churches, her charities, her appreciation of the better and higher things in life, she may be seen to advantage, no less than in her industrial and commercial achievements. She is, in fact, a model American city. '^■f^':^^ HoARii oi- Tkadp: Rini.Dixc. ./Meridian 5t NDIANAPOLIS to-day stands upon the threshold of what is destined to be a great commer- cial expansion. As a city she has not been premature nor hasty in realizing upon her opportunities. She has, if you please, been slow to grasp the possibili- ties which have been within her reach. A result of this has been that she has grown solidly, like the oak, and not like the mushroom of a night. She has taken no step forward until sure of her footing. There was a period, a score of years ago, when Indianapolis enjoyed a " boom." She fancied that she was to become a mighty city almost at a bound. There followed three or four years which, retrospectively considered, seem now to have been characterized by a species of madness, whereof, when men were seized, they lost their sense of the real values and relations of things to one another. Fictitious values were compared to their own kind ; and, losing their anchorage in the haven of unchanging fact, men drifted wildly upon an ocean of specula- tion. Remembered events of that per- iod seem like grotesque phantasms, as thought of in the calm, matter-of-fact atmo.sphere of to-day. Naturally these o «- t^ o- INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. conditions could not long continue, and the time soon came when the truth regained its own, and all the ventures of the speculators went ujion the rocks, leaving disaster and financial panic in their wake. The lesson was a severe one ; but Indianapolis had learned it, and has never forgotten it. The seductive allure- ments of speculation have never again had the power to lead her away from the safe shores. She has seen Western cities spring up like magic, and has heard their boasts with no feeling of envy. She knows that the laws of nature do not pro- vide for giving aught of value for nothing, and that the giant j'oung cities of the West will, in the end, pay well for their unsubstantial prosperity. Hav- ing thoroughly mastered these facts in the school of experience, In- dianapolis has ever since been too conservative rather than other- wise. Her mon- eyed men liaA-e hesitated to em- bark in new enter- prises, or to en- courage any project which smacked of speculation or uncertainty. The city has grown enormously meantime, trebling in population since the collapse of the "boom." The result of these conditions is that here is a large, wealth)' and flourish- ing city which has outgrown its commer- cial and industrial and financial institu- tions. Natural growth and upspringing enterprises have overtaken the conserva- tism which has held back the business of the cit}-, and are crowding hard upon its heels. In simple truth, the daj' is now at hand when natural and inevitable growth demands enlarged facilities for the exercise of new, expanding energies. For 3-ears the city of Indianapolis has grown in spite of itself. From this time on the checks to its expansion will be cast aside, and every healthfnl tendency to improvement will receive the stimulns of public favor. In a word, the new policy of encouragement is succeeding the old policy of discouragement. But let it not be feared that the reaction from years of repression may lead to the opposite extreme. The memory of the bubble and its collapse twenty years ago is indelibly * impressed upon the history of the community, and its lesson is never forgotten for a day. Obstacles to progress are being hurled aside, it is true, but cautious hands are ever on the brakes. To quicken the city's awakening Jr and stinuilate her ^ rapid but solid growth, several agencies have contributed in addition to the natural process of evo- lution described above. Chief of these is the comprehensive development of the mineral and agricultural resources in the terri- torj- around and adjacent to her. She is the geogra])liical and railroad center of an agricultural region which, in fertility and in its state of cultivation, is unsurpassed on the globe. She is within a few miles of the center of population of the United States, and is surrounded by a class of farmers who have been successful in carving com- fortable e.states out of the crude materials which they found in the West half a century and less ago. The Looking Down Massachusetts Avenue. territory in the center of which Indian- to Indianapolis to make her their market apolis is situated, has become the seat and source of supplies. of a prosperous and happy people. In But these agricultural and some of the every direction the agricultural districts jnineral resources on which Indianapolis Residence, North Delaware Street. and urban communities thrive in the now draws, and will draw very much midst of a great abundance. Both soil more heavily in the brighter day dawn- and rocks yield wealth, and full four ing, may be said to be but food for million human beings live near enough industries. There must also be the INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 25 agencies of mastication, digestion and assimilation. The mere presence or accessibilit}' of food can not avail much to a man or a city unless there be the macliinery of reduction and reformation. What, then, is to be said of the forces and agencies which Indianapolis com- mands for the economical and profitable "working up" of the raw material crowding her gates? The answer to this question brings into direct view, perhaps more than an}'' other approach to the subject could, some of the most part. With the city as a point of di- vergence they radiate like some giant web, enclosing in its meshes bustling towns and smiling farm lands and dis- tricts rich in mineral deposits. Over these roads the vast produce of the farm lands and quarries and mines is poured into the city in an unceasing .stream. Much of it is converted from the raw material into the manufactured product before leaving the city, thereby sustaining ex- tensive indu.stries. But along this line there is opportunity for almost limitless unmistakable evidences that the city is expansion without going beyond the dead entering upon an era of substantial and line of profit and lo.ss. Mills for the rapid commercial and industrial growth, manufacture of flour and other grain In this the railways play an essential products are operated here with much 26 INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. success. The largest single winter wheat mill and the most extensive mill for man- ufacturing corn products in the United States, are in Indianapolis. But the field hogs which pass through the Union Stock Yards daily in season, not the half nor the third is slaughtered in Indianapolis. And so the list might be lengthened al- Kk.sidenck, North ]Mkkii)i.\n Stkkkt. is not full, nor half full. Every grain mill in the city is prospering, and were there as many more, or twice as many more, the conditions for all would be more favorable than for those now in op- eration. The .same is true in the pork packing industry. The third greatest pork packing establishment in the world is in Indianapolis, and its large profits are proverbial. There are other extensive packing-houses, aLso, and they too pros- per. But of the tens of thousands of most indefinitely were it necessary to demonstrate the opportunities which lie open here for incoming enterprise. The agencies to be considered in a further discussion of this subject may conveniently be divided into the two classes of direct and indirect. Under the head of direct agencies are to be mentioned the abundance and cheapness of fuel, the shipping facilities, the pros- perity and stability of the wage-earning classes and the moderate cost of living. Mm THE INDIAyAPOT.T S NEWS 1 EDinos INDIANAPOLIS TIltJRSDAY EVENING. OCTOBEIl 20. 1892 GREAT IS CHICAGO. gggs^r^^HiSi^-r-Ss/'HS TO COLUMliLS. :S=~;S' r" ll>* ..|.-ir..-l .1 ,. '.[.„,, bul]J«»,"'l'chl(«^."*«u' "•» 'I-' " -. "'-■■■' ■■"■Hen Till Unltoini lUnk of if '"uin'!S^ CONVERTS TO CLEVELAMD 28 INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. Ill all these regards Indianapolis chal- lenges comparison with any other city in the Union. She does this in no spirit of bluster or bravado. She cites her natural gas, her petroleum and her coal. The pipe-line companies which con- vej' the gas from the field to the city are in the soundest finan- cial condition, and stand read)- to do their part in for- vestment of outside money was made, it was restricted by the co-operative experi- ment. Four years, however, have suf- ficed to carry the experiment to a suc- cessful issue, and while its effect has so far been to retard the industrial develop- ment which the city might have enjoyed under certain other conditions, it has, at least, been of substantial benefit to the small consumer of gas. To-day the dis- advantages which accompanied the co- An E.\st Side Brewery. warding public interests. The city has experienced some delay in realizing upon the .splendid opportunities which the pres- ence of natural gas created. A popular co-operative movement checked the in- rush of large foreign capital which was anticipated, and though an extensive in- operative effort have vanished. Both the large companies engaged in supplying gas to the city are now conducted on well established business principles. Both are out of debt, have extended their sources of supply until they are equal to the demands made on them, and are in a INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 29 position to meet the increasing consump- tion which accompanies the cit}''s growth. With all its other advantages the gas is cheap. Its price is regulated by a city ordinance which, while it allows the earn- ing of heavy profits by the companies, yet keeps the cost to the consumer far below that of any other fuel. The utili- zation of crude oil for fuel was an ex- periment five 3'ears ago ; to-daj' it is a well established and widely demonstrated fact. By special contrivances for prop- erly introducing the oil into furnaces, the flame is rendered clean, inodorous and of intense heat. It is as easily con- trolled, too, as gas. Were natural gas iinknown, crude oil would be regarded as almost a perfect fuel. Already oil has been introduced under the boilers of sev- eral large manufacturing concerns in In- dianapolis with gratifying results. At present it is shipped to the city in tank cars, the run from the oil field requiring about six hours. The expansion of the demand for oil will result in the con- struction of an oil pipe line directly from the field to the city. As to the coal supply, it looms in the background, an unfailing reserve on which to draw in case of a failure or decline in the supply of the more volatile and desirable fuels which have at present usurped its place. Much of the sturdy prosperity of the city is due to her railroads, and with her growth in population and extension of business, their importance to her will increase. There is a degree of interde- pendence between railroads and the man- ufacturing and mercantile interests which. while always present, is greatly subject to varj'ing conditions. In a city with but a single railroad, the merchant and man- ufacturer are compelled to submit often to inferior service and always to extor- tionate transportation rates, while in the city with numerous roads, the shippers are comparatively independent, being assured of prompt service and reasonable rates through the rivalry of the transporta- tion companies in their struggle to se- cure business. An excellent illustration of this has recently been brought to the public attention. The proprietor of a grain reducing mill in which is invested hundreds of thousands of dollars, and which gives employment to hundreds of men, removed his vast establishment from one of the smaller cities of the State to Indianapolis chiefly to secure the advantages of its unsurpassed rail- road service. The conclusion that in the city with numerous railroads, the general prosperity must be far greater than in the city with few or but one, common sense shows to be the cor- rect one. These facts, in truth, are so commonly recognized that they have almost become axiomatic. They are called, to mind here simply to con- nect them directly with that other fact that Indianapolis has transportation facil- ities which in point of competition, of equipment, of wide ramifications, of short lines to the greatest cities and through the greatest agricultural and mineral regions, are uuequaled on the continent. This is a strong assertion, but it is made with an abiding faith that it is true in ^•***^ ,i M i t 1 ■ ■ ■< Kl;i ^bH ' ' INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 31 every particular and can be demon- strated. It should not be forgotten, either, that the value of the railroads to the invested interests of the cit}' is a double one. The merchant not only may secure the most advantageous rates upon the wares which he imports, but the rail- roads enlarge enormously the terri- chants. Every step in the rapid expan- sion of the industries, based on the nat- ural resources of the State, enlarges and improves the markets which naturally be- long to the Indianapolis merchants. The vigor and swiftness with which the natu- ral wealth of Indiana is being developed, is described at length on other pages. Bates House. tory in which he may sell his goods. The development of the industries in the stone, coal, gas and oil fields brings into compact centers large and prosperous bodies of workmen and tlieir families. These communities, in direct communication with Indianapolis, present an attractive and open field for her mer- What is true of the merchants, in regard to the expanding markets for their goods all around the city, is equally true of the maiuifacturers. An immense demand for supplies of many kinds comes from the busy territory which surrounds the city and in large degree is dependent upon it. Stone channelers, 32 INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. stationary, portable and traction engines, drills, derricks, rope, chains, powder, dj'na- mite, miners' tools, lumber, iron and steel tubing, hoisting machinery for mines, oils of various kinds, carts, wagons, trucks, carriages, cars, gas pipes of all sizes and in limitless quantit)^ apparatus for drill- ing gas and oil wells, tanks, pumps, wind- mills, harvesting machinery, threshers, plows, wheat drills, cultivators, and a vast variety of other agricultural implements, chemicals, cured meats, flouring mills, ufacturer who would supply the ceaseless demands which come up from this indus- trial territory and to him who would pur- chase its mineral and agricultural prod- ucts to convert them into finished wares, Indianapolis offers the best of all loca- tions. The universal prosperitj- which has accompanied the manufactories now here is one very striking proof of the truth of this assertion. For several years the rule among Indianapolis manufact- urers has been to enlarge their estab- WlNTER W saw-mills, feed-mills, niachine-.shop equip- ments, electric lights and motors, roofing materials, and an almost endless list of other manufactured articles are constant, never satisfied necessities. Indianapolis is in a position to answer these calls as no other can ever hope to be. She is the natural base of supplies for all the great and growing region around her, and is the natural market toward which its scores of busy communities turn with their wealth of raw material. To the mau- HE.\T MlI,LS. lishnients every twelve or twenty -four months. The expansion of their business has brought a steadily recurring dt-mand for more room and greater facilities. It is not believed that there is a city in the country which can show a higher average prosperity among its manufacturers in the last five years than can Indianapolis. The items of cost in living, and the prosperity of the wage-earning classes in Indianapolis, may be considered together. All things have combined to make the INDIANAPOUS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 33 necessary living expenses in the city moderate. The fertility and extent of the agricultural region immediately around the city has been an important element in this. The level, high ground upon which the city is located has also had an essential part in producing the prevailing others. In every direction from the busi- ness heart of the community, therefore, the people live, not from necessity, but from preference. So wide a choice pre- cludes the exorbitant rents which must always prevail where any particular por- tion of a city is preferable to all others Vance Block. conditions, becau.se it allows so wide a from sanitary or other reasons, and, also, choice in the location of residence addi- prevents real estate from reaching unrea- tions. There is no single section of the .sonable prices. With a circle of fine, city more suitable for residence than high, well -drained land always surround- J - U PI J O X H 0! o INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 35 ing the city, and inviting to suburban improvement, prices can not be forced above fair values. The result is that rents and real values in Indianapolis are lower than in any other city of similar size in the country. A direct effect of these favorable con- ditions is seen in the lower wages paid working men in Indianapolis than in other large cities. L,et it not be under- stood that this means an oppre-ssion of the employed classes ; on the contrary, it is not believed that in any city in the country is labor better rewarded or more prosperous and contented. In cases wherein labor organizations fix the remuneration themselves which their members are paid, they allow lower wages in Indianapolis than in many large cities. The reason for this is that a dollar will go farther in payment of living expenses in this than in other cities. Following along the same line of inquir}', it is found that a surprisingly large per cent, of the wage earners of the city own their homes. So prominently has this come to be recog- nized that Indianapolis is frequently .styled the "City of Homes." Through the beneficent influence of building asso- ciations, thousands of working men in Indianapolis possess comfortable homes and are numbered among the substan- tial, tax-paying, conservative class of the population. No one understands the value of this fact better than the em- ployer of labor. He knows full well that the workman who owns real estate or has a little money in bank is not the labor agitator. He is the last man to strike, is always an advocate of peaceable and conservative mea.sures, has fair ideas of the rights of capital, respects the laws and holds a power for good over the drifting, shiftless, and sometimes reckless element, which may exert an undue influence in any body of employes. So general has the custom become for the wage earner to live in his own house, that there has grown up what might be called the saving habit among the em- ployed classes. No sooner does the young man secure work at the usual wages, than he enters a building associa- tion and begins to lay by a portion of his income every w^eek in anticipation of the day when he will need a home. The extent to which this practice is car- ried is shown in the statement that there are nearly one hundred building associa- tions in Indianapolis, and that the stock actually carried by shareholders amounts to the enormous sum of $20,000,000. This stock is carried by about 35,000 different per.sons. Certainly no more convincing proof of the prosperity of the wage-earning classes could be asked than this. Another . force in Indianapolis which is destined to augment in great degree the stability and efficiency of wage earn- ers, and elevate the character of their .services in intelligence and value, is the admirable manual training system carried on in connection with the public schools. The boy, while educating his mind, is educating his hands. Without extra cost, he enjoys the advantages of the 36 INDIANAPOLLS, INDIANA, U. S. A. best of instruction in the mechanic arts and the use of standard tools and InachinerJ^ The purpose of the school is not simply to teach the boy a trade. He could get that as an apprentice. It is intended to teach him the underlying principles of things at the same time he is acquiring a knowledge of the tools with which he is to work. When a bo)' completes his course, he not only can produce creditable workmanship, but he can make his own drawings ; can plan accurately what is the proper material to use, and how much of it ; he will be and becomes a co-worker. The emploj-er can afford to pa}- him well, because he is worth more, twice over, than the man who picked his trade up in an unsys- tematic, disconnected way, and knows only the drudgery of it, relying on the foreman to do the thinking for him. There are thoughtful men who see in education the solution of the labor prob- lem. Lift the wage earner out of his ignorance and prejudice and narrow manner of life, these men argue, and the difficulties which threaten to overturn the indu.strial system will vanish, while Starch Works. able to compute the strain which will any changes dictated by experience in fall upon the various parts of a machine the relations between employer and em- or structure of any kind which he ployed will be achieved as smoothly as may build: he will have a working water adjusts itself to inequalities of knowledge of physics and chemistry .surface. This attractive theory, it is and higher mathematics. An arti- believed, will in time be in some degree sail who has had such a training as put into practice in Indianapolis, the this school gives, as a foundation for chief agency in introducing the desirable his trade, is able to carry an important conditions hoped for being the city's work from beginning to end, without manual training .system. It is not com- the constant supervision and direction monly understood how extensive arc the ordinarily essential among bodies of resources of this department of the workmen. He is valuable above all school system. Were such a school other classes of labor to his employer, endowed by private means with a fouu- He rises above the plane of the menial dation of one million dollars, interest in 38 INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA. U. S. A. the institution and comment upon its promising future would be aroused all over the country. This precise endow- ment the school has in effect. The stat- ute creating the technic school in Indian- apolis authorizes the conversion of a revenue to its maintenance as great as would be produced from an endowment of one million dollars. The indirect agencies which may be counted upon to be of assistance in the era of business expansion which is dawn- ing upon Indianapolis are numerous. Two which are worthy of especial men- tion are the banking facilities and a public spirit friendly to incoming invest- ment and enterprise. The banks of the city are considered thoroughly safe. In all the panics and heavy failures in Eastern cities in 3'ears, when Western banks, through unfortunate connections, have fallen, when money was locked up and loans were called in, the Indian- apolis banks have stood unshaken. Not a breath of suspicion has been whispered concerning the .soundness of any of them. As an evidence of the new leaven which is now working in the cit^-, the fact may be cited that the bank clearings are increasing at the rate of over fifty per cent, per annum, and the deposits almost as fast. The banks bear the reputation of being liberal, though entirely legiti- mate in their methods. The attitude of public .sentiment in- evitably has much to do with the pop- ularity of a city as a location for the investment of capital from abroad. Cap- ital is proverbially sluggish in its move- ments, and cautious in the extreme. It is not likely to go where it is not wanted, or where it may be burdened unjustlj- or fettered by petty legal enact- ments. Indianapolis was never disposed to repel foreign capital, or to burden it heavily in any way. But there was a period during the lethargy which suc- ceeded the disastrous panic of the sev- enties, when no effort was made to induce capital to come to Indianapolis, and no welcoming hand or word was extended when it came. That period is gone by. The city is awake in everj- fiber. She not onlj' welcomes capital to-day, but goes abroad inviting it to come. She can offer it advantages to be found nowhere else, and takes distinct pleasure in publishing the fact to the world, repeating it and ringing the changes upon it. The Board of Trade and the Commercial Club are organized expressions of this sentiment. The Com- mercial Club, with its one thousand members, sprang into existence with the public weal its .sole object. The Board of Trade is the older and more conserva- tive body. Each organization fills its place, and is essential. The two are not rivals ; they are supplementary to each other. The j-ounger body is impulsive, vigorous, full of spirit and ambition. The older is no less vigorous or ambi- tious, but it is not impulsive. It is staid, and moves more .slowly. It might be said to represent the second thought of the community, while the Commercial Club expresses the impulses and aspira- tions. Both are financiallv of the highest 3^ 40 INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 4f standing, and are fine examples of the result of public spirit controlled b}" great administrative ability. Both spare neither pains nor expense to forward the city's interests, and both are themselves the best of advertisements of the citj^'s spirit and commercial aggfressiveness. Capital is invited to come, and is assured a royal welcome when it accepts the invi- tation. But, while the welcome is hearty, it can be onlj' a manifestation of good will ; it can not assure profits nor declare dividends. It is upon the solid, unchanging mercantile and industrial advantages which the citj' has to offer that incoming capital must ultimatel}' depend. To these the city confidently refers ail comers, complacent in the knowledge that the}' can not be excelled elsewhere. The spirit of progress has pervaded Indianapolis from circumference to cen- ter. It may be felt in the air. It is made manifest in the great movement toward better municipal government ; in the inauguration of an extensive and costly system of street paving ; in the preparation and adoption of a compre- hensive scheme of sewerage ; in the im- provement in the character of the busi- ness buildings erected : in the expansion of the city's retail and wholesale dis- tricts ; in the widespread quickening in the manufacturing interests; in the beginning of a .series of massive viaducts to span the railwaj-s passing through the city ; in the demand for improved .street car facilities, including rapid tran- sit ; in the general introduction of elec- tricity, not only for light, but power ; in the unanimous demand for a better and more attractive and cleaner and handsomer city than Indianapolis has ever been before. INDIANAPOLIS AS A RAILROAD CENTER. ^_l^ ION "^Station- M' ORE than to an)- other single in- fluence, Indianapolis owes her pros- perity to railroads. As has before been remarked, her historj' as a place of com- mercial and industrial importance began with the completion of her first railroad, the old Madison line, which connected the capital with the Ohio River, and thence by water with the outside world. This was slow and circuitous, to be sure, but it was so wonderful an improvement over all that had gone before that busi- ness sprang with a bound into an activ- ity' which the town had never more than dreamed of before. There are many persons living in Indianapolis to-da}', and persons good for years of life )'et, who were in the crowd which gathered to .see the first train come in on the new road. What an incredible advance has been made in the less than half a cen- tury which has elapsed since that day ! Instead of one road without connections, the city now has sixteen roads, radiating in every direction, and, with their con- necting lines, giving Indianapolis direct communication with every corner of the continent. It were not easy to speak too highly of the importance of the city of Indian- apolis as a railway center. Roads extend in every direction, and are numerous enough to insure competition in all. The sixteen lines entering the city are the Panhandle, to Pittsburg and the East ; the Jeffersonville, Madison & Indian- apolis ; the Big Four (C, C, C. & St. h.), to Cincinnati ; the Big Four, to Colum- bus ; the Big Four, to Cleveland : the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Indianapolis ; the Vandalia ; the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago ; the Indianapolis & Vincennes ; the Cincinnati, Wabash «5c Michigan ; the Pennsylvania, to Chicago ; the Lake Erie 42 INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. & Western ; the Big Four, to Chicago ; the Peoria & Eastern ; the Indianapolis & St. Louis ; the Indianapolis, Decatur & Western. These roads are so situated that' iu whatever direction passengers or freight may be transported, they receive the advantage of competition, and have a choice of routes. To the north, five roads are to be selected from ; to the east, the shipper may choose among six roads ; to the south, five roads are open and competing for business ; to the west, choice may be made from nine routes. A Distributing Warehouse. The advantage which this intense com- petition offers to shippers need only be mentioned to be appreciated by men of experience. As a distributing point for manufac- turers and others whose products or wares must go to all parts of the coun- try no city in the United States offers equal opportunities. The location of the city midwa^' between the East and West and the North and South gives it pecu- liar strength as a center of di.stribution. Goods loaded upon the cars in Indian- apolis reach their destination, on