CHAPTER 8Garfield Park-South Neighborhood of Indianapolis

I’ve had many posts through the years about Garfield Park in Indianapolis, but not many about the neighborhood adjacent to the park.

I began photo-documenting the neighborhood in summer 2008 with a couple walk-around shoots using my Canon 30D DSLR and 18-55mm f/3.5-6.3 and 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 lenses. That was four months before the launch of Photo Potpourri.

So this post is to catch up presenting images from that photo-documentary shoot of my own neighborhood. I start with the lead-off photo and the one immediately below of Morris Super Rose, a longtime merchant anchor where Shelby Street met Nelson Avenue and Willow Drive. 

Jim Perkins operated the vehicle repair business for 63 years before closing at some point in the new millennium. He died in March 2015, and the business has remained closed.

At the time of my 2008 neighborhood walk-through, I was thinking I’d be in Indy for the long haul, so I was contemplating the idea of doing additional walk-arounds every five years to create a sort of updated collection, hopefully reflecting any subtle changes that would occur through the years. If I’d followed through on that endeavor, I’d have done three follow-ups by now. Alas, I didn’t pursue the plan.

But I will say that as I put together this post, I came across scenes that I know have changed since those shoots 16 years ago. 

Above and first four photos below: I thought I'd start reviewing pictures from the 2008 shoots with a few shots of homes in the Garfield Park- South Neighborhood. The second one below is the so-called "Pacer" home because of its blue and yellow colors. The owner himself even referred to it as that when we met for the first time off site, and he said he lived in the "Pacer" home at Southern and Allen avenues. 

We had a mailbox in our neighborhood (above), at the corner of Allen and Nelson avenues, as recent as 2008, but it's no longer there. We also had one, once upon a time, at the corner of Southern and (I think) Applegate Street. It, too, is gone. In fact, it disappeared before the one pictured above. Since I included a bicyclists in my previous post on the Lockerbie Square Neighborhood, I thought I'd included one here. This gentleman was northbound on Allen Avenue between Southern and Nelson avenues.  

 

Above: This wild field along Stanley Avenue separated the neighborhood from the private property west of there. In my early years in the neighborhood, that property owner was the Indianapolis Baptist Temple. In the latter years, it was the Christel DeHaan Academy and Watanabe High School. You'll see pictures of the latter near the bottom of this chapter. The property has since undergone yet another change of ownership. In 2022-23, it became the new home of Providence Cristo Rey High School.  

A gargoyle at the top a church along Shelby Street. 

Speaking of churches, the neighborhood was sprinkled with them. Below are snapshots of four of them, beginning with (first photo below) then-Garfield Heights Church of Christ along Shelby Street near Carson Avenue. This church has gone through several iterations over the years. Today it is Light of the World (La Luz del Mundo). 

Garfield Heights Church of Christ 

Above: This was Garfield Park Baptist Church for the longest time. I don't know when the change happened, but today this structure at 1061 Southern Avenue is the Umbrella Center, a family-owned business that provides ABA services across all age groups. The Baptist congregation has moved to 2940 Minnesota St., across the street from Stanley Strader Park, which itself has had a name change in recent years. It was formerly Bethel Park.  

In 2008, the church above at 2802 Shelby Street was Bethany Wesleyan. Today, it is Trinity Church of God.  

Above: Good Shepherd Catholic Church, 2905 Carson Ave., was the resultant consolidation of St. Catherine of Siena and St. James congregations, which had been about a mile apart. The merger became official in May 1993, and Good Shepherd used the much larger acreage of St. James' property for the new site and Central Catholic grade school. 

Above and below: These sculptures were in front of businesses along the north side of Troy Avenue west of Shelby Street. 

My second walk-around came in October 2008, and the Halloween decorations were out in full force. You have your pick of the jack-o-lanterns here. 

Returning to commerce ... the above photo was an exploration of the compression capabilities of my 70-300mm lens at the maximum focal range. This view of Madison Avenue looks north from north of Troy Avenue. Staying on Madison but inching further north, I caught the image below as a large semitruck made left turn onto Madison from Southern Avenue. 

Above: This establishment at 2861 Madison Avenue was the notable Key West Shrimp House in its halcyon days. It was still Key West Shrimp House when I moved to the Southside in 1983, but it began to change ownership about 10-15 years after that. In 2008, when I took this picture, it was a Mexican restaurant, La Escollera. At other point, it was a Pollos Los Reyes. I'm not sure it's in use today. 

Church's Chicken, a familiar dining establishment at Troy Avenue and Shelby Street (above). Two other businesses on Troy Avenue west of Shelby Street are shown in the first two photos below. 

Above and first two photos below: The Christel de Haan Academy as it appeared in 2008. As mentioned above, the facilities opened in 2022-23 as the new site of Providence Cristo Rey High School, whose original campus at 75 N. Belleview Place opened in 2007. 

Coming tomorrow: Chapter 9, Tulips from the home garden

Previously in Catching Up ... on pre-blog years:

Introduction

Chapter 1: Seek the Riot metal band

Chapter 2: City of Franklin, Ind.

Chapter 3: 2004 Memorial Day weekend tornado 

Chapter 4: 2006 Irvington Walk in the Park

Chapter 5: 2008 Irvington Walk in the Park

Chapter 6: Irvington Neighborhood, Indianapolis  

Chapter 7: Lockerbie Square Neighborhood, Indianapolis