All photos in this chapter are © by Joe Konz
Garfield Park wouldn’t be the same without its two waterways, Bean Creek and Pleasant Run, and there’s no more impressive point in the park to appreciate that fact than the view in the image shown below, the confluence of Pleasant Run (left) and Bean Creek. This photo, which looks east, was taken Jan. 8, 2005, from the Pagoda Drive bridge.
Pleasant Run enters the park at its north end under Raymond Street before turning west to reach the point above after which it continues west under the railroad tracks and flows past Emmerich Manual High School, flanking Pleasant Run Parkway. It eventually crosses under Madison Avenue and continues westward before converging with White River behind the private Lilly Recreation Park between Harding and West streets.
Both streams have their origin on the Eastside of Indianapolis. For Pleasant Run, that location is just north of 13th Street near East Pleasant Run Parkway, South Drive.
Meanwhile, Bean Creek begins as Mich Run north of Raymond Street between Sherman Drive and Emerson Avenue. It goes southwest and is Bean Creek by the time it reaches Raymond Street east of Sherman Drive. After passing through the north section of Sarah Shank Golf Course, it continues snaking west before entering Garfield Park at Southern Avenue west of Shelby Street.
Many of my favorite Garfield Park stream photos were taken in winter, as the majority of photos on this page will attest. The first three photos below were taken on Jan. 8, 2005, a day when I didn't have to convert images to monochrome to get a black-and-white effect because the heavily overcast day served to effectively mute any color detail.
Above and below is Pleasant Run as seen from opposite perspectives. The view of the stream and the Conrail railroad trestle above looks west from the Pagoda Drive stone bridge. Below, it’s the stream and Pagoda Drive looking east from the Conrail railroad trestle. These images were taken in February 2011.
Meanwhile, Bean Creek begins as Mich Run north of Raymond Street between Sherman Drive and Emerson Avenue. It goes southwest and is Bean Creek by the time it reaches Raymond Street east of Sherman Drive. After passing through the north section of Sarah Shank Golf Course, it continues snaking west before entering Garfield Park at Southern Avenue west of Shelby Street.
At right is a section of Bean Creek, as seen from the new pedestrian bridge near the amphitheater on Nov. 29, 2013.
The first two photos below represent spring perspective (first) and closeup (second) shots of a swollen Bean Creek just southwest of Garfield Park's green iron pedestrian bridge (in the background) near the asphalt basketball court. These were taken only a couple hours after 1.75 inches of rain had fallen in a 24-hour period ending May 5, 2017. The toy vehicle in the closeup photo is the red speck you see in the perspective shot. The third photo below, from the same date, is a closeup look at Pleasant Run as it passes below the Pagoda Drive bridge. And the fourth photo below is Pleasant Run, looking west from the Pagoda Drive bridge toward the Conrail railroad trestle.
Many of my favorite Garfield Park stream photos were taken in winter, as the majority of photos on this page will attest. The first three photos below were taken on Jan. 8, 2005, a day when I didn't have to convert images to monochrome to get a black-and-white effect because the heavily overcast day served to effectively mute any color detail.
The fourth photo below was taken on Nov. 29, 2013, and the one after that on Dec. 21, 2012.
Above and below: In late 2016 and early 2017, Bean Creek east of the Pagoda Drive bridge got a major facelift. Not only was extensive cleanup and landscaping involved (the green nettting is protecting newly sown grass seed), but contractors erected a wooden fence between the embankment apex and the nearby asphalt pathway. The fence is visible in the upper right portion of the photo above.
Water – especially when it’s quietly still – invites opportunities for reflection photography, such as the image below, also from Dec. 21, 2012.
December 2012 must have been a good month to be out taking winter photos in Garfield Park. The photo of Bean Creek above was taken on Dec. 29.
The sun adds a sparkling dimension to the streams, as shown by the images above and below, the latter also reflecting a low water-level period at the time these were taken on Nov. 29, 2013. The streams periodically hit even drier spells, as evidenced dramatically in the second photo below. In spring 2007, my daughter Elizabeth kindly served as a model for an assignment in a portraiture class I was taking through the adult learning program of IUPUI. She was sitting on rocks in the dry Bean Creek bottom, and I was standing on the stone pedestrian bridge along Conservatory Drive.
Coming tomorrow: Chapter 4: The new Bean Creek pedestrian bridge
Previously in the Garfield Park in Pictures series:
Interesting. I didn't know or even think about the origins of some of the streams. Great photos.
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