an average, quicker than from any other city in the country, and, consequently, at smaller average tran.sportation charges. While shipment from surrouuding cities may reach certain sections of the country more quickly than from here, from no other point will the average time be so short. The importance of Indianapolis in this particular has not been fully appreciated ; but within a year or two, extensive manu- facturers in Chicago and other cities have established distrib- uting stations here. The city is destined to grow to large importance iu this as its facili- ties become better understood. Reverse now the view, and regard Indianapolis, not as a distributing center from which railroads lead to every point of the compa.ss, but, instead, con- INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 43 sider it as a great central station into which lines of railroad from the remotest corners of the country directly extend. Here unfolds to the mind a vast new field of contemplation. Indianapolis, by the same agency which makes it a great base of distribution, becomes a focus for the wares and products of the entire country. The North and South, the East and West, meet quickest and most equitably here, with a fair division of the costs of transportation. The varied materials which are united in manufact- ured wares can be most cheajily and quickly assembled here. Capital is, first of all, conservative and slow to move, and the opportunities which the chief city in Indiana offers in recent years for its profitable and safe investment are only fairly begun to be realized. All the advantage which obtains from being in close and ready communication with other cities Indianapolis is fitted especiall}' to give. She is encircled by a chain of cities, all within a few hours' travel of her. See the links in that chain : Chi- cago, St. Louis, Evansville, Louisville, Cincinnati, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Cleve- land, Toledo, Detroit and Grand Rapids. All are connected with the central city by direct lines of railway, and in a great many instances the shortest route from one to another is through her borders. The importance of the lines of rail- way which meet in Indianapolis is a topic worthy of more than incidental mention. Upon the extent and connec- tions of those roads depend the reliance which may be accorded to the assertions which have just been made concerning the superioritj' of Indianapolis as a cen- ter of distribution and a point easy of access from every quarter of the Repub- lic. Look for a moment, therefore, at the list of railroads which enter this cit)'. The Pennsylvania system, the greatest combination of railways in the world, has in Indianapolis its Western center of radiation. From here lines belonging to the system radiate in four directions. One branch extends to Chi- cago, another to Louisville, another to Vincennes, and the fourth, which is the main stem, eastward to the great cities of the Atlantic coast. These divisions intersect and connect with other great systems, such as the Louisville & Nash- ville, the Chicago & Northwestern, the Chicago, Burlington & Onincy, the Chi- cago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, etc., so that it is difficult to discover any limits to the territory with which Indianapolis has prompt and constant communication. Then there is the Cleveland, Cincin- nati, Chicago & St. Louis system, com- monly called the Big Four. Of its thou- sands of miles of road this city is the center, seven of its divisions converging here. The seven reach to Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, Grand Rapids, Chi- cago, Peoria and St. Louis. The Lake Erie & W-estern system, while not so extensive as the Pennsylvania or the Big Four, yet reaches to Toledo, Detroit, Ft. W^ayne, Chicago and Peoria, and pierces the richest portions of the great Indiana and Ohio gas and oil fields. The Cin- / ' ^ V INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 45 cinnati, Hamilton & Indianapolis is an important division of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Daj'ton system, and is a competitor for business to Cincinnati, Toledo and Detroit. The Louisville, New Albany & Chicago system connects Indianapolis with the cities named in its title. The Vandalia is the chief trunk line between this city and St. Louis and the West, and is in such close combina- tion with the Pennsylvania system that to all purposes it is a part of it. The Indianapolis, Decatur & Western road, while not an integral part of any great system of railways, is an im- portant line, connecting the capital of Indiana with the finest agricultural lands in Illinois. A new line, which will con- nect the city directly with the rich min- eral and timber land of Kentucky, Ten- nessee, Alabama and other Southern States, is projected and in the hands of men who fully appreciate its impor- tance. In another way the railroads have done much for Indianapolis. This is by St. John's C.\thkdr.\l (Catholic). THE INDIANAPOLIS JOURNAL. ESTADLISHED 1823. INDIANAI'OUS, SATURDAY MOKNINO. OCTOUEIl 22, 1892. 3 CENTSI!:.".; THE GREAT FIRE SALE DAMAr::^ Is like an i and grows relentless ihe sale r Suits, Me Hals, iha (some no former V It IS : only at MURP Wholesale ' lopliyr blows trom .«. . '~~~~^— ^ crjb npple. The perfumer d DETROI. The Soullicrn limpire. *Oi'T>it.iu> i.uriKK.k>ia.U>( u>^r.g.H. LUCP 5 CRUSHED COKE FOR SA.I.E INDIANAPOLIS GAS Ca TICKETP TO BE BAD At 49 Sontlr PennsvjTaoia Street Houehton, W.ii:: \ U Kosloa STOCIiHOLDt;i£S- MEETl.va Clothine Cloaks anil Dress Goods OS EAST rnYMESTS The FULLER CLOA K Co B> t<)> W,.l.iB»[nn Sl»«l _BOOK EAROAINa ( OUL'Mni.^ 1 I.UCR, 68' FOB Va'gONw'hEA T Prlnceaa F*lour. luBitiMaiiBUoi I ibu* INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 47 the establishing here of shops, and the Belt road was undertaken as much for employment of an army of men in them the purpose of giving employment to and the yards and train service. The idle workmen as for business investment, Peinisylvania, Big Four, Indianapolis, although the men in control of the enter- Decatur & Western, and Union Railway prise saw in it future profit. But even companies have ex- tensive shops here, which give employ- ment to many hun- dreds of men and cause a distribution of over $60,000 a month in wages. The salaries and wages paid to officers and clerks and train and yard men who have headquarters here amount to fully as much more. The money paid out for supplies is several hundred thousand dollars annually. Taken altogether, the railwaj' establishment of Indianapolis, for its own maintenance, pays out in the city yearly no less than two million dollars in cash. The Belt and Union railways can the most sanguine friends of the Belt road had no idea of the sudden bound in- to prosperity which it was to make. At once, almost, it be- came a great factor in the city's business life. As it is to-day, the Belt is a double- track railroad thir- teen miles long, in- tersecting every rail- road, and giving to each easy access to the large manufac- tories which have grown up along its route. The Belt is indeed a boon to manufacturers. They are by it enabled to occupy the cheaper ground away from the center of the city, and to have the benefit of a situation not only |'^jj)S55i-upon a railroad, but practically upon all WiiniBlitfh not be left out of ^^*->-^-— — iimLLj/mj/y,j, a ^__ consideration in any impartial statement the railroads centering here. A system of of the city's railroad interests. During switching and trackage charges has been the panic following the " flush " times adopted which brings a car from any of the early .seventies the building of the road to any manufacturer's door at a 48 INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. nominal cost. Every j'ear sees new man- ufactories located upon the Belt, and by the close of the decade the road will present the appearance of a Titan's rosary strung with nianul'aoturing iusti- freight trains crept like huge snails across busy thoroughfares. The lessen- ing of the degree of danger to human life by the keeping of the trains outside the city is also an important consideration. LiNSKKu (.)ii. Works tutions. In a word, the impetus which the building of the Belt road gave to manufacturing in Indianapolis has ex- erted a force beyond calculation. Another, less important, but note- worthy- benefit derived from the con- struction of the Belt road was the reliev- ing of the tracks inside the city of the obstruction which was certain to be verj- serious were all the freight moved over them. Now, only freight collected from the depots or destined for points within the city is allowed inside the circle of the Belt. All through freights are moved around the city upon the Belt, and from it switched upon the roads to which they are consigned. This leaves the down town streets which are crossed by rail- roads open for the use of the people most of the time, a condition best appre- ciated by those who have experienced the vexation of waiting while Ions: ON THK Bki.t Railroad. The arrangement bj- which all pas- senger trains on all the sixteen roads entering Indianapolis are brought into one magnificent union station in the very heart of the city must not be overlooked in this record of advantages. The Union Railway Company is a corporation of which the stock is owned by the railroad companies occupying the llnion Station and tracks. Thus the station is entirely in the control of the companies using it, and each occupant paj'S for the privilege according to the number of cars it runs over the Union tracks. There is no finer nor more convenient and beautiful rail- way station in America than the Union StatiDU in Indianapolis. An average of alxnit one hundred and twenty passenger trains enter and lerfve the station every day, and it has been estimated that twenty-five thousand passengers pass throuu:h the station daih-. The llnion 50 INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. tracks are spauued at the crossing of Virginia avenue by an imposing, massive viaduct, of solid masonry and enormous steel girders, and at the Illinois street crossing a tunnel for vehicles and pedestri- ans passes under the tracks. These are but the beginning of an extensive system of viaducts which in time will entirely remove from the public the danger and incon- venience of trains moving inside the city. Indianapolis has been well called the "Railroad City." She has done much for the railroads, and they have done much for her. At her bidding they carry the products of her industries to distant markets and bring in return the varied stores which administer to her wants and pleasures and augment her wealth. Through them her proud position of "gate-way" between the East and West becomes a living force exerted in her upbuilding and prosperity. Looking E.\st To\v.\rd the Union St.\tion. GENERAL REMARKS ABOUT RESOURCES. CITY can not feed upon it- self and prosper. While its "__\^ varied interests are in large degree interdependent, and no one of them can suffer seriously without direct or indirect injury to the others, the general condition of the entire community is ultimately dependent upon resources not arising from the inside workings of society, but originating out- side of and distinct from them. Trace any element of material wealth back to its primal source, and you find it spring- ing from the earth. But the earth does not yield its riches equally from every portion of its surface. It has its deserts, its regions of ice, its areas rich perhaps in some one product, but devoid of others. Again, a territory may exist in which the elements of wealth are crowded together in profusion. In the general di.stribution of the human race over the earth's surface all peoples can not share alike in what Nature has to give. The Eskimo in his hut of snow knows noth- ing of the luxuriance and ease which the native of the tropic enjoys ; nor do the inhabitants of either extreme of climate know of the thrift and vigor of mind and body which has made the races peopling the temperate zones the most powerful and enlightened of human kind. In a smaller way, every community is in chief part dependent upon its circumadjacent natural resources for its material condi- tion ; and the degree of its prosperity or poverty is in accordance with the plenitude of Nature's surrounding pro- vision of wealth-producing materials. A city whose wealth springs from some single possession may grow great and strong, but there is always ahead of it the possibility that its source of strength may fail and its pro.sperity vanish. Cities, populous and rich, have arisen in regions where mines have poured out precious minerals, or where oil wells have brought localities into sudden prominence. The mines have failed, the wells have emptied the reservoirs from which they fed, and the cities have sunk down in ruins and have been almost forgotten. It is the communities which draw from many and varied sources of wealth that have the certainty of growth and power through all time to come. The draught upon any single factor of prosperity is tlien not so relentless, and the failure of any one source of supply, should it occur, can not prove disastrous to the general weal. Upon the broad foundation of a mul- tiplicity of natural resources, coupled with the industrial and commercial aggressive- ness of a people trained in self-reliance and economy, Indianapolis has grown to greatness, and has established her faith in the future. Certainly few cities have grown up among more advantageous nat- ural surroundings. Set in the midst of 52 INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. a territory embraciiia; many thousands of square miles of tlie finest agricultural land on the globe, it would not have been surprising had a flourishing city arisen with no other elements of support than those coming from the cultivation of the soil. But there were other agents of wealth all about, any one of which might have ser\'ed as a foundation for a prosperous commercial and manufactur- ing center. In everj- direction Indian- apolis may reach out and almost at her doors gather up the riches which have been lavished about her. Forests of hard wood ; limitless beds of coal ; hundreds of square miles of stone, unexcelled for architectural uses ; inexhaustible supplies of stone, easily converted into the finest quality of lime or hydraulic cement ; great beds of kaolin, as yet almost unde- veloped, but destined to create wealth and extensive industries in a few years ; clay in all directions, suitable for the manufacture of every kind of brick, from the fine-grained and delicately moulded terra cotta to fire-brick and paving-brick, hard and enduring as granite ; white sand in vast deposits, almost pure silica, and unsurpassed for the manufacture of glass ; natural gas, the most perfect fuel ever known ; and oil fields extensive and rich ; these resources, with the exception of timber and the common brick clay, lie comparatively undeveloped by man. The next decade will witness a growth in the industries connected with the stone and clay and sand deposits of Indiana that would have seemed incredible to the In- dianian of ten j-ears ago. Of the devel- opment and prosperity which have already come, Indianapolis has been the center, and in that infinitely greater expansion and wealth which are to come in the future she will continue the sharer and chief cit)-. Every factor which builds up the State adds to the welfare of its principal city and commercial and industrial center. Just as in the past all roads were said to lead to Rome, so now it ma}- be said that all roads in Indiana lead to Indianapolis. ■illiZl ** -A-.tr ' K C.Yo^rr. Near the Old Covered Bridge. AGRICULTURAL AND HORTICULTURAL. i-i *^;^NDIANAPOLIS is doubly for- tunate in the provision which •'!^r Nature has made for her. ~ ' She not only has a rich soil suitable for profitable agri- culture overlying the greater part of her area, but beneath the soil has nameless stores of coal, stone, gas, oil, kaolin, etc. Of the native wealth beneath the surface something is said elsewhere ; of the agricultural opportunities and products of the State it is purposed to speak here. To saj^ all that might be said on this subject would alone require much more space than can be given to it at this time. Only the merest outline of the facts can here receive mention. The early settlers in Indiana regarded the State as destined to be purely agri- cultural. They knew nothing of the mineral wealth beneath their farms, and did not even care enough about it to make investigation. In very truth, the stoue and coal and fire-clays which now are of untold value could not have then been much utilized, even had the extent of their deposits been known. To make such things valuable there must be rail- roads and cities, populous communities and capital ready for investment. But every pioneer recognized in the level surface of the State, with its deep, black soil covering forest and prairie, and its numerous streams furnishing a never- failing water supply, a future agricultural empire. So it was that the spar.se popu- lation of fift}- years ago tilled the soil. The farmers of those early days were in no sense specialists. The men who gave their entire attention to raising cattle, or horses, or hogs had not yet come west. The pioneer did a little at all branches of agriculture. A few acres of wheat, somewhat more of corn, a potato patch, a cow or two, a team of scrawny horses of different sizes and modes of locomotion, and half-a-dozen thin, sharp-backed hogs, running wild through the fall and put into a pen and fattened a few weeks before being killed for the year's meat supply ; that was about the j'car's result of the farming operations of the average contented, hard- working farmer of half a century or more ago in Indiana. Yet it was not a life to look back upon with pity. There were frequent social amusements in every community : the log-rolling, the house- raising, the quilting, the corn-husking, the apple-cutting, the camp-meeting, the singing-school and the spelling-bee. The people were hospitable, generous, honest, industrious; ate plain, substantial food, wore plain, healthful clothing, and, alto- gether, lived wholesome, useful lives. There were no means of transporting crops of grain or droves of live stock to distant markets. Accordingly, people produced only what was likely to be needed by themselves or their neighbors. A system of exchange and barter in INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 55 man)^ communities almost took the place of money, which was very scarce. The wheat and corn were ground at neigh- borhood mills, primitive aifairs, driven by water or horse-power. Frequently a man who went to mill would be required to hitch his own horse to the horse-power and drive him round and round while the miller attended to the grinding of the grain. An old anecdote, doubtless was exhausted. Then he went over and looked at the tiny stream of meal, about as large as a knitting-needle, running down into the half-bushel measure. " I could eat the meal as fast as vour old mill grinds it," the boy finally re- marked, in a tone of profound disgust. " Oh, yes ; I suppose you could, for awhile," the miller answered, confident in his superior wisdom. " You might for Apartment Hooses, North Illinois Strkht. familiar to thousands, illustrates well the slow, unsatisfactory progress which the rude mills of those days made in dis- posing of their grists : A boy went to mill with a sack of corn slung across his horse's back. The miller emptied the corn into the hopper, started his lazy old horse to moving and the rumble of the mill-stones began. The boy stood around until his patience awhile; but how long could you keep it up?" "How long?" retorted the lad, in fine contempt. "Why, till I starved to death." The great advancement of Indiana as an agricultural vState began at about the same time that railroads first ap- peared in the State. Railroads connected the farms of the West with the markets C.KAND HuTi;i.. GiRi.s' Classical School. INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 57 of the East, and what was of scarcely less importance, connected the manufactories of improved farming implements in the East with the market for their products in the West. Thus the railroads brought a double benefit to the young State, and she began to flourish exceedingly. Her farms began to be better kept and larger, and to wear an air of new thrift and prosperity. Farm houses of a better character appeared, with barns and out- buildings as well. The plows wath wooden mold-boards gradually disap- peared, those of steel and cast iron tak- ing their places. More attention was paid to the breed of horses, cattle and swine, because, after the Eastern markets were brought into reach, it was found that stock of good breed and appearance commanded better prices and was always in demand. The same principle was found to apply to grain. Thus corn and wheat fields not onl)' grew larger and more numerous, but the quality of the grain improved and the yield per acre increased. In the last twenty-five j-ears Indiana has come forward to somewhere near the rank she is destined to hold among the States of the Union as a pro- ducer of grain. This is not true as regards live stock, as in that Indiana is now going ahead more rapidly than ever before, and it is almost certain that she will eventualh' equal or lead all other States in the raising of horses, and per- haps of fine-blooded cattle and hogs. In the production of wheat Indiana has led all other States, never falling below sec- ond or third place in the line. She nearly or quite equals in her wheat crops the great Northwestern States, whose chief and almost only product is wheat. And yet wheat is not Indiana's chief product. Corn is the chief. Over a hundred million bushels of corn are raised in this State every year. Indiana, in truth, with her corn crops, is among the leaders of the great corn-growing States, and with her wheat crops is at the head of the wheat-raising States. From the first early settlements in Indiana corn has been the staple of pro- duction. The rich river bottom lands, of which the State has a large area in the aggregate, are peculiarly suited to the raising of corn. Their soil is a deep black loam of almost inexhaustible fer- tility, and over a large per cent, of it the streams rise in times of high water and deposit new stores of richness suffi- cient to recompense for the loss by cul- tivation. The uplands, too, yield heavy crops of corn year after year, some farms being as generous in their returns as ever after half a century of cultivation. It is in the river and creek bottoms, however, that the greatest crops of corn are raised. It is nothing unusual — in fact, it is common — for corn grown in the bottoms to yield a hundred bushels to the acre, and instances may be gleaned in almost any lowland community of corn crops ranging as high as one hundred and twenty-five bushels to the acre. Of the huge corn crop harvested every year in Indiana a comparatively small propor- tion is shipped outside the State. The greater part is not even removed from Factory on tiik the farms where it grows. Experience has shown the farmer that his corn con- verted into meat is greatly increased in value. Accordingly, instead of selling it, he feeds it, and then sells his fat hogs and cattle. By good management he builds up his profits in this way, and at the same time is following the most con- venient and logical course open to him, and the one which results in the least deterioration of the productiveness of his land. It is estimated that the average corn crop of Indiana is worth no less than $40,000,000, or about twenty dollars apiece for every man, woman and child in the State. Fifty years ago the wheat production in the West was so small as to be com- mercially unimportant. Methods of sow- ing, reaping and threshing were crude and inefficient, and markets were inac- cessible. The demand was light, and prices not such as to encourage the Bp;i,t Railroad. cultivation of more wheat than was necessary for home consumption. It is not without interest to note here that, contrary to ordinary principles of trade, the production of wheat and its price have increased at the same time. When the wheat crop of Indiana amounted annuallj' to but a few thousand bushels, its price at best was from twenty-five to fift)- cents a bushel. When, years later, the annual wheat crop of the State had grown into millions of bushels, Uie price mounted to a dollar a bushel, or more. Excepting the war period, when unnat- ural conditions inflated prices, it may be said, in a general way, that the prices of wheat have ranged greatest when the crops have been largest, until the year 1 89 1. In that year the wheat crop of the State reached the enormous and unprece- dented volume of 60,000,000 bushels, and the price ruled higher than for years, prob- ably higher than ever before, except during fOOBTH EDITIM. The Sun. SimTfOH IS FAEE. NUMBER l.3Ti rNDlANAPULlhi INU. SATrjUPAY. UCTl.lBLR 22. mttU. PRICE ONE CBNT-ft-.-u"!.".* BUSTIMB THE DESit A PAlflETJC SlXJRr "ftwVJ™". X!"'S,' 1 • tn U ""tl 111" '[■• "Pll-Jl »! 1 ;;.-;:'.v."{,T.;i'",?. Xi.'r TA Hflll'LD'^I'ii.'^'ui Bi'i;:,' oHImouftltaluKaHk. StiTSr •■«:■;: r,,'. '- " -■' ■ l''.«,1 1" •' " r -:::',■■■ t:!^ ^? ^.>;,~..,»,«,.,^;_^.„„, ■ ■Wl UN WkllU. Ti Th blFriJFjubl-flor LLr couDIrr Til >•■ nn.kki TK 2't nt cluk huKBM •• A>l( ZiW"-^:, «"o?lM)iuE?6n' ibo* St ol filX'eijl^Sr " "" '" 'k* hlTlHkUllrar pwklai •>uii>lli ■I MolIloB ' TbV C«l™, bridp, nMIt ninJHB^ tMe la lb irpgUlaetlBlJa'lltoI Iron MOU n n*»itBr)'( rNnX'ttouotli/ ikn«D rna kli bMuIi rnni n U* fru dntfkd * iqain Oeton k* CMild k« (topprd. INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 6i the years iufluenced by the Civil War. was above the average, while twenty With the growing demand for wheat bushels to the acre were almost unheard throughout the world, the means of pro- of Now, yields of forty or even iifty In I'AiRv ducing it have marvelously improved. The old laborious methods of preparing the ground, of sowing broadcast by hand, of reaping with a small hook, or even with a cradle, and of threshing with a flail, or by the treading of horses, have passed away and e.xist only in memory. Now the work is done from first to la.st by ingenious machinery, guided by skill and intelligence rather than by brawn. The result has been a decline in the cost of production and at the same time an immense increase in the yield. Kven as late as twenty-five j-ears ago, a yield of fifteen bushels of wheat to the acre was considered very good indeed, and IKW r.\RK. bushels per acre are recorded almost every j'ear, while the average crop for the entire State of Indiana in 1891 was probably not far below twenty bushels per acre. In 1891, the Indiana wheat crop was worth, at the prevailing prices, full $50,000,000. The wheat crop then was worth enough to have gone into tlie markets and returned twenty-five dollars for every human being in the State. Besides the two great staples of corn and wheat, Indiana annually produces millions of bushels of oats, barley, rye and potatoes. Hay, too, is pro- duced by millions of tons, but is chiefly consumed inside State lines, going to H o a S ■s. INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 63 fatten the domestic animals, which, in turn, are a source of enormous wealth. In the raising of fruit, Indiana recog- nizes no superior. Her orchards pro- duce more apples than do those of New York, and more peaches than those of Delaware. It is only within recent years that the adaptability of the soil and climate of this State to the raising of fine fruit has been recognized, and this branch of industry is in its infancy, com- of its agricultural land, are now known to be suited to peach culture and the growing of small fruits as, perhaps, no other region of the United States is. It is believed that in time the southern counties of Indiana will be commonly conceded to be the greatest peach-grow- ing area on the globe. Apples do well all over the State, but are surest and most prolific in the south- ern half. Within a decade has grown Residence, North pared to what the future is destined to show. The industry of peach culture is hardly ten years old, and its growth has been probably fifty per cent, each year. The broken hills and valleys of the -southern part of the State, which for- merly were regarded as the least valuable Dei,aw.\re Street. up a large shipping trade in apples in the southern counties. In almost every small town, commission men establish agencies during the fall and daily buy and ship car loads of apples, which are hauled into the stations by the surround- ing farmers. For years before this 64 INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA. U. S. A. shipping business began, thousands of bushels of apples rotted on the ground in the orchards simply because there was no market for them. Apples were almost worthless during the season of their abundance, and in any community train loads of them might have been purchased for ten cents a bushel. Now, however, all this is changed; the apple crop to many a farmer is almost or quite as important as his wheat or corn crop; he harvests it with as much care, and his Eastern markets with the fruit from the older and more famous orchards of the States long known for their fruit-growing productiveness. Pass from the direct to the indirect agricultural products of Indiana and the results of inquiry are scarcely less grat- ifying ; bj' the indirect products, live stock being meant, in distinction from such direct agricultural products as grain and fruit. The day of "scrub" stock has practically gone by; no repu- ■■% t .■-^■„. ^■-y.