Indianapolis

When the gentleman smoking the pipe glanced at the camera in 1937, he had no idea that people in future generations would be glancing at him and looking past him into Indianapolis history.

Perhaps our pipe smoker purchased his suit at one of the department stores that competed across from each other on Washington Street — The L.S. Ayres & Co. store and the H.P. Wasson & Co. store.

This view west on Washington Street from Meridian Street is what countless Americans saw as they traveled the National Road that linked the East Coast with the western states. You can spot the "U.S. 40" designation on a lamppost.

Washington Street has always been a focal point of Indianapolis commerce and entertainment, a fitting role for the street that was originally intended to serve as "Main Street" when the city was founded in 1821. At 120 feet wide, Washington Street was designed to be the widest street in the city.

You can see the 1921 Hotel Lincoln and the 1902 Claypool Hotel — two of the city's leading hotels of the period — across from each other at the intersection of Washington and Illinois streets.

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L. S. Ayres & Company Department Store Building
Merchants National Bank Building
Washington St. Historic Buildings
Bowen-Merrill Fire / Indianapolis Fire Department
Here in 1867
Eli Lilly and Company
Griffith Block
James Whitcomb, a War Memorial
Oliver P. Morton, a War Memorial
Soldiers and Sailors Monument, a War Memorial

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