^-:-s,>8gid I':xTUAN'CK TO Crow per cent, of profit is often very much greater. A generation ago people .set out orchards for the comfort and con- venience of having plenty of fruit for home use; to-day thej' set them out with the same purpose and certainty of profit that attends the cultivation of any other of their crops. Indiana apples and peaches now compete successfully in the N UlI.I, Cemhthrv. table breeder or dealer in live .stock will tolerate any but well-bred and improved horses, cattle or hogs about him to-day. There are two methods of measuring the advance which has been made in the live stock indu.stry: one is by comparing the number of specialists now devoting themselves exclusively to the breeding of fine grade animals with the number INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 65 similarly engaged at an}- given time in the past; the other by comparing the general average excellence of live stock all over the State at present with what it was at any previous time. The latter test is by far the more valuable, as indi- cating the common advancement of the farming population, although the two are largely interdependent. Where special- ists are numerous, the general average quality of stock is reasonably certain in time to be improved; and, on the other hand, if popular sentiment grows to favor better grades of domestic animals. the State are men who are extensively engaged in raising fine horses, or cattle, or hogs. A growing public sentiment, in the first place, led to this business being taken up, and the business once estab- lished, stimulated and yet further edu- cated the sentiment. Thus by action and reaction has come about a marked improvement in the grade of domestic animals in Indiana within a dozen years. The classes of horses have grown apart, and now a horse is bred especially for heavy work or for light driving or for speed, and the people have come to Residence on North Meridi.^n Street. specialists in breeding are pretty sure to appreciate the fact that they profit by spring up to supply the demand. But having horses suited for the purposes to mea.sure Indiana by either method and whicli they are put. Every farmer has the result will be creditable. All over become to some extent a breeder of INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 67 horses, and the stimulus which urges him constantly on to further improve- ment is the very substantial and appre- ciable fact that the better his horses are the higher are the prices which they will command in market. An inferior animal costs about as much to raise as one of a fine strain of blood, full of spirit, and of handsome form, but the latter will command a vastlj' higher price. With this knowledge ever in the mind of the Indiana farmer, it is uot to be wondered at that the grade of horses produced improves with every year. The same is even more true of cattle and hogs, because the average farmer deals much more extensively in cattle and hogs than in horses. training of race horses. About many cities in the State cluster racing interests of no meau order, and Indianapolis is clearly destined to become one of the great cen- ters for the breeding and racing of fine horses. In the last year an advance in this direction has been made which is of the utmost importance. Horsemen are bringing their stables here, and before the close of the year it is likely no fewer than two hundred and fifty horses of fine blood, bred for speed, will be located in the barns at the State Fair ground, and be in training upon the track there. The industry of raising live stock, and the great industries based upon that, to-day represent investments in Indiana of hundreds of millions of dollars ; invest- Bltf^fi!^.,' A View ok thk Insane Hospital. One of the direct results of the inter- ments on which the annual returns are est which has grown up in the breeding tens of millions, and which, in one way of blooded horses is the attention which and another, give support and employ- of late has been given to the raising and ment to thousands of persons. North I'kxxsvi.vania Strekt, aisovk Skvknth. Nkw Centrai, Christian Church. NATURAL GAS. ^^EW economical problems are so important as those connected with the fuel supply. Fuel, like food and drink, is essential, not only to comfort and health, but to the very existence of human life. For Indianapolis these prob- lems have been reduced to their simplest form by the beneficent provision of Nature itself. No fuel which the world has ever known has pressed so closely upon the very verge of perfection as has natural gas, and in its possession of this treasure the chief city of Indiana is blessed as few other large cities on the globe have been blessed. From its vast subterranean storehouse the fluid rushes, eager to do the service that man desires. It requires no assistance, no forcing; simpl}' must be loosed from its prison- house and guided to the place where it is needed. The onl)' artificial aid neces- sary to the use of gas is in the way of restraining and directing it. When this first expense is disposed of the only work that remains to be done is to reg- ulate the flow of gas from the wells and keep in repair the pipes which con- duct it. The quality of cheapness is only one of the many excellencies of natural gas. It requires no storehouse, no constant forethought in providing a new supply to take the place of that in use. No hauling or lifting or carrj-ing or piling away in the cellar. It produces no ashes, no black smoke, if properly used, no refuse matter of any kind to be unsightly and cause dirt and trouble in the hand- ling. It gives a stead}', intense heat, requiring no attention night or day the winter through, except to turn it up or down to suit the weather, as simply and easily as an ordinary illuminating gas jet is regulated. There is no trouble- some building of fires, no popping of live coals out into the room to be a source of danger and apprehension. The gas is simph' lighted with a match or bit of paper, and then burns without further attention, and without danger. All this applies with full force to the consumption of gas in furnaces and under boilers. Experience has shown that had gas no advantage over coal in the matter of cost Eind convenience it would yet be far preferable to coal, because of its clean, steady, intense and easilj- manipu- lated heat. When all the other advan- tages enumerated are added to this there hardly remains ground of comparison between gas and coal. The first natural gas well in the United States from which flowed suffi- cient gas to be utilized as fuel was in the town of Fredonia, in Western New York, in 1821. The gas was first dis- covered issuing from a spring, and was collected and used in several adjacent K oi J- 'Jl C 7. INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 71 houses with reasonably satisfactory re- suhs. Soon after a small well was sunk, and from it a small flow of gas was obtained. That was the beginning, but it was so small that it was not regarded as important, and such use as had been made of the gas was allowed to fall into neglect. Years after its use was re- vived, and, as the wells were only two or three hundred feet deep, and one well supplied hardly more gas than one house- hold would consume, there came a time tory. The period which may be termed the natural gas era did not begin until a few years ago. The first gas well of the great modern wells was drilled in Pennsylvania, in the outskirts of the vil- lage of Murrysville, some twenty miles northeast of Pittsburg, and was an acci- dent and a surprise. It was a giant, and an unwelcome one, and disgusted the drillers exceedingly. They were pros- pecting for oil. It was in the fall of 187S, and the oil fever in Pennsylvania The Convention Hai,i,. when almost every house of the better was at its height. Every farmer thought class in Fredonia had its own gas well in the back yard. All this is of importance only as showing how long ago natural gas first came into use, and .something of its his- he might have a vast fortune below, and was impatient to learn the truth. So it was that drillers for oil covered the hills and valleys in every direction with their unsightly derricks and punctured the SoLuiKRs' Monument. INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 73 earth in thousands of places. When this most of the time, and lighting up the particular well at Murrysville reached landscape for a long distance. Its roar- what since has been known as gas rock ing could be heard distinctly for six Flats on Indiana Avenue there burst forth such a roar as terrified everybody in the village. The outrush- ing gas drove the drillers away, and, after vainh' trying to control it by vari- ous means, they gave it up, and con- cluded that the money sunk in that well was a total loss. Numerous schemes for harnessing the monster, which became famous as "Old Haymaker," were tried and failed. People were afraid of it, and it roared away, releasing many millions of feet of gas every day. For four or five years this went on, the well burning miles, and people traveled from afar to see it. The inhabitants of Murrysville were driven almost wild by the noise, which made conversation nearlj' impos- sible and ruined sleep. Scarcely did the village know what darkness was during all those years. Before this famous old well was con- quered and put to work supplying the city of Pittsburg with fuel, the value of natural gas had become well understood, and people in localities remote from the Murrysville field began to drill experi- INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 75 mental wells, hoping to discover that they too had been provided for by Nature. It was not a great while before several other gas fields had been discov- ered in Pennsylvania, and about 1S84 or 1885 drillers at Findlay, Ohio, were re- warded with success also. The first natural gas well in Indiana was drilled in 18S6, at the village of Eaton, Delaware county, twelve miles north of Muncie. Several years before, Mr. W. W. Worthington, manager of the Ft. Wayne, Muncie & Cincinnati railroad, had drilled a well about three hundred feet deep at Eaton. It was of no ac- count, and was abandoned. After gas had been discovered in Ohio, Mr. R. C. Bell and Mr. Worthington, both of Ft. Wayne, visited Findlay, Ohio, and saw the great well there. They came awa)- enthusiastic, and, after some discussion, decided to resume operations on the old Eaton well. They did it partly to get the benefit of the work already fairly started and partly because they fancied the rocks about Findlay and Eaton were similar. This fancy, while probably of no real significance, nevertheless led to the discovery of gas in Indiana in paying quantities. The drill reached Trenton rock, and the gas rushed out with a roar wliich set the good people of Eaton wild with excitement. The well seemed a monster then, but after others which really were large were drilled, the orig- inal well was found to be small. Its flow was about one million cubic feet a day. After this the development of Indi- ana's gas field was rapid, and soon be- came enormous. Every city, every town, every village, every farming community within a hundred miles of Eaton organ- ized companies and began to drill wells. Thousands of towering derricks marked the sites where drilling was in progress, and one might ride through the country for hours upon a railwaj- train with scarce a moment in which one or more of the gaunt, skeleton-like structures were not to be seen from the car windows. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were thrown away before the extent of the gas field was learned, and hundreds of wells were drilled that produced gas of which not a tithe could be consumed by legit- imate means, the remainder of the flow being allowed to run to waste. It was estimated that for two or three 3'ears after gas was discovered and developed one hundred million cubic feet of it was utterly wasted every day. When the experimental well drilling had definitely determined its bounds, the area of the Indiana gas field was found to be very much larger than that of any other known. In Pennsylvania are many small fields without apparent connection with each other, but which in the aggre- gate form a large area. In Ohio is but one field, with some five hundred or si.x hundred square miles of area. In Indiana is but one field, also, but its size, including all the territory in which a well will pro- duce any gas, is between five thousand and six thousand square miles. Of this great expanse probably three thousand square miles are underlaid bj' gas in quantity sufficient to produce wells of the first class. 76 INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. Upon this tremendous store of natural only be fully appreciated by a trip over gas Indianapolis draws for her fuel sup- the lines through the gas territory. Ex- plj'. A system of pipe lines and wells tending northward from the city are four of a magnitude undreamed ol by most trunk lines of gas mains. Almost par- Tun Denison. of those who use the gas, conducts it allel they run for nearly twenty miles, from tlie field to the stoves and grates then diverge and enter an indescribably and furnaces of the consumers. Proba- complicated network of lateral and minor bly fifty thousand natural gas fires burn mains. Over a territory twenty-five miles all winter long in the city. The quan- long and from three to ten miles w-ide tity of gas necessary to supply them is are scattered the wells which send gas not less than seventy-five million cubic humming along the lines to Indianapolis, feet a day during the six cold months. Two main trunk lines, which receive the While it is impossible to judge from gas from the small lines directly con- this computation the actual extent of the nected with the wells, extend through pipe line system, one may at least form this field its entire length. From the some idea of its magnitude, which can northern limits of the city to the most INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 77 distant wells which contribute to her fuel supply is a distance of forty-five miles. Full two hundred gas wells unite in this great work of furnishing a city its heat. The wells are not very close together, and are in ravines and on hills ; in the woods and in the open fields ; near trav- eled roads or far from any highways, lyike some huge circulatory sj'Stem, the subterranean pipes connect all the sources of supply and, collecting the gas from all, pour it into the city. The pressure of the gas as it rushes from the wells the city is reached. At the cit}' limits the gas flows through regulating stations, which reduce its pressure much lower still. In this system of pipe lines, contain- ing many hundred miles of connected pipes, full three million dollars has been invested. But, while this is true, the cost of fuel in the city of Indian- apolis has fallen to less than half what it was before the discovery of gas. As shown elsewhere, the city lies within easy reach of exhaustless beds of coal. Residence, North Meridian Street. ranges from two hundred to three hun- and has never known what high-priced dred and twenty-five pounds to the square fuel is, and yet, compared with what she inch, but the friction of the pipes reduces now pays for gas, the old coal prices this to a pressure less than one hundred appear exorbitant. When for less than pounds to the square inch by the time thirty dollars a large house mav be thor- INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 79 oughly heated for twelve months, and a poor man, with his one or two rooms or his cottage, may have an abundance of heat for from ten to twenty dollars a year, with fuel for cooking included, there certainly seems little remaining to desire in that direction. Then to this cheapness add the additional qualities of cleanliness, convenience, steadiness and reliability, and you have the most per- pardon is craved here for a momentary consideration of the spectacular phase of the natural gas presence. Few sights are grander than that of a burning gas well at night. The flame rushes from the mouth of the pipe with a deafening roar which, for many rods around, pre- vents a spectator from hearing his own voice, and leaps toward the sky, which hangs, black as ink, apparently close rniMC School No. 32. feet fuel ever known. Its cheapness above. As the flame rises it expands, would make it popular though it were until, in case the well i.s a very powerful as dirty and troublesome as coal, and its one, it is sometimes a hundred feet high cleanliness and convenience would popu- and forty or fift)' feet in diameter. Then larize it though it were as expensive as this vast mass, whipped and torn by the coal. air currents which swirl and eddy around While it is a diversion from the strict it, flares and veers, now seeming to line of the purpose to set forth the ad- squat in fright, now to leap upward vantages of Indianapolis as a favored with the fierceness of some huge beast commercial, industrial and social center, of prey, again to sweep with an angry So INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. roar to one .side and .stoop almost to the earth. Now and then some great fragment of flame is torn from the main body, and, ila])- ping aud hissing like a banner from the infernal regions, rides wildly np- on the breeze an instant and vanishes. The eye tires and the strain np- on the ear becomes painful. The .spectator finds himself involun- tarily wondering if the roar aud flame will never cease. There is a feeling that the mighty performance is carried on with such a reckless disregard of material and under such a terrific tension that it can not long continue — that Nature herself must rest and recuperate .soon. But no ! On aud on it goes, like the falls of Niagara, aud finally, wearied aud almost stunned, the spectator who has witnessed the scene for the first time turns away. Half a mile and he looks back. Through the trees, perhaps, he sees the great torch bounding and stooping, as though vainly trying to free ;.\\ A r Tin; Li 'I NTKV Li.i. i:. itself from the bond that holds it to the earth. Its wild motiou throws weird, shifting shadows over the country round ; its roar, muffled by the distance, comes across the fields sullen and changeful. A mile away : Over the trees a fitful, throb- bing light comes and goes, flares and fades. On the dark sky above, au angry, livid blur of red, brightening and failing and wavering in sympathy with the rag- ing prisoner below. Up through the dense night air, heavy with moisture, still comes the .sullen roar, faint and softened, like the humming of a hive of bees in the summer evening. -^'-■k' Furniture Factories Along the J. M. & I. R. R. ,<^^i«i-" --. :i\^ INDIANA COAL-MEASURES. ^HAT mineral product which in the past has contributed most to the wealth of Indiana is coal. And yet the coal e beds of the State are hardly disturbed, so great is their extent compared to the num- ber and magnitude of the mines. Hardly enough miuiug has been done, in truth, to determine the area of the coal- field or the number of workable beds which are to be found one below an- other. All the coal underlying Indiana is bituminous, but it varies from the firm, fine-grained cannel, capable of taking a high polish, to the hard, brittle block coal, which will not cake in burning. The area of the coal-measures of the State is estimated to be seven thousand square miles, and in many parts of the field twelve veins may be pierced by a perpendicular shaft a few hundred feet deep. These seams of coal are at depths ranging from the surface to three hun- dred feet below, their average depth be- ing about eighty feet. The fine seams, which are commonly worked, vary from two or three to eleven feet in thickness, and average about four feet, an average which proves the coal to be, as a rule, conveniently and cheaply mined. The abundance of coal in Indiana is a matter of surprised comment to persons visiting the fields. It is no unusual thing to notice a black horizontal stripe several feet wide marking the face of the bluff along some stream. Occasionally two, or even three, such stripes lie parallel to each other, with layers of clay" or shale between. These are the outcroppiugs of coal seams. Frequently, as the weather or high water causes the face of such a bluff" to crumble away, great fragments will break from the exposed edges of the coal, and, rolling to the foot, accu- mulate in heaps, ready mined for the neighboring farmers to haul home for fuel. In regions where the coal beds lie near the surface such outcroppiugs are exceedingly common along the banks of streams which have cut deep courses, and the farmers often have their private mines or drifts, where they burrow away at getting out their fuel supply in the intervals of farm work. While much coal is mined by drifts, which are tun- nels entering hill-sides at an incline, more and of a better quality lies deeper, and must be brought to the surface by hoisting up perpendicular shafts. There are whole townships, almost whole coun- ties, underlaid by these rich coal beds, and not yet developed by the investment of a dollar, beyond what the farmers have put into their small mines for furni.shing their home fuel. In the years to come all this will be changed. Millions of dollars will go into machinery and mines, and tens of millions will come out in profits. W a. INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 83 The block coal district has been more calculated by Prof. Rogers, thus: "The extensivelx- de\-eloped than any other, dynamic value of one pound of good The superlative quality of its product steam coal is equivalent to the work of and the fact that it was pierced bv a railroad years before any other coal-field in the State was opened to the markets, account for its fame and the extent of its output. So far as has been shown, block coal un- derlies an area of about six one man for one day, and three tons are equal to twent>- years' hard work of three hundred days to the year. The usual estimate of a four-foot seam is that it will yield one ton of good coal ^' ^_^ for every square yard, or about five thousand tons to the acre. Each Stk.\m Pump Works. hundred or seven hundred square miles, square mile will then contain three mill- in the western part of the State. It is ion two hundred thousand tons, which, remarkably free from sulphur, phosphor- in the total capacity for the production ous or other foreign substances. This of power, are equal to the labor of over quality, in connection with its richness one million able-bodied men for twenty in carbon, makes it especially valuable in years." This computation by Prof Rog- the manufacture of steel and for refining ers applies to a single four-foot seam of and rolling-mill uses. It has no superior coal underlying a single square mile, for the more common demands of do- Now, take up the calculation where Prof. mestic consumption. It burns freely, with a bright flame, and leaves a very slight residuum of white ash. The tremendous amount of force stored up in coal has been carefully Rogers left off and apply it to Indiana's seven thousand square miles of coal- fields, underlaid by four or five seams of coal, each four feet thick. The result gives a showing of stored up power Dksk Kactorv ox L. H. & \V, R. R .Mai.i,i-;.\hi,k Iron W'ukks at IlAicin ii.i.i-; INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 85 utterly beyond the grasp of human com- prehension. It is estimated that at pres- ent, capital amounting to about three and a half million dollars is invested in coal mining in Indiana, and that the annual production of coal is fully two and a half million tons, worth over tlnee million dollars. The luimber of men employed in and about the mines is of this expansion, and the rate of in- crease during the last five years has been slower. Now, coming back directly to the purpose of this brief resume of the coal wealth of the State, it should be recalled that Indianapolis lies but fifty miles from this inexhaustible fuel supply, and that numerous railroads which trav- erse the coal territory can tran.sport Home of Ex-Govhrnor A. G. Porter. about seven thousand. For fifteen years unlimited quantities to the city on a few prior to the discovery of natural gas in hours' notice, and at prices which, Indiana the coal industry grew at the compared with the cost of coal in many rate of twenty-three per cent a year, cities of the country', less fortunate in The advent of gas checked the rapidity situation, seem almost ridiculously low. CONCERNING STONE, 'EXT to the coal industry, in the extent of develop- ; ment of natural resources, in the State, is the stone business. The quarrj^ing and manufacture of stone and stone products, such as lime and hydraulic cement, are car- ried on in many places and upon a comprehensive scale, and }et, when one considers the vastness of the stone deposits of the State, the industries based upon them seem puny and insig- nificant by comparison. The truth is, the stone industry of Indiana, though extensive considered alone, is in its in- fancy compared to what it is destined to be in a few years. This is not idle boasting. The man who investigates the stone fields of the State, and examines the quality as well as the extent of the deposits, will discover that it is no easy matter to overrate the value of Indiana's stone. This is true, not only of the limestone, which has already become famous all over the continent, but of the sandstone as well, whose excellence is only beginning to be understood. Three qualities are necessary to the best pos- sible building stone. They are dura- bility, workability and beauty. It is im- portant, also, that it should be cheap. All these qualities, it may be said in the beginning, the building stones of Indiana possess in eminent degree. A large area in the western part of the State, extending north and south for near two hundred miles, is rich in sand- stone perfectly adapted to building pur- poses. This stone is fine-grained and massive, homogeneous, non-cleaving and exceedingly strong in all directions. Maurice Thompson, the well known author and geologist, has made a careful study of the building stone deposits of Indiana, and is enthusiastic concerning their value and extent. Speaking of the sandstone, Mr. Thompson says : " It comes very .soft from the quarry, which makes it remarkably easy to cut ; after- ward it dries quickly, takes on a lively glow and holds its color perfecth'. In the western part of the State are inex- haustible beds of this beautiful stone. Blocks of the better class of this are so soft on coming from the quarrj- that they may be hewn into any shape with a common ax, and will harden in a few days to such a degree that, upon being .struck with a hammer, they will give forth a clear, metallic sound and emit sparks like flint. Although the quarry- ing of sandstone has not j-et come to be of that importance in Indiana which the value of the deposits demands, still it has been increasing yearly, and must soon take its place among our greatest industries. We .shall not always go to far northern and eastern regions to im- port a material which lies at our feet Y. :\I. C. A. Buii.iiiNf.. INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA. U. S. A. 89 ready for use. The best modern archi- tects have long made use of sandstone similar to ours in the most costly and extensive structures of European cities." The Indiana sandstones are just now beginning to be appreciated for what will multiply a hundredfold. It is con- fidently believed that in quality, in vari- ety and richness of color, and in ease and cheapness of production, these sand- stones need not fear the competition of the world. The colors which are com- they are worth. Quarries here and there mon and available for the quarryman are opening up and increasing their out- are brown, buff, gray, pink, straw color, put as the demand for the stone in- yellow, white, red and black. In fact, creases. Before long the demand will all these colors have been found in large seek the supply, and then the (juarries deposits within the limits of a single Ri;sii>i;xci'; "x Xcihth Dki.awark STuicirr. Kl-.SIDKNCK HX XOKTH Ml-.KIUIAX Sl'lOiHT. INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S, A. county. Ill chimneys and foundations, and here and there a farm house, the sandstones of Western Indiana have been in use half a century, and it is an inter- esting and significant fact that they are as firm and smooth and free from crum- bling or apparent weather wear as they were when they were laid in place fresh from the quarry. These tests have con- clusively proven the durabilit}- of the stone. Its strength and workability and beaut}' and abundance are susceptible of proof any day that one cares to go about 91 already learned to turn when the finest building material to be had is wanted. The quarrying of limestone in this vState is not an old industry, but the product of the quarries was of so plainly superior a character from the very first that it sprang with a bound into public favor. The small beginning of the stone busi- ness a few years ago has rapidly swelled to large proportions, and yet the im- mense deposits of fine stone seem hardly disturbed b>- the scattered assaults made upon them by the quarrymeu. For over M.\DISON A\'^NUE an investigation in the region where it lies. Capital from other States is already going into the new .sand.stone quarries, and no one who is familiar with the facts can doubt that in a few years they will become the basis of an immense industry. To Indiana's limestone it is, however, that the builders of the countrv have Furniture Factory. a hundred miles the beds of limestone suitable for building purposes extend— from Greencastle on the northwest to Salem on the .southeast, and averaging several miles wide. This stone has be- come famous as "the Indiana Oolitic." Ideally perfect limestone would be com- posed of pure carbonate of lime, but this perfection is never found. In .some INDIANAPOI.IS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 93 Indiana oolitic limestones the proportion of foreign substances is onlj' three per cent., which is about as nearly pure as any stone known. " Next to marble in beauty and susceptibility to perfect finish as regards application to architecture, is the close-grained oolitic stone. Although coming comparatively soft from the quarrj', oolitic stone has a peculiar be bent \-er},- perceptibly, and when the force is removed it will spring back to its normal state with the promptness and energy of steel. Its tone, when struck, is a clear, musical, bell-like note. When first quarried it is almost as easily cut as sandstone, yielding readily to tools of all kinds. It is then soft, and yet tough enough to hold well the finest figures Engi^ish Lu toughness and density, and withal a dry- ness, which render it a puzzle to every examiner. It is flexible, elastic, re.sonant, uniform in its grain, equally .strong in every direction and perfectly homogene- ous. These qualities give it the best possible power of resistance to strains or crushing force. A bar of this stone may THER.\N Church. of carving. It comes from the quarry cut by steam channelers into blocks or quadrangular columns six by ten feet by one hundred feet long, if desired. Its color at first is a pale brownish shade, which gradually lightens on exposure to the air to a soft cream or grayish white." INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 95 Within the last five years the prac- The purchaser had no sooner gained tical interests in the oolitic deposits have possession of the tract than he caused more than doubled. During that time the the earth to be removed from the stone stone trade has grown with a constantly in several patches, so that the quality increasing momentum, and day by day of the deposit might be ascertained. In the quarried stone is reach- ing new fields of demand. The prosperity of the stone interests has natural- ly stimulated activity in other lines of business. Prices of real estate have gone up to figures un- dreamed of a few years ago by the farmers who tilled the soil above the stone. Towns have grown rapidly, yet .substantially, for the growth has not been the result of ficti- tious "booming" of values. In many instan- ces the opening of new quarries has caused farm- land prices to fairl)' leap up- ward. An in- less than a }ear this man had ceded ten acres of the tract to a stone company on condition that he should receive six thousand dol- lars of paid up stock and that the compau)' should construct a railroad switch from the main line into the tract. Twelve acres he sold outright to another company for forty - two hundred dollars in cash, and the remaining six acres he still holds, intend- ing to retain it until the quarries started near it become extensive, when it can doubtless be sold for a thousand dollars an acre or more. stance is recalled of a man who pur- All this from an original investment chased twenty-eight acres of rough land, of not over three hundred and fifty overgrown with bushes and scrubby tim- dollars, and all within the last twelve ber, for three hundred and fifty dollars, months. While such marked profits as this 4 ^CEI'-3:\» ^ir v^ ■«-» *Ttti o 'J o 2 INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 97 recorded are of course exceptional, the}- differ in degree only from many other fortunate real estate transactions, and the force of all in this connection is to em- phasize the enormous strides which the stone industry in Indiana is making. And this marvelous advance is not des- tined to be temporary. It is based upon the firmest foundations. The use of stone can never cease. Substitutes may be found for coal, for iron, for brick, for wood, but as the United States becomes older and richer, and people find time to think more about durability and solid- ity and beauty, there will be a constantly increasing demand for building stone. Indian \ Tniki^i: i;rii.MNi'., One important advantage which Indiana stone has over the stones of many other places is that it lies almost on the sur- face of the ground. The five or ten feet of earth which covers the stone can be quickly and cheaply removed by horse- power plows and scrapers, and the stone, of which as large an area maj' be cleared off at the first as desired, lies so level and convenient to quarry and hoist upon the cars that the process is compara- tively inexpensive. As has before been said, the stone business in Indiana, though large, is in its infancy. As compared with the prob- abilities of the future, it is scarcely a be- ginning. And j'et within the last ten 5'ears it has made notable progress. The finest and costliest steam machinery is employed in all the largest quarries. Steam channelers cut the blocks of stone from their .solid bed, ranging from twenty to sixtj- feet thick, where they were deposited atom by atom countless ages ago. Steam hoists the stone from the excavation and loads it on the cars ; and in the shops connected with the quar- ries, steam saws the rough SI i kIm stones into slabs and blocks i^^H and prisms, or turns them into cylindrical columns or orna- mented cornices or balustrades, as may be desired. There are now about two hundred com- panies, or individuals, which 98 INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. own stone quarries in the State. This is an average of more than two to each county. The amount of capital invested in quarries in 1890 was $4,294,943. The number of men employed in the quar- ries in that year was 4,334, and the wages paid them $2,171,375.10. The ap- proximate total output of stone was goes into almost every vState east of the Rocky Mountains, and that costly and enduring monuments attest its superi- ority at the very gates of all the other most celebrated quarry fields. It is car- ried triumphantly beyond the marble regions of Tennessee and the granite of Georgia ; over the limestone ledges of ^-m^i m^.. ^3«iiiiiii!!!:!:[>!i Business Blocks on Virginia Avenue. 20,649,276 cubic feet, worth $3,312,446.70. Alabama and into the central cities of Quoting once more from Mr. Thomp- Texas. Missouri calls for it ; Chicago son: "It would be interesting, if it were must have it, and does have it every possible," says he, " to give a statement day in the year ; Cincinnati, New Or- showing the scope of the commerce in leans, Philadelphia, New York, Atlanta stone from Indiana ; but we can only and hundreds of other cities and towns state that our best building stone now are using it freely in preference to any INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 99 other stoue. Its use is its advertisement; for wherever it is seen in a building its superiority is not to be overlooked or dis- credited." Indiana has shown her high ap- a half million dollars, is of the oolitic stone ; so are the handsome new build- ings of the Indianapolis Public Library and Commercial Club. But the reputa- Governor's Room in the State House. preciation of her stone by the generous use which she has made of it. Her Capi- tol, costing two million dollars, and which is one of the most beautiful public build- ings in America, is constructed entirely of oolitic stone. Her Soldiers' Monu- ment, costing three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and the grandest memorial on the. contiuent, is of her own ooitic stone. Court-houses all over the vState are of Indiana stone. The Marion County Court-house, which cost one and tion of the oolitic stone is even greater abroad than at home. State-houses, hotels, court-houses, residences, chambers of commerce, business blocks in hundreds of cities speak its fame. The time has come when those who contemplate the erection of a great building pause first to consider the merits of Indiana's stone, that they may secure something which will endure through ages, and which to succeeding generations will stand an honor to the memory of its builders. INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. But even yd the tale of the Hoosier and favoraljly known as the stone itself, stone fields is not all told. The great It is at present manufactured chiefly in lime and cement industries of the State the southeastern part of the State, but have not yet been touched upon. In as the industry grows it may extend their way these products of the stone over a much greater area. Lime may be are of the same high ([uality as the produced at almost any point in an area RliblUUNCK ON CKNTR.\I, AVENT'K. stone itself. Full\- two million bushels of probably a thousand square miles, of lime are manufactured in Indiana and the stone is so easily reducible that every j'ear, worth three and a half the process is cheap and rapid. In the million dollars; and probably twice as cement and lime industries many hnn- much hydraulic cement as lime. The dred thousand dollars are invested and hjdraulic cement is almost as widely an army of men given means of support. TIMBER SUPPLY, 3\lRST of the State's natural resources to be recognized and put into use was its forests. Thousands of square miles were covered b}' a massive growth of oak, wal- nut, ash, beech, poplar, cherry, hickorj-, gum, sj^camore, maple and other valuable species. They con- .stituted a source of wealth quick to catch the eye, and simply and cheaply converted into cash. It must be ad- mitted that the State's earlier settlers failed entirely to appreciate the future value of the timber which encumbered the lands desired for cultivation, and that, in consequence, they destro^-ed giant growths, which, had thej' been spared twenty-five years, would have been worth several times over the value of the ground denuded of them. But vast areas of magnificent timber yet remained intact when enterprisnig men came to realize the wealth contained in them. Then the era of saw-mills began. In a thousand communities the | singing whirr of the circular saw was heard, and in all the towns and cities planing-milLs sprang into existence Lumber was shipped east in train loads — the manufacture of finished products, except in house building, not being intro- duced until a later day. Gradually the idea took form that the money made b)' Eastern manufacturers from Indiana woods might as well be made at home, and from that time all the processes of converting our timber into the fini.shed product have been accomplished within a few miles of where it grows. Wagons, carriages, furniture of infinite variety, and interior house finishings are now made at home, and the country' has not seen their suj^eriors in excellence or beauty. In the earl}' days, every section of the State contributed to the timber supply, though the central and southern INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. lO.^ portions yielded the richest variet}' of valuable woods. To-day, the areas over- grown with the most valuable species of trees for manufacturing purposes in- cludes substantially the southern one- third of the State. Although the supply is not what it was before Indiana became a great agricultural common- wealth, it is yet capable of supplying the heavy demands made upon it for many years to come. The growing value of Indiana hard woods for the higher classes of work, has, to a large extent, removed them from the field of common use. For instance, since oak has become one of the most [Kjpular woods for furniture and for the interior decoration of costly houses, it has grown too valuable to be u.sed for the building of barns and The Coi'NTKV Ci.ru Hoi .■,!•.. fences. At the same time, our railroads give direct communication with the great pine forests of the Carolinas in the South, and Michigan and Wisconsin in the North, affording an abundance of cheap timber. This, con,sidered in connection with the increasing value of hard woods at home, accounts for the fact that, while train loads of manufac- tured and unmanufactured products of Indiana forests are annually shipped awa>-, the land owners who profit by the sales import the cheaper timber for their own building. To the abundance and excellence of the hard woods native to Indiana, can be directh- traced the greatness of the wood manufacturing industries of the State. These industries have prospered and nuiltiplied, until Indianapolis has become the seat of the mo.st ex- tensive manufactories of certain kinds of furni- ture in the world, and other cities of the State have built up immense industries and large populations upon the same foundation. In its rough-sawed form, Indi- ana hard wood now is in constant demand all over the United States, and in the form of fur- in'ture of all kinds it goes to every civilized country on the globe. RKSiiii';Nt;i'; on North Dki.awark StkicivT. ^^^■JitV* ^1' \^':jL 1 ' 'lit .j^ ifei r^F W- ,yl fi ^ yoiK«ai ii d# 1 AI'ARTMI-;NT HolSKS on N\)RTH DKLAWARIv Strkkt. FUEL FROM THE OIL FIELD. |\V0 years have not elapsed at this writing, since the first oil well was drilled in the region now famous as the Indiana oil field. The discovery of oil, however, is like the finding of precious metals, in the rush of capital and energj' which it evokes. Work which, under ordinar)' circumstances, would be the slow outgrowth of a lifetime, is achie\-ed in a few months by the terrific energy which inspires men who are excited bj' the prospect of sudden riches. The dis- covery of an oil well in the edge of the same region of the State which a few years later became famous for its nat- ural gas. The rush of the experienced oil men to the new Indiana field, brought in its wake a liost of speculators, la- borers, capitalists and contractors, and for several months the scene presented a spectacle of the greatest activity. Reservoirs for storing the oil were an immediate necessity, as were con- necting pipe lines, pumps, derricks, drilling machinery, etc. As was to have been expected, the Standard Oil Com- pany was early on the ground leasing Lorraine Block. gas field, told an alluring tale of imme- territory. An army of men soon had diate opulence to the "old timers" who changed the face of nature greatly, remembered the exciting days when oil Towering derricks were to be seen was discovered in Pennsylvania, in the everywhere, and relays of workmen io6 IXDIAXAPOIJS, INDIANA, U. S. A. pushed the slow drills downward day and night. The Standard and other companies constructed extensive groups of huge iron tanks, in which to accu- mulate the oil, and a strong, disagree- able odor permeated the air over scores of square miles. The results of the hastj- operations were gratifying. Hun- dreds of wells were pouring out oil in a few months. Analysis of the product proved it to be of excellent quality, rich in the elements neces.sary to a good illu- minant, and in many instances containing the heavier ingredients such as are valuable in lubricating oils. The field is still rapidly growing in importance. The constant drilling of wells is ever}- week enlarging the developed area, and as j-et, the limits of the oil producing territory are unknown. Until they are definitely discovered by ex- perimental drilling, no one will be able to estimate the value of the Indiana oil field. Enough is already assured, however, to cause it to be classed among the great oil fields of the country. There is no need to dwell upon the value of crude oil as a fuel here. The invention of devices for introducing the oil into furnaces has made it one of the simplest, cheapest, and most reliable of all fuels, and has vastly enlarged the demand for it. Pipe lines have been constructed hundreds of miles for the purpose of conveying crude oil to cities to be used as fuel. Entirely across the northern portion of Indiana extends a line of pipe carrying oil from the Ohio field to Chicago, and hundreds of Chicago manufacturers are profiting by the enter- prise. This line of pipe was laid before the Indiana oil field was discovered. As yet no pipe line taps the new field. y^ ~\ ^ Large quantities of oil are „ y^j shipped away in tank cars and used for fuel in many cities. Much is refined and becomes Kl,KV.\TOR " I).' INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 107 illuminating or lubricating oil. Indiana- month more manufacturers are taking polls is the one large cit)^ near the field, up the use of the oil, however, and were and is the logical terminus of a pipe it as convenient and cheap as it would line such as will relieve the field of the be with a pipe line laid, there would Sl'l'.NCKK vast output of oil which the enormous development of the territory is causing. Shipment in cars is slow, clumsy and comparatively expensive, and can only serve while a field is new and but par- tiall}' developed. As things now are, Indianapolis has made only a beginning in the utilization of fuel oil. A few of her manufacturers have fitted their fur- naces for burning oil, and their experi- ence, extending over periods ranging from a few months to a year or more, has been highly encouraging. Every IIuuSK. without doubt follow a heavy demand. On the present advantage of crude oil to the city, therefore, not a great deal can be said; of its future utilization much of import to the city will depend. The field is not fully developed, and its possibilities can not now be foretold, further than to say they are enormous. The uncertainty is not whether the benefits to be derived from the field will be important; but how important? There is every reason to predict in unqualified utterances that the near io8 INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. future will behold Indianapolis supple- menting her natural gas with a practi- cally limitless supply of fuel oil. The Standard Company, in constructing a pipe line to the city, will be only pur- suing the same policy that it has adopted elsewhere. It has vast interests in the field, and the sooner it can realize on them, the greater its profits will be. The immense output of oil in the field must be consumed. It can not accumu- The adage "to him who hath shall be given," has been curiouslj- illustrated in the history of Indianapolis and her fuel supply. Situated on the rim of one of the richest coal fields in the world, the city seemed especially for- tunate in her fuel provision, and was the envy of other cities to whom coal had to be transported long distances at heavy expense. Then the discovery of natural gas occurred, and cheap as her Ki-.siiii-:nci-: ox late indefinitely. Then, too, there are heavy moneyed interests at the city end of the line which are clamoring for what the oil field alone can give. Al- ready capitalists in Indianapolis have .seriously discussed a project for piping oil to the city. The time is coming, and is not distant, when a steady current of oil will pour into the city, adding an important element to the industrial growth which the community is entering upon. I'AKK A\K.N'ri;. coal was, and abundant and excellent as it was, Indianapolis practically discarded it for gas. Finally, an oil field was found, furnishing a third fuel supply upon which the city could draw without limit and at nominal cost. Thus, while most of the cities of the country would deem themselves wonderfully fortunate had they near at hand either coal, gas or oil, Indianapolis already having one, was given, in addition to this, the other two. KAOLIN, CLAY AND GLASS-SAND. ^IvAY is so common, that at first thought the idea of its having an economic value, aside from its agricultural jirfa "'^i'ity, seems rather absurd. y=f^' But a little consideration of the extensive industries for the manufacture of brick, tile and terra cotta will convince the most skeptical that clay, as a mineral pro- duct, is of the very greatest importance. Indiana is so universally supplied with excellent brick clay that her inhabitants hardly realize that there are large sec- tions of country where no clay can be had for brick-making, except by expen- sive importation from more fortunate regions. But while the common clay is perhaps more valuable than any other, because of its wide distribution and the simplicity and cheapness of converting it into brick and tile, it is through her rarer and finer grades that Indiana is to become famous as a clay producing State. A decade ago it was hardly known that the State possessed any clays except the common ones mentioned. But ten years bring many changes in this era of progress. The incredible theories of enthusiasts one year, become the familiar facts of the next. It is now known that Indiana contains beds of clay which provide material for the finest quality of terra cotta — so fine indeed, that the terra cotta manufactured from it is being sub- stituted for marble and the best of other building stones in many parts of the country. It is known also, and demon- strated by extensive manufactories which have grown up like magic within two years, that clays perfectly adapted to the making of fire and paving brick are to be found in various parts of the State in inexhaustible quantity. The paving brick industry is one which is only a few years old, but, in future, is destined to become vast and remunerative. Ex- perience has proved brick to be one of the best and cheapest street pavements known, and the knowledge has led many cities to turn to it as a happy solution to the vexatious paving problem. But it is upon Indiana's kaolin de- posits, however, that the world at large will in time look with the most gen- erous recognition. Kaolin is a clay rare and valuable, and always in demand. From kaolin the most delicate and costly pottery is made. The translucent egg- shell china — precious almost as jewels — is molded and burned from kaolin. From kaolin, too, are made the handsome tiles which ornament the hearths and mantels of the rich. A deposit of kaolin, once its quality is known to be superior, and its quantity and accessibility satisfactory, is worth as much as a gold mine. Ka- olin, or china clay, as it is commonly called, is the purest form of clay. When INDIAXAPOLIS. INDIANA, U. S. A. most valuable, it is composed of almost equal parts of silica and alumina with about thirteen per cent, of water. The ware called china is so called because it was first made in China. The process of its manufacture was a secret with the Chinese for many hundreds of years, and great quantities of the ware made in China were imported into Europe. This ware was manufactured chiefly from a peculiar white clay found in the mountain of Kaoling, and the name of the mountain, corrupted into kaolin, later came to be applied to the clay. About the beginning of the eighteeuth century porcelains of Germany and France are maiuifactured at the places where the kaolin beds are situated, and the finest porcelains made in America come from the kaolin deposits or from manufactories to which kaoliu is transported. This brief mention of the history of kaolin and its connection with the most perfect products of the potter's art, will suffice to give at least a hint of the importance which should be attached to the fact that Indiana has extensive beds of kaolin. Maurice Thompson, while State Geologist of Indiana, gave consid- erable attention to the kaolin deposits, T Mill M.\chinerv Works on Big Four Railro.^d (Front View). kaolin was imported into Europe, and and in his official reports he speaks not a great many years afterward beds repeatedly of their valued certainty of of it were discovered in England, Ger- future renown. In the Fifteenth Annual many and France, and still later in a State Geological Report, Mr. Thompson few places in America. The famous devotes considerable space to the subject 112 INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. of kaolin. He saj-s in this report that nificent beds of kaolin, when fnlh' appre- kaolin underlies large areas and ranges ciated, will, in future years, be the through the colors of white, red, gray, greatest source of our mineral wealth." whitish, greenish, bluish and buff The Again: "The uses to which kaolin can Residence on North Meridi.'^n Street. white variety is the only one of value be put are various. The making of for fine white pottery or porcelain, but chinawarc and pottery of all grades is the colored varieties are excellent for the chief, but brick and tiles of the use in encaustic tiles, terra cotta, etc. most beautiful kinds, as well as fire- In one place Mr. Thompson speaks brick and all manner of terra cotta work thus of the Indiana kaolin beds: "Here are made from it. It is also largely lies a practically exhau.stless quantity of used in the manufacture of paper and the most beautiful, pure and desirable alum, and in a number of other pro- clay ever offered to the manufacturer of cesses known to manufacturers. * * * fine earthenwares, to say nothing of its In Harrison county, pockets of white value in various other Iji'anches of nianu- kaolin were found in the gla.ss . sand facture. Next to our coals, our natural deposits. * * '■•■ There is, also, in Har- gas and our building .stones, these mag- rison county an immense deposit of INDIANAPOLLS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 113 tinted kaolin admirably adapted to the purposes of the potter and terra cotta worker. Owen county, too, has practi- cally inexhaustible beds of the very best kaolin. The attention of manufacturers is especially directed to these deposits, and it is almost certain that other beds will be discovered. But the kaolin of Lawrence county, taken alone, is suffi- cient to build up and maintain for manj- years a manufacturing center as great as any of the potterj- and porcelain estab- lishments of England, France or Ger- many. It will pay the State of Indiana a good and lasting income to advertise ance of some already mentioned, is, never- theless, worthy of more than incidental mention, is glass-sand. This possesses the more interest and value because of the fact that Indiana has become the greatest glass manufacturing State in the Union. In various parts of the vState deposits of pure white silicious sand are found. It lies in extensive beds, easy to excavate. For many years the great plate-glass works at New Albany have drawn upon sand deposits in the south- ern part of the State, and since natural gas has brought many glass factories into the northeastern counties, beds of 7^ Furniture F.\ctorv on the Big Four R.\ii,ro.\d. her internal resources to the world. Her excellent sand have been discovered in mineral wealth is to-day greater than that quarter. The beds of glass-sand that of many States whose gold and silver already developed keep in the State every mines are the wonder of the world." year many thousand dollars which other- Yet another of the State's natural wise would have to be expended for resources, which, while not of the import- sand obtained from some distant point. MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. S A seat of manufacturing industries, Indianapolis is noted no less for the number of her es- tablishments and the variety and value of ■ their products, than for her well-earned reputation of leading the world in certain classes of manu- factured goods. A curious proof that the city is devoid of that spirit of bluster which is noted in communities where the "boom" fever prevails, is to be found in the fact that the pres- tige which Indianapolis has attained as a manufacturing point is not generally realized among her own citizens. Per- sons in Australia, Mexico, South Amer- ica, Africa, Europe and the islands of the sea know what the mass of the inhabitants of Indianapolis do not know, namely, that this city exceeds any other on the globe in the quantity and quality of the heavy milling machinery, the desks, the chairs, the lounges, the wood- en-ware, the encaustic tiles, the terra cotta, the road carts, the vehicle wheels, the malleable iron and the corn food products which it annualh' manufactures. In addition to these chief industries are hundreds of others of large extent. Full eleven hundred separate manufact- uring establishments are located in In- dianapolis, the number of employes in different lines of production ranging from scores to thousands, and the total inimber of persons employed in manu- facturing in the city reaching probably twenty-five thousand or more. The value of the combined production of all the manufactories in the city is estimated at between sixty and seventy million dollars a year. Some of the principal industries, aside from those above mentioned, to- gether with the value of their annual products in round numbers, are the fol- lowing: ches. Stoves, Soap, Railroad Progs and Swi Fertilizers, Belting, Electric Machinery, Canned Goods, Chemicals, Medicine, Pumps, Starch, Woolen Goods, Wheels, Fruit Packing, Overalls, Saws, Natural Gas Supplies, Stone, Carriages and Wagons, Agricultural Implements, Staves and Headings, Architectural Iron, . Cars Beer, Railroad Supplies and Repai Engines, Boilers and Foundri Builders' Materials, . Pork Packing, . $100,000 100,000 200,000 250,000 275,000 300,000 300,000 350,000 500,000 500,000 500,000 700,000 750,000 800,000 Soo.ooo 1,000,000 1,000,000 1 ,000,000 1 ,900,000 1 ,900,000 2,000,000 2,000,000 2,500,000 3,000,000 , 3,000,000 , 3,000,000 3,100,000 10,000,000 Especially in the production of wares which require skill and inventive genius in their manufacture is Indianapolis fa- mous. In some instances these qualities Tii.E Works. Manufactory ok Chemicals. are shown in the wares themselves, and in others in the machinery necessary to produce them. Particu- larly through its milling machinery and its fur- niture of various kinds has the city become known in the distant regions of the earth. Wherever wheat is grown in large quan- tity, Indianapolis mills are known to be the best for grinding it; wherever peo- ple are enlightened sufficiently to take pleasure in the comfort aud quality of their furniture, Indi- anapolis furniture is to be found. Ever)' railroad on the continent has trans- ported m a n u f a c t u r e d wares from Indianap- olis, and every line of ocean steamers t o u c 1: i n g the shores of the United States y has borne to .-s immensely profitable, but their business has out- grown their facilities, and extensions doubling the capacity of the works are even now matters of current discussion. It is estimated that the total annual product of the manufactories in Indiana- polis which work entirely in iron, is worth over $10,000,000. The city is proud of her trade with foreign coun- tries. Her saws, driven by her engines, are clearing away the forests of Central and South America. Her stoves give comfort to other nations, and her electric machinery furnishes power in many lands. Her steam pumps are working in mines and shops in home and foreign States. All over the United States her machinery is familiar. Buildings contain her architectural iron-work. Her railroad frogs and switches go down wherever American railroads are constructed. More than a passing mention is due the repu- tation of Indianapolis as a .seat of engine manufacture. All over the countrv, en- gines built by certain of the large estab- lishments in this city are standards of excellence. The same is true of the saws manufactured in the city. The demand for them is so great as to be almost beyond the ability of the makers to satisfy it. Turn to the subject of encaustic tiles, and Indianapolis will be again found to pos.se.ss predominant excellence among all rivals. The floors in public buildings in every State in the Union are of Indi- anapolis tile. It is superseding marble because of its superior beauty and dura- bility. In the decoration of both the interior and exterior of residences, artistic tile is assuming the place once held in the public favor by marbles and carving. In all the.se u.ses, the tile from Indiana- polis has received the honor of highest preferment. It excels in the quality of the material of which it is composed and in artistic execution and coloring. The best proof of the truth of all this is to be found in the fact of the great extent and pro.sperity of the city's tile business. In the iutroductiou of natural gas, the tile industry has been peculiarly benefited. Experience has .shown that the fierce, steady heat of the gas flame produces in the kiln a quality of tile impossible to make with coal as fuel. The manufacture of terra cotta being in some degree related to that of tile, may be noted in connection witli it. The terra cotta made in Indianapolis is fa- mous throughout the country. It is susceptible to the highest expression of the sculptor's art, is durable and .solid ■f. V. ■r. y INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 127 as granite, and is every year assuming a more prominent place in the favor of architects and builders. And so the list might be extended almost indefinitely. The industries named are of the most important in the citj', but there are others fully as important and extensive. The manufacture of bi- cycles has become an enormous industry. The l)re\veries stand for an investment of millions, and their revenues are cor- respondingly great. The manufacture of lumber, brick, stone, hardware, etc., all grouped under the general head of "builders' materials," is of the utmost importance. The annual production of natural gas supplies is extensive. The pork packed annually in Indianapolis is by firms which have invested millions. It is impossible here to even mention by name all the hundreds of manufact- uring enterprises which deserve favora- ble notice for their extent and success. The statement that these manufac- tories are thriving, does not sufficiently emphasize the degree of their prosperity. They are, in hundreds of instances, experiencing a rapid and sub.stantial growth. New buildings are going up, new machinery coming in, more men are being emploj-ed, new departments of work added. This is the story to be heard on all sides, and it tells of the city's dawning commercial expansion as nothing el.se can. It is the inevitable result of such conditions as have come to prevail in Indianapolis. With all the circumstances favorable upon which a a business depends, the end is success sure and soon. It were impo.ssible to note all the conditions which affect the success of a manufacturing busine.ss; those important in one class of production being often unimportant in another. But there are certain general factors, whose presence, :\lA.M.'F.\croKv i)i' ConN Products. 128 INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. in some degree, is essential to success, and low rates. Of the cheap fuel, not a and the greater the degree, the greater great deal need be said here. Crude oil the ensuing success. One of these fac- is cheaper than coal, while the cost of tors is transportation facilities: another is natural gas is less than half that of the cheap fuel; another easj- access to raw black mineral. But while this is true W.Mil.KV material; another suitaVile location, and another a quiet, contented force of work- men at reasonable wages. All of these Indianapolis has to offer in their most efficient form. Her railroads provide di- rect and prompt communication with neighboring cities, with the finest agri- cultural region in the world, and with areas of vast mineral wealth. They thus bring in materials for manufacture and carry to market the finished products. With it all, there is enough of competi- tion to make certain, first-class .service VV I'l.AUK. both in regard to gas and oil, it is nn less true that coal of the fi".est quality for manufacturing pur]K).ses is cheaper in Indianapolis than in almost any other city in the country. Thus is the fuel question settled satisfactorily for all time to come. In the matter of suitable sites for manufactories, Indianapolis simply can not be equalled. The city is surrounded by a bell railroad, which connects with every one of the sixteen railroads en- tering the citv. The cars of all the INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 129 roads, b}- a permanent arrangement, are transferred about the Belt at a nominal cost. This gives to a factor}- situated ou the Belt all the advantages of being upon sixteen railroads diverging in every direction, and all competing for its busi- ness. The Belt is far enough beyond the city limits to allow laud along its route to be purchased cheaply. The decrease of the danger of fire, and consequently of insurance rates, are also points to be considered. Finallv, the class of work- prevent trouble among employes is illus- trated in the city frequently, and is a matter of common appreciation. The cost of living is exceedingly low, and although the wages paid average small, the workmen are enabled to save and invest in homes. The simple truth is that Indianapolis is equipped as few cities are to assure success to manufacturers who settle within her gates. The conditions essen- tial to the profitable operation of mills Ri:siiii-;nxi'; ox Xort ingmen in Indianapolis is above the average of cities. A surprisingly large per cent, of the wage earners have real estate and live in their own houses. These men are conservative and reason- able, and act as a check upon the element which has nothing to lose by agitating labor questions. The power of the industrious, property-owning men to H JlHRnU.\N Stkkf.t. are here to be found in their best form. The rich surrounding territorj- of a hundred thotisand square miles is at once an exhatistless source of raw ma- terial and a never satisfied market for finished wares. The means of transpor- tation to and from it are well-nigh perfect. Embracing and supporting all the other conditions is the jniblic sjiirit, I30 INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. friendly to iucomiug capital, and pre- extends her broad arms to welcome IKired to go to any reasonable length to more, with the assurance upon her lips encourage and protect it. Here, then, that all which come to work with indus- K.Ml'lKK TllKAlKK. is the picture, and it is an attractive try and care in her fields of commerce one: A city stirred' V)y the roar of a shall be alike jirosperous and busy, and thousand mills, prosperous and growing, in the end shall grow strong and great. THE WHOLESALE TRADE, ORDER that it may be- come the center of an important wholesale or jobbing trade, a city must possess two prime advan- tages : It must have first- class railway facilities, and must be surrounded by a populous and thrifty region of country. Both of these roads, Indianapolis is brought into direct and prompt communication with fully a thousand cities and towns, for which she is the natural base of supplies. The thickl>' settled and prosperous agricult- ural communities which form a zone a hundred miles wide all round, send up a never satisfied demand for the neces- saries and comforts of life. Millions of Residence on North Meridian Street. advantages it is the fortune of Indiana- people are to be fed and clothed and polis to enjoy to an unusual extent. housed, and the logical center from No cit)' in the United States excels her which their wants should be supplied is in these particulars. With her sixteen Indianapolis. The conditions for fulfill- railroads threading the country in every ing this mission are entirely favorable, direction, and intersecting scores of other The cost of transportation is low, and INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. vS. A. the service is prompt : the distances are sliort; the people are friendly to the cit>- and ready to draw upon it for what they need. The stone, coal, oil and gas fields surrounding, are fdling up witli thriving towns and cities, which must rely on some large point of distribution for their supplies. Kver\- law of trade and every geographical consideration fix uijon Indianapolis as the place. As would be expected after this sur- vey of the existing conditions, the whole- sale and jobbing business in Indianapolis is in a flourishing state. A trip through the wholesale district, along South Meri- dian, South Peinisylvania, South Dela- ware, Maryland, Georgia, or McCrea streets, will impress this deeply on the visitor's memory. The rumble of hea\'ily laden drays, the sidewalks blockaded by mountains of boxes and crates and bales, the hurry and confusion of porter's roll- ing the goods about, the short, sharp commands of men directing the work, all together, impart a sense of an im- portant business movement. That this impression is not a mistaken one, is proven by the fact that the sales of the wholesale merchants of Indianapolis ag- gregate in round numbers $40,000,000 a year. There are in the city over three hundred wholesale and jobbing houses, and in their employ are about one thousand traveling salesmen. Several of the largest houses in the West are located here, and annually many hun- dred thousand dollars worth of goods of various kinds are imported directly from European and other foreign countries. The expansion of the wholesale trade has been marked li>- no sudden bursts oi development. It has been steady, and while not exceptionally rapid, has been substantial, conservative, and thoroughly safe. For several years, the rate of ex- ])ansion has been somewhat quickened abo\-e what it had previously been, the business responding to the impetus which came of the great inrush of capital and population in the gas and oil fields. This growth in the volume of business is manifested both by an increa.se in the number of wholesale hou.ses and a build- ing up of the firms already established. Wholesale houses in Indianapolis do not fail. vSuch an event has not occurred in many >'ears. On the other hand, firms which entered the trade a few years ago have grown strong, and every year sees several beginners venture into the field. The removal of wholesale firms from other cities to this, for the sake of the magnificent railroad facilities, is not an uncommon occurrence. Every passing twelve-month witnesses a widening of the fame of Indianapolis as a prosperous and desirable wholesale center. Besides its superiority as a center for distribu- tion, it has noteworthy advantages be- cause of its direct communication with the many cities from which the wares to be sold at wholesale must be obtained. The merchants of the city have for j^ears cultivated trade in the South. By ascertaining the especial needs* of that section of the country, and making an honest effort to satisfy them, they have won great prestige in man\' Southern I.u INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, l". S. A. States, and are enabled to easily outstrip all competitors. In a large number of communities south of the Ohio River, a commercial traveler needs no better recommendation than a statement that he represents some Indianapolis business house. The development of the inex- very gates of surrounding cities, and have established strong business connec- tions beyond them. Thej- have gone beyond Louisville and Cincinnati, and built up a strong trade in the South which the latter cities can not weaken. They have gone into Michigan, and Brixswick Hotel. haustible mineral resources of Tennessee, found permanent patrons within a few Alabama, Georgia, Missouri and other miles of Detroit. They have beaten States, have enlarged the field of demand Chicago in Michigan, also in many for wares from the North, and the extent places. They have invaded Ohio and of the business is rapidly growing. It is Illinois, and a large per cent, of their a noteworthy fact that Indianapolis mer- entire business is done in those two chants have carried their trade into the States. They have even pushed beyond INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 135 St. Louis and Kansas City, and annuall)- send large quantities of goods west of the Missouri River. While a great number of lines of trade are represented in the wholesale district of Indianapolis, the city is es- pecially strong in its wholesale drj- goods, millinery, drugs, hardware, queens- ware, grocery, confectionery and poultry departments. The volume of business done in these lines is enormous. As a poultry shipping point, the city has no equal on the continent. Her queens-ware men are among the largest importers in the West. The dry goods trade is sup- plied by several houses of long estab- lished reputation and recognized finan- cial stability, and the same is true of the trade in drugs. In groceries, not- withstanding the intense competition, there are man\' wholesale firms, and. without exception, the)' are prosperous. A review of the entire list of houses doing a wholesale business would be simph- a series of repetitions of the story of growing trade and encouraging prosperity. The summing up of all is, that whatever is to be purchased for the retail trade may be obtained in Indian- apolis cheaply and promptly, and with the smallest amount of risk in the trans- portation. In all the conditions which affect the wholesale trade, Indianapolis is peculiarly fortunate. She has much to offer to those who engage in wholesale enterprise within her gates, and to all, her bounty is impartial and generous. The uniform prosperity accompanying the beginning and extension of those houses now established in Indianapolis is an index of the fulfillment of the promises extended to all who mav come. '^^'P'fell^ V_1M1I1.N lAl.iiiK\ ii.\ 1111. W'KST SIDU. THE RETAIL TRADE, THE stimulus of the progressive proof is required to demonstrate that spirit which has come into the "times are hard" with the people. On life of Indianapolis, has been the other hand, the same rule is safely nowhere more clearly manifested than applicable. If there is a demand for in the various branches of retail trade, articles which are classed among the The development of the interests which comforts or luxuries of existence, the have to do with the transfer of commodi- community as a whole is prosperous, ties from the wholesaler to the con.sumer, thrifty and content. At the same time has been especially noteworthy within a that the character of the sales indicates period of five years. In that time it is the material condition of the community, probable that the investment of capital it unfailingly discloses the state of the in the various lines of retail trade in the trade from the merchant's stand-point, city has increased one hundred per cent. A prosperous people inevitably means Because of the intimate relationship prosperous merchants. Thej- can net be which must always exist between the separated. retail business and the public in any Any inciuir^- into the general business community, there is no better method of conditions existing in Indianapolis is in- ascertaining the general condition of the complete without a reference to the im- people than by a careful inquiry into the portance and extent of the cit>''s retail state of the retail trade. If .sales are interests. They compose one of the confined strictly to essentials, no further chief elements of the busy commercial INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 139 life of the community. Tht-ir giowth has been slow or rapid, accordingly as the city has prospered, but there has always been a growth. Old houses have extended their trade and increased their stocks, while scores of new firms have been established. Failures ha\-e been few, ami have invariably involved only small amounts of capital. The period of time mentioned has witnessed the advent of what are known as department stores, with all the com- binations of diverse kinds of business, under one management, which that term implies. Several of these emporiums of trade are now carrying on immense and highly successful mercantile operations. Large buildings ha\-e been erected for t'.um, anil each requires an army of employes. Annual sales have leaped from thousands to millions of dollars. The universal prosperity of the people juakes generous buyers, and into small as well as large homes have gone unwonted luxuries. The retail business puts money into active circulation in innumerable small cliannels, without sending it out of the region in which the business is carried on. It does this because it requires the assistance of many customers and many employes to be successful. In the nature (if its transactions, it must be in close touch with the tastes, habits and mone- tary conditions of the community, and is an unfailing measure of them. With the new and broader life which has- come to Indianapolis, the recent great expansion of the city's retail interests has been intimately connected. While the latter has been primaril)- dependent upon the former, it has al.so been an influence of no mean power in deter- mining the direction and limits of that new life. It has not only kept pace with the widening demands of the pub- lic, but has led, by bringing the choicest wares from all quarters of the globe and placing them within reach of the people. This spirit of progress is an educating force, exerted alike upon the merchant and the public, and the results which flow from it are of lasting value. These facts are general, but there are others connected with the retail trade in Indianapolis which are of especial value in this community. Of them, the most important is the successful effort which the larger retail houses have made to draw patronage from the country and country towns surrounding the city. By persistent determination and skillful management, carried on during several years, Indianapolis retail merchants have established an out-of-town patronage of the most gratifying proportions. This has been accomplished largely through the medium of cheap railroad rates, se- cured by the merchants for special occa- sions, and advertised widelj- in the regions of country through which the roads exteiul on which the reduced rates are given. These excursions bring a great many thousand persons to the city every season. At first, the excursionists came almost solely for pleasure, but it was not long before they began to com- prehend the uuusiuil opportunities for CiRCLK Park IIciTki,. SlM-KMAN IIiIlM': INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA. U. S. A. 141 makiug needed purchases which the trip to the city afforded. They saw that they were enabled to exercise a better choice, having a much greater variety of goods from which to select, and they soon learned that the difference in cost between the prices which they had to pay at home and in Indianapolis, made it actually cheaper for them to come to the city and buy. The double induce- ment of more satisfactory goods and lower prices was a potent influence, and now thousands of persons who live any- where within a hundred miles of Indian- apolis make all their more important purchases in this city. What helps one merchant in this way, helps all, and helps the entire city as well. Those who take advantage of the cheap railroad rates secured by one business house, buy of many, and in the period of a year, the stimulus and benefit which result from the countrj' trade built up in this way, are of the utmost importance. From whatever stand-point a view of the retail interests of Indianapolis may be taken, they will be found worthy of the pride with which the city regards them. In extent, variety, area of trade and monetary importance, they rank high, and the same is no less true of the integrity, progressiveness and skill with which their direction is administered. The retail business was among the earli- est to feel the quickening of the city's new life, to comprehend its significance, and to so adjust itself as to cordially accept and profit by the broader and more complex conditions which had come to prevail. Tennis Grounds in Akmstrono Park. BANKS AND BANKING. FAITHFUL historian, writing of banks and banking in Indianapolis, can not relate a story of uninterrnpted prosper- ity. To write of suc- cess is always pleas- anter than to tell of failure and disaster, but truth can not be changed to accord with desire. It must no other kind of institution carries loss and anxiety into so many homes and business houses. The bank is the finan- cial center and conservator of the com- munity. Upon its solidit}' depends the equilibrium of the multifarious interests about and connected with it. The down- fall of a bank shatters the foundations of the material structure of society. The bank troubles in Indianapolis In Woodruff Place. therefore be recorded that Indianapolis began with the collapse of the "boom." banks have in time past gone down in There had been several preceding j-ears ruin and wretchedness. The failure of of boundless speculation, in which an IXniAXAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 145 enormous aggregate debt had been con- tracted b}' the people. Real estate was mortgaged upon the basis of the specula- tive prices. When the reaction came, and prices dropped back to actual values, thousands of pieces of property were found to be mortgaged for far more than they could be sold for. The banks, j'ielding to the spirit of the time, had been carried awaj- by the mad infatua- tion of speculation. They had made the common mistake of taking the inflated values for the real, and when the era close their doors. The failure of the first bank which succumbed, weakened the others, and hastened the downfall of the next. Then, extending over a period of several years, followed a series of bank disasters. One great financial in- stitution after another fell, and plunged the people into deeper ruin. The mem- orable panic, which swept over the whole country at this time, magnified the troubles, and precluded all possibility of aid coming from the outside. The stricken city had to fight its battle alone. * -St >^*^'^;r ^^-^m Seventh D.w .\dventist Chi kch. of liquidation came, they were unable But the worst was reached at last to carry the burdens which were forced and there came a change for the better, upon them. They could not recover Confidence began to return to the busi- money from the paralyzed public, and ness community. There was the consola- nothing remained for them to do but tion that all make-believe and all ficti- 146 IXDIAXAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. tious values had vanished. People knew again where the)- stood ; their feet were upon solid ground, and, what was most important, they had learned a lesson which would never have to be taught a second time. In the reviving confidence of the period, the banks which had weathered the storm shared generously. The)', with others subsequently founded, entered a compact for mutual assistance in time of emergency, and formed a clearing house association which ever since has been of great convenience and benefit. From the turn in the tide of affairs, after the end of the reign of disaster until to-day, the history of bank- ing in Indianapolis has been a matter of pride to her people. All her finan- cial institutions are now regarded as indelible impression, the manifestation of which is .seen in a steadfast avoidance of all doubtful methods, a close ad- herence to the lines of action recognized as safest, and a generally conservative and dignified policy of administration. Five National, one State, and two private banks are now of the financial institutions of the city. The total paid- up capital stock of the eight banks is $2,800,000, of which, $1,400,000 is the aggregate of the National banks, and $1,400,000 of the State and private banks. The clearings, now over $200,- 000,000 a year, are increasing at a rate which of itself is a reliable index of an expansion vast and permanent in the city's business. An intelligent idea of the standing of the Indianapolis banks Ki. .Nci; ON North l)i.i..\\v.\Kii Stkickt. practically impregnable. Every precau- may be gained from the following certi- tion of safety has been adopted. The fied statements of their condition at the lesson of the stormy years left an close of business, September 30, 1S92: INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 147 INDIANA NATIONAL BANK. RESOURCES. Loans and discounts $1,901,639 74 Overdrafts, secured and unsecured, 340 67 U. S. Bonds to secure circulation, 4s, 50,000 00 U. S. Bonds to secure deposits, 4j^s, 150,000 00 Due from appproved re- serve agents, .... I790.239 39 Due from other National Banks, 1 14,670 43 Due from State Banks and bankers, .... 61,067 9S Checks and other cash items i,2oS 56 Exchanges for city banks 33.432 70 Bills of other banks, . . 145,735 00 Fractional paper curren- cy, nickels and cents. 1,066 oS Gold reserve, .... 715,000 00 Silver 20,200 00 Legal tender notes, . . 90,000 00-1,972,620 14 Redemption fund with U. S. Treasurer (5 per cent, of circulation), . . . 2,250 00 Total 14,076,850 55 LIABILITIES. Capital stock paid in $300,000 00 Surplus fund 500,000 00 Undivided profits 60,281 63 National Bank notes outstanding, . 45,000 00 Individual deposits sub- ject to check, . . . $1,624,041 39 Demand certificates of deposit 495,195 21 Certified checks, .... 2,073 0° United States deposits, . . 47,978 91 Deposits of U. S. disburs- ing officers, .... 71,555 13 Due to other National Banks, 526,181 48 Due to State Banks and bankers 404,543 80-3,171,568 92 Total 14.076,850 55 INDIANAPOLIS NATIONAL BANK. RESOURCES. Loans and discounts $1,396,329 33 Overdrafts, secured and unsecured, 757 04 U. S. Bonds to secure circulation, . 50,000 00 Banking-house, furniture and fixtures 10,000 00 Other real estate and mortgages owned, 34,850 00 U. S. Bonds to secure de- posits, $325,000 00 Due from approved re- serve agents, .... 394,120 52 Due from other National Banks, 18,743 44 Due from State Banks and bankers 14.409 01 Checks and other cash items, 16,266 36 Exchanges for clearing- house 92,043 27 Bills of other banks, . . 73,314 "o Fractional paper curren- cy, nickels and cents, 855 74 Specie 121.324 30 Legal-tender notes, . . 130,000 00-1,186,076 64 Redemption fund with U. S. Treasurer (5 per cent, of circulation), . . . 2,25000 Total, $2,680,263 01 LI.iBILITIES. Capital stock paid in $300,000 00 Surplus fund 60,000 00 Undivided profits 66,996 69 National Bank notes outstanding, . 45.000 00 Dividends unpaid 294 00 Individual deposits sub- ject to check $915,933 47 Demand certificates of deposit, 347,898 02 Certified checks, . . . 6,377 '5 United States deposits, . S3.409 79 Deposits of U. S. disburs- ing officers, .... 216,632 94 Due to other National Banks, 350,087 23 Due to State Banks and bankers 287,633 72-2,207,972 32 Total $2,680,263 "I < a a INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 149 MERCHANTS' NATIONAl, BANK. RESOURCES. Loans and discounts (demand loans 1340,000) $837,758 70 Overdrafts, secured and unsecured, . 4S0 4S U. S. Bonds to secure circulation, . . 50,000 00 Premiums on U. S. Bonds 3,000 00 City of Indianapolis, Marion county, and other bonds 302,530 99 Premiums on Indianapolis, Marion county, and other bonds, .... 6,099 5^ Due from approved re- serve agents $314,970 39 Due from other National Banks, 34,243 01 Due from State Banks and bankers 15,724 67 Checks and other cash items, 2,43s 39 Exchanges for clearing- house, 9,189 44 Bills of other banks, . . 62,596 00 Fractional paper curren- cy, nickels and cents, 200 24 Specie, 103,260 00 Legal tender notes, . . 260,000 00 — 802,622 14 Furniture, fixtures and vault, . . . 20,425 95 Redemption fund with U. S. Treas- urer (5 per cent, of circulation, . . 2,250 00 Due from U. S. Treasurer, other than 5 per cent, redemption fund, . . 1.423 50 CAPITAL NATIONAL BANK. RESOURCES. Loans and discounts, $1,180,870 98 Overdrafts, secured and unsecured, . 226 29 U. S. Bonds to secure circulation, . . 50,000 00 Stocks and bonds 29,625 00 Premium on U. S. Bonds 8,000 00 Banking-house furniture and fixtures, 5,377 05 Current expenses and taxes paid, . . 6,235 95 Due from approved re- serve agents $357,961 18 Due from other National Banks 26,809 62 Due from Slate Banks and bankers 33.647 23 Checks ami other cash items 2,176 78 Exchange for clearing- house, 14,030 04 Bills of other banks, . . 63,905 00 Fractional paper curren- cy, nickels and cents, 124 59 Specie, 9.394 00 Legal-tender notes, . . 50,000 00- Redeniption fund with V. S. Treas- Total $2,026,591 urer (5 per cent, of circulation), . Total 558,048 44 2,250 00 $1,840,633 71 LIABILITIES. Capital stock paid in, $300,000 00 Surplus fund 45,000 00 Undivided profits 12,021 35 National Bank notes outstanding, . 40,700 00 Individual deposits sub- ject to check, . . . $1,256,74395 Demand certificates of deposit 227,704 23 Certified checks, ... 55 40 Cashier's checks out- standing 60,558 90 Due to other National Banks 79,028 44 Due to State Banks and bankers 4,779 o5~i,62S,.S69 97 LIABILITIES. Capital stock paid in $300,000 00 Surplus fund 20,000 00 Undivided profits 26,801 01 National Bank notes outstanding, . 45,000 00 Individual deposits sub- ject to check, .... $466,960 47 Demand certificates of deposit 218,213 91 Certified checks, . . . 269 80 Due to other National Banks 378.893 08 Due to State banks and bankers 384.495 44-1.448,832 70 Total $2,026,591 32 Total, $1,840,633 71 INDIANAPOLIS, MERIDIAX NATKIXAL BANK. RESOURCES. Loans and discounts, 11,125,325 02 Overdrafts, secured and unsecured, . 3,003 01 U. S. Bonds to secure circulation, . . 100,000 00 U. S. Bonds on hand, 1,000 00 Stocks, securities, etc., 87,718 13 Banking-house, furniture and fixtures, 1,000 00 Due from approved re- serve agents, .... $150,120 23 Due from other National Banks 26,546 65 Due from State Banks and bankers '9,384 78 Current expenses and taxes paid 5,483 62 Exchanges for clearing- house, 30,675 99 Checks and other cash items 4,526 73 Bills of other banks, . . 133,80000 Fractional paper curren- cy, nickels and cents, . 245 00 Specie, 142,000 00 Legal tender notes, . . 100,00000 — 607,29938 Redemption fund with U. S. Treas- urer (5 per cent, of circulation), . . 4,500 00 Total f 1.935.329 16 LIABILITIKS. Capital stock paid in |20o,ooo 00 Surplus fund 100,000 00 Undivided profits, 75,301 o-; National Bank notes outstanding, . 90,000 00 Individual deposits sub- ject to check $901,407 07 Demand certificates of fleposit 137.697 44 Certified checks, . . . 13,00000 Cashier's checks out- standing 31,812 63 Due to other National Banks i54,.86o 69 Due to State Banks and bankers 231,250 30-1,470,028 13 Total fi.935.329 16 INDIANA, U. S. A. 151 FLETCHERS BANK. RESOURCES. Loans and discounts $2,416,594 80 Overdrafts, secured and unsecured, . 867 55 Real estate 6,300 00 U. S. Bonds on hand, . $1,001,650 00 Other stocks, bonds and mortgages 1,250 00 Due from National Banks 180,861 95 Due from State Banks and bankers 118,38460 Checks and other cash items 3,598 98 Exchanges for clearing- house 29,684 50 Bills of other banks, . . 186,054 00 Specie 104,822 40 Legal-tender notes, . . 460,000 00 -2,086,306 43 Total $4,510,068 78 LIABILITIES. Capital stock paid in $1,000,000 00 Surplus, 100,000 00 Undivided profits 78,422 63 Individual deposits sub- ject to check, . . . $2,139,521 13 Demand certificates of deposit 845,100 33 Certified checks, . . . 17,621 34 Cashier's checks out- standing 4,691 53 Due to National Banks, 57.345 53 Due to State Banks and bankers 267,366 24-3,331,646 15 Total $4,510,068 78 a o w J ►J o (J s O C -I INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA. U. S. A. 153 BANK OF COMMERCE. RESOURCES. Loans and discounts $370,950 37 Other real estate 42,402 00 Furniture and fixtures, 2,269 00 Current expenses and taxes paid, . . 4,11701 RESERVE. Checks and other cash items $14,734 81 Due from reserve and other hanks, .... 81,603 ^^ Exchanges for clearing- house Paper currency, . . Silver Gold 4,391 46 89,443 00 8,206 01 2,o5,s 00— 200,433 94 Total, $620,172 32 LI.^BILITIES. Capital stock paid in $200,000 00 Surplus fund 50,000 00 Undivided profits, 16,156 97 Due to other banks, . . $41,94694 Individual deposits sub- ject to check, . . . 221,353 96 Demand certificates of deposit Certified checks, . . . Cashier's checks out- standing, 34.972 lo 48,342 44 7.399 9'— 354.015 35 Total, $620,172 32 STATE BANK OF INDIANA. The promoters of this bank, believing that the recent great expansion of the city's wealth and business would justify more extensive bank- ing facilities, have, within a few days, opened it for custom. It is organized under the laws of Indiana, with a paid up capital of $200,000. Although a late candidate for public favor, its connections are such that it is already recog- nized as one of the integral parts of the com- munitv's financial life. A stiinmary based tipon the preceding statements, shows that the resotirces and liabilities of all the banks in the city, set out in itemized form, are as follows: RESOURCES. Loans and discounts, Overdrafts U. S. Bonds . Stocks, securities, etc., Furniture and fixtures Real estate and mortgages, . . . Expenses and taxes paid Due from reserve agents, . . . . Due from other National Banks, Due from State Banks and bankers. Checks and other cash items, . . Exchanges for clearing-house. Bills of other banks, Fractional currency and coin. Specie, Legal tender notes, Paper currencj' Premiums on U. S. Bonds, . . . Redemption fund with U. S. Treas., Due from U. S. Treasurer, . . . Total, LL\BIL1TIES. fg, 2 29,468 94 5,675 04 1,777,650 00 427,223 68 39,072 00 83.552 00 15.836 58 2,089,015 37 401,875 10 262,618 27 44,950 61 213,447 40 665,404 00 2,491 65 2,605,704 71 1 1 ,000 00 13,500 00 1.423 50 $17,889,908 85 Capital stock paid in, $2,800,000 00 Surplus fund, 875,000 00 Undivided profits, 336,275 31 National Bank notes outstanding, . 265,700 00 Individual deposits subject to check 7,525,961 44 Demand certificates of deposit, . . 2,306,781 24 Certified checks 87,739 13 Cashier's checks outstanding, . . 104,462 97 Due to other banks and bankers, . 3,168,411 99 U. S. deposits 131,388 7° Deposits of U. S. disbursing officers 288,188 07 Total 117,889,908 85 154 INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, V. S. A. From the above statistics may be too conservative, rather than otherwise. gained, not only a knowledge of the In the panics and threatened panics strength of the Indianapolis banks, bnt of the last few years, however, these an idea of the precautions which have methods have kept Indianapolis banks been taken to make and keep them firm as bed-rock, while financial institu- sound. In addition to the sworn state- tions in other cities have tottered, and msm^^^^ '■:^:A!J>!J>!fl!^' ' fe 'n' h !H' ^: ! ^ KoosKviiLT Block. ments of their officers as to their solidity, in many instances have fallen. It is it should be said that sterling business always best to keep well away from the methods are adhered to with unwavering danger line. Indianapolis bankers have tenacity. If any criticism of methods learned this, and are willing to leave were made, it would be that they are doubtful experimental methods to others. THE UNION STOCK YARDS. MBTBOUT twenty years ago a . // \'\ . company was organized to build and operate a Belt Railroad and Stock Yards in Indianapolis. .Work was pushed, and a few months later both enterprises were doing the service for which they were constructed. In a few j^ears the control of the Belt Road passed into other hands through a lease to the Union Railway. The original company still manages the Stock Yards. No more successful busi- ness concern exists in Indianapolis to-day than the Stock Yards have proven from their very beginning. The)' were put into operation just at a time when Indiana was beginning to a.ssume promi- nence as a live stock raising State, and instantly satisfied a demand, then grow- ing strong, for stock yard facilities more convenient!}' and cheaply accessible than those at Chicago or Cincinnati. The Indianapolis Stock Yards were located on the Belt Road, a position which gave them the advantage of direct connection with every railroad entering the city. At once the growing live .stock trade of the State was diverted from out- side cities to this, greatly to the benefit of the stock breeders and dealers through- out the vState, and the Stock Yards Company as well. As the business grew the facilities at the yards were extended and improved. vSheds and pens of the best character were erected. A hand- some and commodious hotel was built, with ample offices for the commission men doing business at the yards. Effici- ent telegraphic facilities were provided. In brief, all the equipment which should characterize the center of the live stock trade of a great stock producing region was put into the establishment. Thus encouraged, the volume of business has grown to enormous proportions. The annual receipts of stock for several years past have averaged about 2,000,000 hogs; 100,000 head of cattle; 100,000 head of sheep, and several thousand horses. In order to accommodate this vast move- ment, the yards have been extended to include over one hundred acres of land. The permanent stock sheds containing the sorting pens, scales, etc., cover twelve acres. The business transactions at the yards amount to over $25,000,000 every year. The establishment of the Stock Yards in Indianapolis has had a marked influ- ence upon the industry of live stock raising in Indiana and sections of adjoin- ing ' vStates. The agricultural zone, a hundred miles wide, which surrounds and is directly tributar>' to Indianapolis, is by nature especially adapted to the growing of fine stock. The climate is suitable, and the grasses and cereals most cheaply and bountifulh- produced are those on which stock thrives best. All that was necessary to develop this region into one of the greatest stock producing districts in the world, was a convenient, stead}- market. The location of the Stock Yards in Indianapolis provided that market, and ever since their establishment, the importance of the stock-raising indus- try in Indiana has steadily and rapidly increased. Not only has there been a great growth in the number of animals annuall}' raised and put upon the market, but there has been a note- worty improvement in the character of the stock. The old-time carlessness and indifference concerning quality of the animals raised for market has be succeeded by the most careful attention to strains of blood, protection for stock in winter, proper food and kindred matters. The result has been such as to encourage stock raisers to yet greater care. They have learned that an animal of improved blood, care- fully reared, will bring twice as / much money in market as one ',/ , of scrub stock which has growr up without attention. The recognition of this has been, in large degree, t brought about l)v the ' presence of a home market, to which the stock raisers have \ / easy and fre- quent access. Its proximity gives them a definiteness of knowl- edge of what the market ^^ demands, shorn of the con- fusing complications of long distance transportation, and mis- understood methods of di.stant com- mission men. Farmers who, a number of years ago, sold their cattle or hogs in the fall to local shippers, knew that their profits were small, but little under- stood why. They credited the fact vaguely to cost of transportation, comuiissions to agents, etc. In that they were in part right. But now, having a market near home, their knowledge is greater. They are enabled to study the public demand and meet it ; the)' can promptly take advantage of the most favorable points in fluctuating prices ; they may definitely locate the causes of loss or diminution of profit, and thereafter avoid them. In these, and many other ways, the presence of the Stock Yards in Indianapolis has contributed to the prosperity and devel- 158 INDIANAPOLIS. INDIANA, U. S. A. opment of the live stock interests in the transactions of the Stock Yards, Indiana. In addition is to be noted the and a large number of men given benefit which has accrued to the city steady employment. In many directions from the vast commerce attracted by the the influence of the institution is per- Ji;\viSH SvNAi;i)c".ui;. establishment of a home market in its ceptible in the spreading of the city's borders. An immense sum of money is name as a live stock center and in the annually put into circulation through building up of its commerce and wealth. THE STREET RAILWAY SYSTEM. N her street railways, Indiana- polis has points of superiority I over any other American city. Her entire system belongs to a single compan)-, and there are none of those conflicts or incon- veniences which are invariable accompaniments of two or more systems of roads under different managements in the same city. Indianapolis, although presumably laid out with no thought of street-car conveniences, is yet peculiarly well adapted to an efficient and con- certed operation of street railway lines. The business part of the city is in the center, and the four great diago- nal avenues extending from the center toward the semi-cardinal points of the compass, constitute "short cuts" from the residence districts all round to the business portion, and vice versa. This plan of the city makes possible and simple the best system of transfers perhaps in existence anywhere. Every car on ever^^ trip runs from one side of the city through the center and to, or toward, the opposite side, and all cars pass a certain point on all trips, a transfer car or station being maintained at this common point of convergence. A map of the street-car lines of the city would sliow a series of roads radiating from the transfer car on Washington street in every direction, very much as the steam railwav lines radiate from Indianapolis. A passenger may take a street-car in any part of the city, ride to the transfer car, and there take any other car he maj' desire to any other part of the city, all with but a single pa^^meut of fare and a single change of cars. The arrangement by which every car in operation passes the stationarj- transfer car ou every trip which it makes, renders the transfer system an immense saving and convenience to the public. For long, the street-car facilities were not in keeping with the size and prog- ress of the city, but in the la.st two or three j-ears they ha\-e Ijeen extended and improved, and are now rapidh* be- coming first-class in every regard. The first street railroad in Indianapolis was built in 1864 on Illinois street. It was short and uneven, and its cars, drawn by diminutive nniles, ran at rare and irregular intervals. During the "boom" times in the early seventies, several other short lines were built, and growth went on slowly for years. In i.SSS, a number of outside capitalists combined and purchased the system for $1,085,000, and then an era of improvement began such as had never before been experi- enced in the city. Xew lines were built, old lines rebuilt and extended, new cars of the best pattern purchased, open summer cars put into service in large numbers, and finally, a beautiful park i6o IXDIAXAI'OLIS. IXniAXA, U. S. A. opened six miles north of the city and a superb electric line constructed to it by way of Crown Hill Cemetery. As the city had before had no popular amusement ground in the suburbs, Fair- view Park, as the new place was called, came into immediate and lasting favor. There had before been no rapid or satis- factory means of reaching Crown Hill, and the con.struction of the electric line had the effect of bringing the lovely place of the dead to the very gates of the cit\'. An English expert electrician who traveled all over the United States to vSince then, other roads have been converted into electric lines, and rapid transit is becoming a familiar fact. In a few years all the street railroads in the city will be operated by electricity. The system has grown until now three hundred cars are required to equip the eighty-five miles of tracks, and eight hundred men and a thousand hor.ses and mules are necessary to operate them. Ten huge barns are filled l)y the live stock and rolling stock. Whenever new tracks are laid down or old ones replaced, a steel rail weighing seventj' pounds to Station at F.\irvii:w 1'ark study the different electric street railway the _\ard is laid. The total distance systems, carried back to ("ireat Britain, traveled by all the cars amounts to and caused to be published, the report nearly eight thousand miles every day, that the electric line in Indianapolis was and in a year the total distance is the best that he saw in this country. almost three million miles. The com- INniANAI'OLIS, INDIANA. U. S. A. i6i pauy pays out about half a million rented at reasonable cost, and where dollars in wages every year, and a large there is plenty of room and fresh air, sum for supplies besides. The plant is and yet go to and from work in any one of the largest street railway systems quarter of the city cheaply and promptly, found in the great cities of America. This opportunity is taken advantage of Entrance to Armstrong P.\rk. One direct benefit of this admirable to a large degree, and in its way the system is that enjoyed by wage earners street railway system is an agency for and people receiving small salaries, keeping the poor from crowding to- They are enabled to live in the suburbs, gether in down-town blocks, in garrets where living expenses are comparatively and cellars, where di.sease and vice lie- small and homes can be purchased or in wait in their most dreaded foims. tt ft L!!l!!!„' Ifi .-.i ! I'll 1 1 ;i if;^ «8t ii Iff H I! ff 1 i lyiiSMjii Commi-;kciai, Ci.uh Hrii,i>iNG. THE SPIRIT OF IMPROVEMENT. J'BLIC spirit is like the wind: When it enters a city it breathes upon the whole body of the popula- tion. Its stimulus is not restricted to here and there a favored individual. For public .spirit to become an active, moving force in a comnumity, it must, in the nature of existing condi- tions, become manifest in the common mind. The causes which lead to a growth or decline of this spirit are not well understood. It is gradually and im- perceptibly infused into a community, or as mysteriously fades away, in either case being unheralded. Of one city we say its people are public spirited : of another, that the people lack public spirit. But we can not satisfactorily explain the reason for the condition which prevails in either place. Or we may note that in the same city an absence of public spirit at one time may be succeeded by a striking manifestation of it at another. In a general and cjual- ified way it may be said that a commu- nit}' which is prosperous and growing, is more likely than others to be char- acterized by this spirit, though it is pos- sible to invert the statement and say that the community in which public spirit prevails is likely to be growing and prosperous. There is this to be said, however, without qualification or reserve: That people which is most liberal of purse, most tolerant of custom or belief most careful of individual welfare, is also most thoroughly inspired with the spirit which strives for the promotion of the public weal. Indianapolis has not a record in this regard which is as good as could be desired. In past years she has seen younger and less advantageously located cities outstrip her. Her people have always had a reputation for steady pros- perity and contentment, but they have, perhaps, been too conservative. They have failed to appreciate the fact that there may be a liberality, an apparent freedom of expenditure, which, in the end, brings richer returns than an>' within the reach of strict conservatism. At first thought this may seem to have been a disadvantage, but further con- sideration will reverse the conclusion. In all the years of her stead}', un- ostentatious growth, Indianapolis has been laying broad and deep the foun- dations of future greatness. She has accomplished this b}- a thrift and econ- omy which have accumulated vast property and business interests free of debt. Her real estate values are actual, not fictitious. A larger per cent, of her citizens are property owners than is the case in any other city in the country. Here, then, is the foundation: A comnumity independent, well-to-do, composed of industrious members living 164 INDIANAPOLLS. INDIANA, V. S. A. in their own homes; vast mamifactur- class of residences and business blocks; ing establishments which have grown and for better government. This demand step bj- step from small beginnings, has been accompanied by a willingness each .step taken in response to impera- to assume the expense and inconven- tive demands for increased facilities ; ience incident to such improvements. an almost absolute freedom from foreign The results are to be seen in numerous debt on the part of in- dividuals and businesses ; a .system of railroads mak- ing the best center of di.s- tribution in the United States ; a surrounding ter- ritorj- rich in agricultural advantages, aud teeming with mineral wealth. Upon this foundation, slow of growth and solid as the everlasting hills, Indianapolis has now fair- ly begun to raise her superstructure of grace aud beauty. Public spirit breathed its inspiration into the souls of the people, aud already the effect is to be seen in many forms. The common desire to advance the city's interest has put a new .spirit into the Board of Trade, and has brought into being the Commercial Club, which has the public welfare as the sole justifi- cation for its existence. Crowning Figure Soldiers' Monument. instances. An era of street paving began three years ago. and is >et in the as- cendant. Miles of as])halt and lirick have been laid, and each season witnesses a growing sentiment in favor of more. A large part of the street railway sy.stcin has been converted from mule to electric power, and further changes will be made until, in a few >ears, the entire system will be electric, with rapid transit everywhere. Busi- ness blocks and residences, erected within two or three years, are in evidence to prove the more gener- ous ideas which at present prevail. Stone is taking the place of brick ; office l)uildings of great extent, and equipped with all the agencies of convenience and comfort, are taking the places of the ancient, inconvenient buildings The same impulse toward im])rovement which preceded them. A ne\V sj^stem of has been manifested in a demand for municipal government, containing all the better streets ; for more efficient and best features of the best city govern- adequate street car service; for a better ments in the country, with others in INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 165 additiou, has been secured from the ness, are of a temper to persist in these State Legislature and put into successful laudable purposes until they are attained, operation. It is not intended that any city on the From the future, Indianapolis expects continent shall be more attractive or much. Her people, prosperous and progressive as a place either for residence Cn.\iR l".\cTORv (IX Big Foir Raii.ro.ad. happy, building up wealth year by year, or for commercial activity. All the fac- aud imbued with the spirit which takes tors for a symmetrical, rounded commu- a patriotic pride in beautifying the city nity of enlightenment and enterprise are and increasing its comforts and conven- present and are being daily woven into iences as a place of residence or busi- a fabric, strong, uniform and beautiful. OUR MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. ANY of the gravest problems in political economy which ^_ , liave arisen in recent years ©■ ^''t's have been those connected !J*' with the government of cities. The most earnest students of the age have applied themselves to the working out of a solution of these problems. Wherever a large population is crowded into a small territory, there is an inevita- ble tendency to vice and crime and cor- ruption in public office. The law experi- ences the greatest difficulty in ferreting out and punishing offenders. The same conditions which breed the evils that prey upon societ}- protect tho.se evils from the arm of the law. The massing of population not only multiplies the benefits to be obtained, but magnifies the ills. Every large city in the world has experienced the truth of this, and, in every city where enlightenment pre- vails, a constant study is carried on for the purpose of ascertaining how be.st to secure to the inhabitants the maximum of good and a minimum of bad. This effort has led to a trial of many different forms of municipal government. In the United States these experiments have ranged from utter failure to gratify- ing success. Something over two years ago, when it became conclusively evident that Indianapolis had outgrown her existing form of government, and the citizens, without regard to politics, en- t'.ied upon a movement to secure from the legislature a new charter, it was unanimously determined to embody in that Histrument the best features of the best systems of municipal government known. With that end in view, a com- mittee of eminent attorneys and business men, evenly divided politically, was ap- pointed to prepare a charter which should lack no detail of excellence. The committee spent months in studying the systems of government of other cities. It was found that Philadelphia and Brooklyn were among the best governed cities in the United States, and from them were borrowed many valuable features. To these were added such im- provements as experience and observa- tion recommended to the committee. When every point of practicable value had been incorporated in the instrument, it was presented to the legislature with a petition that it be enacted into a legal charter, which should become the basis for the future government of the city. The request was granted, and, in the spring of 1891, the old form of adminis- tration of public affairs was exchanged for the new charter. With the change the city made a long stride forward. The narrow restrictions under which it had groaned were cast off, and a new life, marked by progress and improvement, began. The charter, under which the city is now governed, centers the chief power and the greater part of the responsibility Hori-,1. I.Ni.i.i- t»l.Cini%NT \I, lloTKI.. INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. i6g ill the Mayor. In this \va\- the people are enabled to locate the blame for bad managemeut of affairs, or the credit for good, where it belongs. One of the weaknesses of the old form of city gov- ernment was the difficulty of locating the responsibility for any mismanagement or corruption in the conduct of public affairs. The Indianapolis charter lodges almost the entire administration of the municipal government in the hands of boards appointed by the Mayor. Over these boards the Mayor exerts the utmost author- ity. He may remove at will, without the formal- ity of announcing the cause for his action. The administration of affairs is divided into four departments, viz.: The Department of Finance, the Department of Public Works, the Department of Public Safety, and the Department of Public Health and Charities. The Department of F"i- nance is in charge of a Comptroller, and each of the other departments is presided over by a board of three members. The Comptroller and boards, as .stated above, hold office at the pleasure of the Mayor. In this way the Mayor, through his per- sonal representatives, car- ries on nearly all the functions of the local government, and is held directly ac- countable for their conduct. The Com- mon Council still exists, but its juris- diction is restricted, and the Mayor has the power of veto over its acts. The charter also invests the authori- ties with more power than they ever had before. They may compel the people to make public improvements where needed, over the protest and opposition of private or selfish interests. Sanitary and moral ERM.\N TKI,KGR.\PH" R(lII,ni.NO. 170 INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. restrictions may be made as comprehen- Tlie benefits of the charter are already sive and binding as necessarj' to pre- evident. The administration of public ser\-e the public healtli. and to guard and affairs has been placed upon a systematic maintain the moral welfare of the people. and business-like basis; street improve- The evil of the struggle for the spoils of ments of the finest and most durable office and the crimes against the .suffrage, character have been fairly begun, and which in all large cities grow out of it, will not be stopped until Indianapolis is where not specifically guarded against, as handsomely paved a city as there is have been, in great degree, prevented by in the country ; a magnificent sewer charter provisions which require the system, the result of extensive inve.s- Residence on E.^.st Washington STRf:i:T. police force and the members of the fire department to be chosen in equal number from at lea.st two political parties. Another of the valuable jirovisions of the charter gives the city government entire control over all places of anuise- inent or entertainment within five miles of the corporation limits. Through this jiower, the suburban resorts, which are certain to be maintained about the out- skirts of a city near enough to be with- in easy reach of the inhabitants, and yet outside the pale of the city's authority, may be effectually regulated. tigatiou and expert planing, has been agreed upon, work upon its construc- tion having been already begun ; and many other plans to enhance the welfare and beauty of the city have been put on foot, and will be carried into full effect as rapidl)' as possible. Under the benefi- cent operation of the new charter, sus- tained by a liberal and friendlj- public spirit, there is no doubt whatever that Indianapolis is entering upon an era of de- velopment which will win for her the rep- utation of being one of the most perfect- ly governed cities in the United vStates. SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSOCIATIONS. CITY may be wealthy because carry dinner baskets, the classes which, of the great riches concen- in other cities, live in the tenements of trated in the hands of a few their rich neighbors, in Indianapolis go individual citizens, or through to their own homes when their hours of the sum of the common pros- employment are ended. The result of perity and thrift of the mass these enlightened and humane condi- of the population. For the tious is that there is in this city no welfare of the community and sharply drawn line between the rich and the wholesome equilibrium of public the poor, as there is in other communi- affairs, the second class of city wealth ties. All industrious, respectable people is unquestionably the more desirable, are more nearly on the same plane of Indianapolis is rich in this way. vShe societ}' than elsewhere. The money test has no citizens who, in other great cities, is not rigidly nor generally applied. would be account- ed very wealthy. Her people are almost completely devoid of any dis- play of riches. The splendor of liveried servants, and glittering carriages, and all the gorgeousne.ss and pomp which are the outward manifestation of wealth in other cities are wanting in Indianapolis. Intelligence and respectability are standards of eligi- bilit\' to good soci- ety which out- weigh all others. The rich and the middle classes live in the same sec- tions of the city, •"I and are neighbors on neighborly terms. This feature of general home owning is one that Bun.T ON THE ASSOCI.\TI0N PLAN. There are beautiful forcibly and favorably impresses the streets, lined with handsome homes, and stranger in the city. There are large the owners are worth their hundreds of sections where the streets are thickly thousands, but they do not indulge in lined on both sides with homes. Every vulgar display. On the other hand tlie place has a green, well kept lawn with wage earners, the men and women who plenty of yard for a breathirig space. INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 1/3 Not one of the houses in the sec- tion, perhaps, will be distiuctively a fine mansion, and not one will be cheap looking or dilapidated. All will speak of plent\- and comfort and contenlnienl. These are the homes in which the people live, who, in other cities, are cooped in flats, apartment houses and rented tenements. The houses in which they live in Indianapolis are their own, and the good old word "home" applies to them in its best sense. On the poorest streets will be found hundreds of neat cottages, Bni.T ON THE Association ri,.\N. the property of the strong limbed men others it is. There must always be who go out from them daily to toil in beginners and unfortunates who can not the mills and shops and on the railroads. l)uy homes, and extravagant and shiftless Every cottage bears those marks of pro- folk who will not. But in Indianapolis prietorship, which, to the careful obser\'er, these, by their contrast, emphasize the tell of the owner's jiride, and of the fact happier condition without being numer- that his home is his stronghold. Cro to ous enough to obscure it. The per cent. any part of the cit\', away from the busi- ness districts, and the same conditions will be found to exist. The homes, be the)- small or large, Ijear outward indica- tions of the fact that the\' arc occupied by their owners. There is a neatness, a of the population which owns its homes is large and strong enough to dominate and give to the whole fabric of society in the community an air of solidity and stability as gratifying as it is rare. This liredominaiice of thrift sets the rule for state of repair about the fence and gate, the oncoming generation and makes the a freshness of the paint, an indescribable young man and young woman feel that something about the jilace in entirety, the ])ropcr thing, the expected thing, for which leave no doubt in the observer's them to do is to save money and become mind as to the jiroprietorship. proi)ert>- owners themselves. The right Naturall)- there are exceptions to this way becomes the customary way, and rule, according to which householders the common impulse of public opinion are house owners. vScattered among the and expectation is toward the betterment neat homes are to be found tenements of society. The influence of all this of many grades nf inferiorit\'. In some ui)oii the youth who are coming into portions of the city this is not true; in their elders' places is incalculable. It 174 INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. starts them rij^ht and gives a bent to their inclinations and habits of life which is permanent. The single agency which has done more than all other influences in making possible this general thrift, and in bring- ing it about, is the saving and loan as- sociation. It were hard to overestimate the benefit which associations of this kind have brought to Indianapolis. They have taken the poor man's petty savings, accumulated them little by little and returned them with generous accre- tions of interest. But their chief service has been in enabling wage earners to build homes and pay for them in such small payments as could be spared from their wages after the living expenses were deducted, monev which would have had to go for rent under other circum- stances. It has been said that money paid for rent is money thrown away, and in the view that there is no perma- nent return for money paid as rent, the saying is true. This is well illustrated in the operation of the savings and loan associations. The man who has paid a given amount for rent each month enters an association, builds a hou.se, and instead of paying rent pays about the same amount monthly into the asso- ciation. At the end of a few j^ears he finds him.self the owner in fee simple of a neat home, without a dollar of indebt- edness upon it, and without having made any perceptible sacrifices to secure it, and thereafter the money which he saves can be devoted to the accumula- WlNDSOK IIoTlvI.. INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 175 tion of other property from which to derive an additional income. The num- ber of wage earners who have passed through this identical experience in In- dianapolis is most surprising to persons who have not become accustomed to it. The savings and loan, or building association idea primarily came to the United States from Germany, and se- cured its first permanent foothold on this side of the Atlantic in Philadelphia. There it was expanded and modified so as to be more in accordance with Amer- ican progress, and its benefits soon made it remarkably popular. From Phila- delphia a few Indianapolis gentlemen brought the idea West, and introduced it in this city about a quarter of a cen- tury ago, organizing a small association among themselves. That was the acorn from which the mighty oak of to-day has grown. In Indianapolis the principles under- lying the operation of the associations have received the profoundest investiga- tion. They have been studied in all their leadings just as insurance has. The result is a wonderful broadening of the benefits to be derived from member- ship in the associations. Profits are larger than of old; there are more elastic methods of securing to each member what he especially desires ; safeguards against speculation by officers have been adopted, and finally the cost of loans is very much lower than in the old-time associations. There is not a savings bank in Indi- anapolis for the simple reason that there is no demand for one. The savings and loan associations fill the place occupied by savings banks in other cities, and do much more besides. To depositors they pay higher profits than banks do, and they act as investment associations, and can afford to make more liberal loans on propel ty than banks can. This liber- ality in loans is not an indication of laxity in methods. It is based on sound business principles. The very month the loan is made, the borrower begins to repay it. Before the property has time to deteriorate, enough of the loan has been repaid to prevent the possibil- ity of loss, and while the borrower is paying interest on the whole sum bor- rowed, he has paid off a part of it, which being promptly loaned to another borrower, is again earning interest. Thus it is that while no single borrower is required to pay an exorbitant rate of interest on his loan, the fact that the mone}^ is turned over so often makes the total earnings of the associations very high. Each member of the association shares in the earnings according to the amount of stock which he holds. The result of this rather complex yet sound system is that an association member may borrow money amounting to three- fourths of the value of the property mortgaged to secure it, pay off the total debt and interest in small, easy pay- ments, and in the end, after deducting his share of the association earnings from the cost of his loan, find that he has only paid interest at the rate of about six per cent. Ci-KMAN Park AssoliaTIon L'l.i ii lIoiSK. (il-lK.MAN I'AKl-; ASSIILIAI'IDN I*A\ I l.li I.N. INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 177 111 the light of these facts, it is no wonder the building association business has grown to vast proportions in Indi- anapolis. The wonder is that it has not become proportionally great in all the cities of the country. It offers oppor- tunities to the lender no less attractive than to the borrower. The wage earner who has paid for his home in the build- ing association rarely gives up his membership. He has too clearl)- learned its advantages. His common course is to promptly take out more shares of stock and continue his weekly or montlilj' payments, not with a view to borrow, but as an investment. In nearly every association there is a demand for more monej' than can be .supplied, and shareholders who paj' in but do not bor- row are a neccs.sary factor. Some general compre- hension of the enor- -mir^ mous extent to which the savings and loan association idea has taken hold upon In- dianapolis may be imparted by a resort to statistics. There are now in the city something over seven- tj'-five different associations. Their capi- talization ranges from $50,000 to $2,000,- 000 each, averaging about $500,000, and the shares of stock range in paid-up value from one hundred to five hundred dol- VlRGIXI.\ .\VENI'E FOUNT.ilN lars, averaging about two hundred dollars each. The total capitalization of all the associations in the city is above $37,- 000,000. The total number of shares of stock actually' carried at this writing is over 100,000. At the average value of two hundred dollars a share, this fixes the total value of building association stock now being carried in the citj' at over $20,000,000. The weekly payments, which are pro- portionately the same in all the associations, are at the rate of fift)' cents on each share of two hundred dollars. Carry the calculation a step farther, therefore, and it is seen that $50,000 is paid in- to the Indianapolis building associations every week, over $200,000 every month and $2,600,000 every year. Of this vast sum, fullj- $2,000,000 goes into dwelling houses for the wage earners and the — small-salaried classes. '— Is it any wonder, -.;.._. theu, that Indianapo- SIIJ^.c^lis is called the "City ~ of Homes?" And is it to be wondered at that the working classes of the city are unsurpassed in contentment and stability and prosperity by those of any com- munity on the globe? A word of praise is due to the man- agement of the associations. In all the years since the first was established in 7-Hi- 178 INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. the city not one has failed or brought loss upon its members. The machinery of operation is eminently simple and in- expensive. The Secretary, in each case, is the chief and only salaried officer. He commonly receives in payment for his services from three to ten dollars a week, according to the amount of busi- ness to be done. The Directors meet in the evenings, once or twice a week, and the whole administration is carried on bv odd moments of attention. No tions may be operated for the greatest benefit of the members in the matter of liberal terms and large profits, but also that they maj^ be carried on with very slight expense. The good whicli the associations have done in Indianapolis is incalculable. It consists not alone in the great material prosperity which they have brought, but it extends far into the moral constitution of society. It is seen in habits of industry, in ideas of saving, in the decrease in vice and dissipation . j>?*. J-..1...- .. ... ^d. *k.Jt~.- SrKi.ic.vi. I.NjiTi 1111. .1111(1 hiKMi-rr. person devotes his whole time to an which are accompaniments of extrava- association, as a rule, though, in the gance and improvidence, in a higher largest societies, there are a few excep- moral tone and in a general uplifting of tions to this. Experience and study have the community in all that makes toward sliown, not only how building associa- a better and happier existence. PUBLIC BUILDINGS. they large or small, few cities ill the United States possess more or finer pub- lic buildings than those in Indianapolis. As the cap- ital of the State the city has become the location of several large public institutions housed in buildings of vast extent and great beauty. Early in the history of the vState, while land in the suburbs of the infant capital was cheap, the authorities selected sites for the institutions, roomy and shaded by forest trees. The cost of the ground was small, but the growth of the city has been such that now the Spate's property is immensely valuable, and situated as it is, when the city has grown out to and around it, it adds to the beauty of the capital greatly with its shade and stretches of green sward, its flowers and fountains. Most beautiful of all the public buildings in the city and one of the finest in the United States is the Capitol. It stands in the center of a tract of about ten acres in the heart of the citj'. Its noble dome, rising two hundred and thirty-five feet into the air, with swell- ing curves and beauty of outline, is not surpa.ssed in the country. The great mass standing against the sky is so free from any suggestion of weight that it almost seems afloat. The Capitol is of stone, massive and solid. The e.xterior walls are of the famous oolitic stone from the Indiana field, and bear the warm gray tint and the appearance of .solidity which characterize that stone. Inside, the Capitol is noticeably free from the gilt and gaudy fret-work of plaster and other cheap materials which so aften lend an air of ostentatious vul- garity to the finish of public Iniildings. Everything which the eye rests upon is genuine. It is exactly what it seems to be. The style of fini.sh is massive and rather plain, but rich because of the materials employed. The roof and gal- leries are supported by rows and groups of immense marble pillars, and looking from the main floor of the great cor- ridor up to the sky-light, rows of sim- ilar pillars, one above another, are seen about the successive balconies. The stairways are marble, of various colors, and are triumphs of artistic design. Ex- acth- beneath the dome is the rotunda. Here the four vast piers which uphold the dome serve to enclose partly a circu- lar space about seventy-five feet in diameter. The piers are of oolitic stone, unadorned. About the rotunda on suita- ble pedestals stand Italian marble statues representing Art, Literature, History, Oratory, Commerce, Agriculture, Justice and Law. A hundred feet above the floor a dome of stained glass roofs the rotunda and floods it with rich, subdued light. The Iniilding is heated in winter I So INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. and cooled iu summer by a sj-stem of into the State treasur_v when the Capitol steam fans in the basement. Tlie fans was completed. Such a thing was rare- incidentally ventilate the structure thor- ly if ever heard of before in the history oughly. In winter of this country. The result of the hon- the air is blown esty and wise judgment of the commis- sion which had control of the building operations, and of the contractors who did the work, is that Indiana to-day has a Capitol of noble and dignified propor- tions. It is proven by tlie testimony of travelers and architects that this build- ing is finer and handsomer than capitols in other States which cost a great deal more. across huge coils of heated steam pipes and in that way warmed before reaching the upper floors. Extravagance and corruption in the erection of public liuildings are so near- ly universal that they have become proverbial. The building of the Indiana Capitol furnishes a notable exception to the rule. It is a monument to the hon- esty and economy of its builders. The State Legislature appropriated $2,000,000 for the purpose of building a Capitol. To the surprise and gratificatiou of the public, nearly twenty thousand dollars of the fund remained and was turned back INDIANAPOLIvS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 181 The largest single iu.stitiilioii which Indiana possesses is the Central Hospital for the Insane, located in the western subnrbs of Indianapolis. Its site is a rolling tract of native woodland, spa- cious and beautiful. The natural at- tractions of the place are heightened by the art of the architect and landscape gardener. This institution is a complete comnuinit}- in itself It has the popula- tion of a small city, and is as independ- ent as a city in the matter of its food, heat, light, society, entertainment and huge central battery of boilers. The ho.spital is an instructive and interesting place to the visitor. All the most ap- proved methods of treating the insane are in use. As far as possible the pub- lic is kept informed of the workings of the institution, and everything is carried on according to the most humane and enlightened ideas. One of the cardinal doctrines of the management of the hospital is that dementia may be relieved, often perma- nently, by keeping the thoughts of the Residence on North Meridian Street. religious services. The hospital usually patients employed in a manner to divert contains about sixteen hundred patients them from their mania. In the practice with near four hundred attendants and of this remedy the hospital is made a other employes. A large electric light- cheerful, lively place, and much time ing station is on the grounds, and the and ingenuity are given to preparing two main buildings are heated from a and carrying out plans for tlie amuse- INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. ■83 ment and diversion of the patients. The unfortunates are also provided with the means of employing their hands when they so desire, and annually they pro- duce large quantities of lace, crochet work, etc. Some write, some draw, and each individual is allowed the especial dA'ersion which he enjoys. Because of the methods which prevail in this insti- tution it is not the solemn, tomb-like place which manj' hospitals for the in- sane are. The buildings and grounds of the Central Hospital are well worth a visit, aside from the interest which attaches to a place where broken and ruined minds are assembled and cared for. There are two enormous buildings, one for men, the other for women. They are l)rick, and for purposes of light and ventilation each are arranged in the form of con- nected wings with man>- angles, and above are finished with numerous tall brick towers. The hospital, with its grounds, is worth $1,800,000. From a distance the clustered towers rising above the trees present a striking ap- appearance. On a green hill at one side of the grounds is a small well-kept cem- eterv, where lie the remains of man\' patients who are still, as in life, the wards of the State. On the eastern edge of the city, in a beautiful grove of tall forest trees, is the State School for the Deaf It consists of two large buildings ; one of gray stone, four stories high, with an impos- ing entrance, flanked by stately fluted pillars of a style once popular and now. unfortunately, rare ; the other, a modern brick building of the same height. There are, besides, shops, a bakery, and other separate buildings. The grounds consist of many acres, part of which is used for agricultural purpo.ses. The campus about the buildings is laid out in lawns and shaded walks, while the gray and red walls of the school appear cool and inviting through the vistas of trees. The property is estimated to be worth over half a million of dollars. The most successful methods of in- struction are employed in this institu- tion. Besides the sign language, pupils are taught to read the lips of persons speaking, and to use their voices in speech. A boy or girl, at home referred to as "deaf and dumb," may often be taught to understand the movements of the lips of one speaking, and to reply in a well modulated voice, so as to carry on a convensation in a manner hardh- different, apparently, from the dialogue of two persons possessing all the ordi- nary faculties. At the last commence- ment exercises of the school, several pupils delivered graduating speeches or read papers from the stage in a man- ner so rational and easy that the hearer for the moment almost forgot the character of the institution. Considera- ble original investigation has been made by the authorities of the school in the line of assisting hearing where the power to hear some sounds is still weakly present. Studies of the conditions which produce deafness and the hered- itary phases of the affliction have also been carried on in the schuol with gratifying success. The State Institution for the Blind is also located in Indiana])o- lis. It is in the north central part of the city, in the niidst of the most attractive residence district. Its fine old trees and grounds, with winding walks and handsome flower beds, add much to the beauty of the neighborhood. The main building of the school, like that of the institution for the deaf, is of a stately style of architecture which wears the dignity of other days, and is in striking contrast to the modern and ephemeral, though more ostentatious, buildings around it. In the eastern part of the cit}', and not far from the school for the deaf, is the Girls' Re- formatory and Women's Prison. This institu- tion has brought to Indiana a reputa- tion for advanc ed ideas in the h u ni a n e treatment of female of- fenders. Hardly another State in the Union has made so liberal and wise a *'*' provision for them. The reformatory and prison, though under the same roof and management, are entirely distinct from each other. There is no association or contact between the young girls in the reformatory and the hardened criminals in the prison. \ ^/ The institution was established solely for women and girls, and is under the control of a board of woman managers. The superintend- .', V 1^ ^"'- '^ ^ woman, and all the officers and attendants ; are women. No female criminals are sent to the penitentiaries. In their prison, milder discipline pre- \ails : the work provided is of a kind suited to them ; and there is not the gloom and cheerlessness which often characterizes prisons. Students of penology and philanthro- INDIAXAl'DLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 1S5 pists have come lumdreds of miles to visit this Indiauapolis institution, which is everywhere regarded as a model of its kind. The building in which the reforma- tory and prison are quartered is of brick with stone finishings, and is con- structed according to a rather handsome design. It stands on a tract of high ground, but has not the surroundings of large forest trees which add so much to the attractiveness of other State insti- tutions in the city. The property of House. After the State House, the Court House is the most striking archi- tectural feature of the capital. It is of Indiana oolitic stone, and has the mass- ive, strong appearance which that stone so well imparts. The building is of dig- nified design, and though of great size, is saved from the monotony which large structures often present to the eye, by well-executed variations in outline, and the employment of projecting buttresses, polished granite columns and the like. The interior of the Court House does I'KiKxus' Church. the reformatorj' and prison is worth not quite fulfill the expectations which about $200,000. the exterior arouses, though it is costly One of the most imposing structures and well arranged. Its stairways, es- iu the city is the Marion County Court pecially, are noteworthy features of the i86 INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. vS. A. interior. The building cost, when ed a dozen years or more ago, one and a half million of dollars ground upon which it stands, if put on the market to-day, would pro- bably sell for not less than one million dollars. No single object attracts more interest in Indian- apolis than the monument erected by the vState in honor of the soldiers who went out from Indiana to fight for their country. No other State in the Union has honored its loyal sons with .so noble a memorial as this. It stands in the center of Circle Park, the park which, in the original design of the founders of the capital, occupied the exact center of the citv. erect- top of the slender shaft stands a colossal about bronze figure holding aloft the torch of The progress in one hand and with the oth- er grasping a sword with its point turned to the earth in token of ended strife. The statue represents Indiana tri- umphant in battle, return- ing to the pursuits of peace. Work upon the monu- ment is still in progress. When it is complete, mag- nificent groups of bronze statuary, representing War and Peace, will adorn the east and west faces of the pedestal. Bronze a.stragals encircle the shaft of the monu- ment. One represents the army, another the aavy, a third contains the dates of the Mexican and Civil wars. It is intended to *,:■;- '-,f ""^fJ Of solid, gray stone, the monument rises, make this the grandest soldiers' mouu- beautiful in its proportions, to a height ment on the globe. of two hundred and eighty feet. On the The niu\ement in favor of the INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 187 building of a monument to the citizen the legislature convened in 1887 a bill soldiery of the State originated about was introduced appropriating $200,000 twenty years ago. An effort was made for the erection of a soldiers' monument soon after to collect sufficient funds by in Circle Park, and became a law with popular subscription, but it was not per- little opposition. Soon after, active op- RiisiDRNCE ON North sisted in, and was given up when about $21,000 was in hand. After that, the project lay dormant several years. When it was next revived it met with more pronounced favor, and its advocates determined to ask the legislature to ap- propriate money to assist in carrying it through. In the beginning, the mo.st enthusiastic friends of the movement had not dreamed of such a monument as was finally decided upon, but as senti- ment increa.sed in favor of their plan their hopes and ambitions grew. When Dei,.\wark Strekt. erations began, the work being placed in control of a commission provided for in the legislative act which appropriated the money. From that time the con.struction of the great memorial has gone steadily on. Progress has been slow because only by deliberation, and the careful considera- tion of every detail, can a truly noble and dignified work of art be achieved. The best living artists have contributed to the success of the undertaking. De- signs and models have come from St. Vincp:nt's Hospitai,. 1-KMAI.I-; Rlil-URMATllUV. INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 189 famous sculptors and architects in Ger- many, France, England, and different parts of the United States. The very best that art can offer has been secured for this great work. The expense of this has been beyond all previous cal- culations. The appropriation of $200,- 000 was found not nearly sufficient, though the $21,000 of the original fund was added to it, and the expenses of the commission came from the State treasury. Again the legislature was ap- pealed to, and in the winter of 1890-91 an additional appropriation of $100,000 was made. It is yet uncertain whether even this sum will suffice to finish the monument. If it does, the total cost will be about $350,000. It is the pur- pose of those mo.st closely associated with the construction of the memorial to have it conform to the highest can- ons of art, and to make it an unanswer- able refutation of the idea that the West does not know and appreciate the best in artistic expression. Tomlinson Hall is a public building of which any city might well be proud. When Stephen D. Tomlinson died, ten years ago or more, he left an estate of $150,000 in trust to the city, for the erection of a great assembly hall to be- long to the municipality. To this sum the city added about as much more, and built Tomlinson Hall. The building is of immense proportions, and of a style of architecture which preserves it against the barn-like appearance which is often noticed as almost characteristic of buildings erected solely to accommo- date large crowds. The lower floor of the structure is a vast market space, open on two sides in summer and closed in winter, and divided into innumerable stalls. The main entrance to the build- ing leads into a large corridor or vesti- bule, from which two wide stairways ascend to the vestibule of the assembly room on the second floor. The hall, where many great crowds have gathered, is perfect for the purpo.se for which it was erected. There is nothing cheap or temporary about it. The walls are hand.somely frescoed. The hard-wood floor is smooth and almost polished. The ceiling, fifty feet above, is of yellow pine fini.shed in natural colors, its vast expanse broken by mass- ive cros.s-beams intersecting each other at right angles. Around three sides of the hall runs a wide balcony. Across the end farthest from the stage is a second balcony or gallery, above the first. In this hall have been held nation- al political conventions, state conven- tions, great mass meetings, the famous May Music Festivals, and many other kinds of assemblies. The stage alone has a seating capacity of five hundred. The hall entire has been known to ac- commodate assemblies of five thousand persons. As a meeting place accessible to the public, belonging to the public in fact, this great gathering place has been of incalculable value to the com- munity. The Public Library building is purely Grecian in its architecture, classic lines being strictly adhered to through- INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA. U. S. A. igi out. It occupies an excellent location, being near the heart of the city, and at the same time far enough away from the noise and confusion of traffic to allow the place quiet surroundings. The ■building is not only handsome ; it is convenient as well. The books are easy of access and in good light, and are so compactly stored as to require a mini- mum of space, and of distance to be gone over by attendants in waiting upon patrons. The system of cataloguing in use is one approved and practiced in the greatest libraries in the country. At the present rate of increase, the institution will contain 100,000 volumes in a few years more. The library build- ing, with the ground on which it stands, is worth about $200,000. The building of the Young Men's Christian Association is another of the handsome structures of the city. It is of rough stone laid in massive blocks. The front of the first floor is devoted to business rooms, with the exception of a broad entrance, spanned by a low mass- ive arch of stone, which leads to the -Stairway. The rear of the first floor is occupied by the gymnasium. The sec- ond floor of the building is occupied by the offices, reading rooms, amusement rooms, parlors, and chief audience room of the association. The third floor con- tains a number of class rooms, used b>- the free night classes carried on for the members during the winter. In con- junction with the gymnasium are spa- cious bath rooms. The a.ssociation has thus provided an attractive gathering- place for young men who are down town during the day or evening ; a place where they may read, or talk, or play games, or study, or develop their muscles. The building is situated in the business center of the city, where its conveniences are most readily accessible. The membership of the association is about twelve hundred, and its property, which is clear of debt, is worth $100,- 000 or more. The Propykcum is an institution pe- culiar to Indianapolis. The Iniilding which bears the name is the property of an association of women. The idea of erecting a handsome structure to be used for important social events; art exhibitions ; as a meeting place for lit- erary, social and scientific clubs, and any other functions not inconsistent with these, originated with certain prominent women of the city, and was no sooner conceived than a definite plan was formed and efforts were made to put it into effect. A stock company was or- ganized and subscriptions invited. Only women were allowed to take stock. The capital needed was $20,000, and in a short time every dollar was subscribed. A large lot was purchased in a choice location, and the Propylaeum built. The structure is of rough stone, three stories high, and of handsome design. The interior is finished in quartered oak. About the entire place is an air of elegance and refinement. The business judgment of the originators of the Prop}-- lanim enterprise has been confirmed by the history of the institutiun since it Military Park Ldhkinc Toward thk State Housk. Military 1'akk Ai. I Ki INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 195 best way, and only the best materials were employed. When the work was completed, and the great building and train sheds were finished, those who had seen the progress from beginning to end knew that an immense enterprise had been carried to an honest and high class consummation. i\.n institution had been ing with the remainder of the building. The interior of the station is as striking and handsome as the exterior. The main waiting room is a vast hall of un- usual beaut}'. Its ceiling is an arch spanning the entire width of the room, which is fifty feet, and from the floor to the center of the arch is sixtv-five feet. Rksidkxce on NdI^ added to the city which would be credit- able to it no matter how much the com- munity may increase in population and wealth in years to come. The main building of the station is of granite and pressed brick. The main entrance is beneath a massive arch, and the building is as strong and durable as a Norman castle. On one corner ri.ses a square, stately tower of dignity in keep- rii ?iIi:riiii \x S tkij't. An ornamental gallery extends entirely around, the room at a height of about twenty-five feet. The room is lighted by a huge stained glass sky light in the ceil- ing, and by an immense circular window of .stained glass at each end. Connected with the main waiting room is a smoking room ; a second large waiting room where there is somewhat more of privacy than in the main room ; a hand.some waiting i three hundred feet wide. Light enters at the open sides and through the large sky-lights. The roof of the shed connects with one side of the main build- ing of the station, so that in passing from the trains to the waiting rooms there is no ex- room devoted exclusively to ladies' use ; a dining room : a barber shop : a check room : a news stand : a telegraph office; a ticket office, and several toilet and retiring rooms. An elevator -and stair\va\-s lead to the three upper floors of the building, where are situated a large number of railway offices. The trains, on reaching the station, stand under a vast roof .supported on iron pil- lars. The shed is over seven hundred feet long and over l''ikK I'l.Nc.iM-; ll(U>.i;^. INDIAXAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 197 posure to the weather. George B. Roberts, President of the Pennsylvania system of raih'oads, is authorilx- tor the statement that tlie Indianapolis Union Station is the finest and most complete railway depot in the I'nited States. The station cost, in ronnd numbers, $1,000,000. The new club house of the Com- mercial Club is one of the most im- posing buildings in the city. It is of Indiana stone, laid rough in the first two .stories and dressed above. Its total height is eight stories. The first six stories are used for business rooms and offices. The seventh floor is occupied by the club, and the eighth by a large, first-class cafe. The club (jnarters are equipped with all that is necessary to comfort and attractiveness. There is a private cafe, assembly room, billiard room, i)arlors, the offices of the pres- ident and secretar>-, etc. The building is equipped with two rapid elevators ; spacious stairways; a fire-proof vault on every floor; is heated by steam and lighted by electricity. It is, in fact, as handsome and complete an office and club building as is to be found any- where. The property is worth about $200,000. The home of the Columbia Club should be mentioned before leaving the subject of club houses. This club limits its membership to Republicans. It was formed four years ago, and soon grew strong enough to purchase a handsome property on Circle .street, in the shadow of the Soldiers' Monument. Since then it has made extensive changes and en- largements in the building, and has fur- nished it in the most luxurious style. The club house and grounds are worth about $50,000. Indianapolis has two large hospitals, both of which are creditable to her charity and humanity. Both are free, and their doors are always open to the sick or injured of every station in life. The.se institutions are the City Hospital and St. Vincent's. The former is main- tained b>- the cit>-. It is a vast, roomy building, occupying shaded grounds where convalescent patients may sit on rustic benches under the trees, or walk on the .soft grass. A superintendent, with a corps of assistant phj-sicians, i.s in charge of the place. An ambulance Rhodius Block. 198 IXDIAXAPOLIS, IXDIAXA, U. S. A. is al\va\-s ready to instantly respond to care and medical attention at home, is calls for help from any section of the received at St. Vincent's withont ques- city. Trained nurses, in their quiet cos- tion as to his religious belief. Some of tunies, flit about the wards caring for the best physicians and surgeons in the the sufferers, and spotless cleanliness is city compose its staff, and the sisters, hiii,ini;Ks i,R\\i;s IN' everywhere. The hospital has a capacity to care for over one hundred patients at the same time. vSt. \'incent's Hospital is one of the noble charities for which the Roman Catholic church has become celebrated all over the world. It is in the care of one of the orders of sisters of that church. But while it is an institution of the Catholic church, it is not sec- tarian in its charities. Any unfortunate, hurt by accident, or who falls sick upon the street, or who can not have proper Crowx Hii.i. Ci;mi;ti;rv. with their gentle, quiet ways and trained hands, make ideal nurses. The hospital is a beautiful building of brick, finished inside in simple elegance. The floors of hard wood are kept polished like mirrors, and no furniture is used in which dust or disease germs could find lodgment. A large number of patients share in St. \'incent's hospitality and generosity. There are numerous other public in- stitutions in the city, and all in com- fortable and often handsome homes. INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 199 There is the Indianapolis Orphan Asy- lum ; the German Orphans' Home ; the Colored Orphan Asylum ; the Home for Aged Colored Women : the Home for Friendless Women; the Katharine Home for Aged Women ; the Home of the Good Shepherd, for friendless girls ; the Home for the Aged, in connection with vSt. Joseph's Catholic Church, etc. The Indianapolis Orphan Asylum, the Ger- man Orphans' Home and the Home of the Good Shepherd, in particular, are fine buildings of pleasing architecture. Indianapolis is not behind her sister cities either, in the matter of statuar)-. In Circle Park, at the base of the Soldiers' Monument, is a fine bronze statue of Oliver P. Morton, Indiana's statesman and famous War Governor. It was erected from a fund raised by sub- scription among the friends and admirers of the great man. To Morton, more than to any other man, Indiana owes her brilliant record in the Civil War. Another of Indiana's sons who has been honored by a statue in the capital Residence on North Tennessee Street. The first named is especially beautiful, is Thomas A. Hendricks. His long and and, with its large, park-like grounds, it honorable career in the national legisla- forms an exceedingly attractive spot in ture. and his death while \'ice-President the northeastern part of the cit\-. of the United States, form an integral KNIGHT.S Ol' rvTHlAS' CASXI.K. INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. vS. A. 20 1 part of the history of tht- Unitt-d .States. The Hendricks Monument stands in the State House grounds, and is a bronze effigy of heroic size, upon a pedestal of granite. Schuyler Colfax, too, another of Indi- ana's statesmen, has been honored by a the Iieart of the city are objects of inter- est. The wide, straight streets, bordered with trees and lawns, give the residence districts a park-like appearance. This is heightened by an absence of fences and the large sized yards which prevail. Passing along the streets, made thus at- In University r.\RK. bronze statue. It stands in University tractive and lined with comfortable Park, one of the mo.st attractive spots homes, one comes upon beautiful in the city. churches; school houses of modern stj'le; The truth is that Indianapolis, in public institutions, embowered in trees, point of the number and beauty of its One thing of interest crowds upon au- public buildings and memorials, is in other, and the stranger in the city who advance of almost any city of its size sees it as he should, will depart well in the country. In every direction from repaid for the time which he has spent. iraNTOityEMM Uht ]fuhmnnfXili0 §mimtL ESTABUSHED I82L ■jaSta SOSKIXC onOBER 2j. 1692. PRICE PIVE CEMT3. + + + THE *-T-r nii[PMiofotRTti:^=:fri::::: GREAT FIRE SALE Dam8 IS SI! Hangs Over tho White Hou^a ol Wnstiinciori. m PEOPLE'S misisifi Packed wil open in the me story, and suci offered. Toda 1,000 Cassimeri Overcoats upon the sale. Thed: and what vou g LIBRARIES AND LITERARY CLUBS. ^HE value to an enlightened Children growing up must inherit and comniunit>-, of libraries absorb right inclinations and habits from and a literarj- atmosphere parents who, in turn, had grown up may not be reckoned in dollars and cents. It is manifested in ways un- mistakable but not to be measured by material standards. The cultivation of a lo\-e for reading ; of an acquaintance, through amid influences of the proper kind. The surroundings and tendencies of the com- munity, when the child is outside his home, must also be favorable. Progress nuist Ije slow, constant and unflagging. But whatever the difficulties and obstacles, and whatever the cost, the ends are their writings, with the great minds of worth a thousand times the effort re- the world ; of an understanding of the quired to attain them, motives and deeds of great men ; of a This process of cultivation has been knowledge of the mighty proce,sses by slowly going on in Indianapolis for many which a marvelous civilization has been years. Long ago its benefits began to wrought, while the centuries have come be seen. To-day tliey are incalculable and gone like the hours of an April day, brightened and dark- ^gS^ ened by sun and cloud : tliese^ things must broaden and ele- /-^ vate the thought and interest of .society, and be seen and felt ill the character of its in- clinations, its purposes, its standards of excellence, its amusements, in all the breadth and depth of its inward self __- and outward expression. Ijlj' The inculcation of that love \\. for reading and stud>-, which will lead to results so desira- ble, can not be brought about in a short time. Years of gen- erous opportunity and constant encouragement are necessary. ^£Ki ^ '^^wk "^Sm g|L^' ^^ ( ML ^ ^^^^^1 INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA. U. S. A. 205 but the many agencies at work, with constautly accumulating momentum, are steadily adding to their value. The ex- pression of the progress made, in turn becomes the strongest influence toward further progress. The form which this expression has taken in Indianapolis has been especially that of libraries and literary clubs. It is doubtful whether any city of its class in the Union equals this in the number and size of its libra- ries and in the number and average standard of its literary clubs. The principal library in the city is the Public Library. In 1872 an associ- ation of gentlemen presented a well selected library of ten thousand volumes to the city, upon the city's agreement to maintain and add to it, and to make it absolutely free to all the citizens of Indianapolis. The institution was put into the control of the Board of School Commissioners, and a small tax was levied for its maintenance and to pur- chase new books. Ever since that time, the Public Library has been a powerful agency for good. It has grown until there are now over fifty thousand vol- umes upon its shelves, and aniuuil addi- tions amount to about five thousand vol- umes. Many rare and costly editions of famous books have been secured, and many valuable manuscripts. The pur- chase of books has been always in pur- suance of some definite plan, and the result is that there are exceedingly full collections of works upon all the great divisions of literature. The wants of all classes of readers have been consulted. and no matter what his line of reading or study may be, the patron of the library may find books to his taste. In fiction, it should be said, care is observed in selecting only standard works, and an effort is made to provide books which will at once attract and improve young readers. Connected with the Public Li- brary is a reading room, open every day and evening, where may be found all the leading journals, magazines and re- views, with many of the more important daily papers, and where any book in the library may be used. Much the greater number of books read, hovever, is bor- rowed and carried to the homes of the readers. Any book may be borrowed and retained two weeks, and at the end of that time renewed and kept two weeks more, if desired. In the beautiful and spacious new building which has been erected for the library, and with the increased revenues which have lately come to it, it is destined to become, nuich more than ever before a power- ful influence for good in the community. The Indiana vState Library is next to the Public Library in importance. It was created by act of the General A.s- sembly in 1825, and, until recently, has grown slowly since that time. To-day it contains near twenty-five thousand volumes. It is especially rich in histor- ical works, and contains some exceed- ingly rare books and maps. Its col- lection of historical works is one of the most complete and valuable in the West. Within a few years a greater allow- ance for the .support and upbuilding 2o6 INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA. U. vS. A. of the library has been made by the legislature, and at present it is iniprov^- ing and growing rapidly. Books from this library are not permitted to be taken away, but may be freely used in the spacious reading room connected with the institution in the State House. The Indiana Law Library is one of the most complete law libraries in the State libraries. It now contains over fifteen thousand volumes. A set of all the laws of all the States in the Union is one of its cherished collections. This library is provided with all the funds nece.s.sary to keep it fully abreast of the legal progress of the age, and to add to it from time to time such rare and valuable works as mav be secured. First B.\ptist Church. country. It bears this reputation away This library, too, is in the State House, from home, and it is a common occur- The Marion County Law Library, of rence for judges and attorneys in neigh- eight thousand volumes, is in the Court boring States to write to the librarian House, w4iere it is accessible to the of the Indiana library for information bar of the city. This is an excel- which they can not find in their own lent working library, and, in ordinary INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 207 practice, is all that is ever needed. In addition to those libraries are the Marion County Library of general literature, con- taining about four thousand volumes, and the Center Township Library, with twelve hundred volumes. Butler Uni- versity has an excellent library of sev- eral thousand volumes. There are, also, several other valuable libraries, public or semi-public in character, in the city. In its literary clubs, Indianapolis is as rich as in its libraries. There are too many of these societies to enumerate all in these pages, but all are worthy of praise, because they have the intellectual improvement of their members for their prime object. As a rule the clubs meet weekly or fortnightly, and, at each meet- ing, discuss carefully prepared papers upon topics of which an intelligent com- prehension can not be obtained without diligent study. The leaders of advanced thought in the community are members of literary clubs, and in this number are several men and women whose fame in literature or public life is as wide as the continent. Still the growth in culture and appre- ciation of literature goes on. The libra- ries and clubs which spring from these sources themselves become the most effective agencies in giving new and stronger impetus to the movement. The pa.st and present have brought gratifying results. The future is bright with the promise of a yet greater iuflueuce. Public I,inR.\K\-. CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS. 'S a community Indianapolis is sym- metrical and well rounded. She has not given her attention to any especial factors of development to the exclusion of others. While busy with her manufactures and her commerce and all that pertains to her material welfare, she has not failed to make ample pro- vision for her mental and spiritual needs. Of her churches and her schools she is as proud as of her railroac s and her natural gas. She is careful that every citizen shall have free opportunity to secure an education and to acquire and foster the invaluable virtues which are the cardi- nal elements of Christianity. In all, Indianapolis has about one hundred and twenty-five organized churches and over one hundred houses of worship. Many of these buildings are types of the most elegant styles of church architecture, and millions of dol- lars have been expended in the erection of church property. The denominations which are strongest are the Methodist Episcopal, Presbyterian Baptist, Roman Catholic, Protestant Episcopal and Chris- tian, and there are numerous others which have one or more congregations each in the city. Some of the most eloquent and eminent divines which the country has produced have passed a part of their lives in Indianapolis. One in- stance is the years of Henry Ward Beecher's pastorate here, and another the seven years during which Myron W. Reed was numbered among this city's ministers. One of the more notable facts con- cerning the Indianapolis churches, is the spirit of Christian fellowship and good- will which animates them. Sectional lines are never drawn tightly enough to pre- vent all denominations from joining heart- ily in any good work which needs their combined effort. Catholic and Protestant and Jew unite on equal terms and work for the general benefit of the public. One result of their joint labors is seen in the remarkable efficency and scope of the Charity Organiza- tion Society, which, under its broad mantle, gathers the vari- ous charitable societies and in- stitutions of the city into one composite whole, and so distrib- utes the work to be done that each organization supplements and rounds out to completeness the others. In the provision , which she has_ made for the" education of her children, Indianapolis takes especial pride. The es- teem in which her p u b 1 ic school system is held away irom home is 3E-cfMBrsE<,B<'tFifiAN(Mup.t.. High School No. 2. High School No. i. INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. indicated by the frequent calls which other cities make upon this for teachers in their schools. It has become so com- mon as to hardly cause remark for the school authorities of other cities to write to the superintendent of the Indianapolis schools to send them teachers. These requests come from all over the country, and to-day there is scarcely a large city, from San Francisco to New York, in whose schools Indianapolis teachers have not been an influence for good. This reputation of our schools and teachers arises from the attention given to thor- ough methods of teaching and to school management. Every teacher has con- stantly the hope of promotion, urging to the highest excellence of work. The whole system of salaries and grades is so arranged that faithful, efficient service will be rewarded. There are forty school buildings in the city public school system, over three hundred and fifty teachers, and the number of pupils enrolled on the first day of March, 1892, was fifteen thou- sand, four hundred and sixty-three. The growth of the city is so rapid that every year the number of teachers is increased and new school houses are necessary. What may be called the skeleton, or perhaps basis is the better term, of the school system, is a course of study ex- tending over a series of twelve years, or twenty-four half years. The year of the course in which a pupil is, is des- ignated by a number, and the half year by a letter. The first half of a year is in- dicated by "B" and the .second half by "A." The years of the course begin at "i," and run up to "12." For instance, when a child first enters school it begins as a "iB" pupil. After half a year, if it makes reasonable progress, it is pro- moted a step, and becomes a " lA" pupil. The next step is to the " 2B" grade, which is the first half of the second year. Then following along in regular succession come the grades "2A," "3B," "3A," "46," "4A," "5B," "5A," etc., until the last year of the high school course is recorded as "12A." Except for clerical purpo.ses, the four years of the high school course are sel- dom referred to in this way, but are commonly spoken of as the first, second, third and fourth years of high school. In the high school buildings are de- partments which are called annexes These are in the nature of overflow schools, where pupils of the higher grades are sent from such ward schools as are overcrowded. The annexes are really distinct schools, and are under the charge of principals independent of the high school principals. Manual training, which has become one of the important factors in the schools within a few years, is taught in a department of its own, but in close relation with the high schools. What might perhaps be prop- erly called manual training is taught to the pupils from their first year up. It consists of various exercises for the pur- pose of training the little "wobbly" hands to do their bidding with steadi- ness and accuracy. These exercises are also contrived to teach colors, and !I2 INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. ideas of proportion and sviiinietry. The policy of the school authorities has long been to choose their teachers, in large part, from persons who are graduates of the home schools. This policy led to the establishment of a normal school, for the training of grad- to its classes annually from among the graduates of the high school of the preceding year as many of those best suited by education and nature for teachers as are likely to be needed to fill vacan- cies in the teachers' force on the follow- ing vear. As the normal school is in- Tabernacle Presbyterian Chi-rch. nates of the schools to re-enter them as tended oid\- to train teachers for the home teachers. Thus it is that a very large schools, the number of pupils in its per cent, of the teachers in the Indiana- classes at any given time is not large, polls ward schools received their educa- A new class is admitted each half year, tion in the same schools in which they and the course consists of one year of are now employed. The theory of the study of the theory and practice of normal school management is to admit teaching and kindred subjects, followed INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 213 by half a year of actual practice in teaching in the schools. Admission to the normal school is a guarantee of a position as teacher later, if the pupil completes the course. The result of this arrangement is that there is always a small attendance upon the normal school, ranging perhaps from twenty to thirty, and always a large number of applicants for admission. The teachers in the high schools are not selected from the srraduates of the normal school are discriminated against in the choice of teachers for the high schools, but that the teachers for those schools are usually persons who have had the benefit of a more advanced edu- cation than the city schools can give. There is one prime object to be sought for in the conduct of the city school system. That is that happy medium which allows enough of freedom and latitude to meet the individual re- quirements of the pupils, and j'et pre- Rhsidence on North Mhriui.vn- Street. normal school, but are usually brought serves enough of clock-work system and from other cities, or chosen from the rigidity to insure thoroughness and dis- alunini of colleges and universities. This cipline. does not mean that the graduates of the The efficiency and number of schools u Bi a J- •J3 INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. 215 which Indianapolis possesses, in addition to those belonging to the pnblic school system, is also a matter of pride. These are of several classes. The most import- ant is Butler University, which is the chief seat of learning controlled by the Chris- tian denomination west of the Alleghany Mountains. The university has a large The Indianapolis School of Music is one of the later educational institutions to be established in the city, and one of the most successful. Eminent instruct- ors have been brought from across the At- lantic, and the school carries its pupils to the highest degree of skill and knowledge of which the}' are capable. Almost akin ImdianAPoliS and growing endownent, and is well equipped with handsome, commodious buildings. It is situated in a beautiful campus in the suburban village of Ir- vington. A strong faculty is employed, and the institution draws students from many States. The number of students in attendance last year was about three hundred. to the School of Music in its puposes is the Indianapolis School of Art. Here painting, sketching, pen-drawing, model- ing, etc., are taught by artists who have won fame in their own especial lines of work. The school is controlled and maintained by an association of liberal cit- izens who desire to foster a love and ap- preciation of the best in art in their com- 2l6 INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U. S. A. muiiity. Then there are medical colleges, five of tlieiii, and all well patronized from home and abroad. The Indiana Medical College, which is more widely known, perhaps, than any of the others, has a liberal endowment and a large facult}-. It has grown rapidly in the last few years, and its students, iu the winter of 1891-92, numbered about one hundred and fifty. The course of study is as long and as thorough as that in any of the famous medical colleges in the East, and its graduates have become eminent in the profession as teachers and practi- tioners. The girls schools connected with the Catholic churches are popular and at- tended by many pupils from distant parts of the country. St. John's and St. Mary's Academies are especially well known and esteemed. In connection with Grace Cathedral, the official resi- dence of the Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church for the Diocese of Indiana, is an academy bearing the name of St. Mary's Hall. It is a high class .school for girls. The institution, known as the Girls' Classical School, is also a school of wide reputation and liberal patronage. In addition to the schools mentioned are many others of merit. There are schools of elocution, of stenog- raphy, business colleges and the like in great number. Indianapolis is so well equipped with schools that her children need not go beyond her gates to secure a thorough education. Whether that education be classical or professional, musical, artistic or industrial, matters not ; it may be carried on at home to a degree of excel- lence surpassed at few places. ^i;»^ ^- ff - " ' ' Jl^llll,^ r\ ^,''j^rv^frt\ . .- .-^V ^Mm S'^Z i^\m -^ii 0^O\3RESS II II 014 753 357 3