Herron-Morton Place Neighborhood
Topic: History | Indianapolis Living
Posted: Fri, Feb 4, 2005 
Herron-Morton Place is an historic residential neighborhood in Downtown Indianapolis, comprising a 25 square block area just east of Meridian Street, and north of the bustling downtown area. It is beautiful, quiet, pedestrian-friendly, and is just close enough to downtown to walk or bike to major events, but just far enough north to be outside of busy downtown traffic.
The boundaries of the neighborhood are East 16th Street on the south, East 22nd Street on the north, Pennsylvania Street on the west, and Central Avenue on the east.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Herron-Morton Place was one of Indianapolis' most elegant residential neighborhoods. Originally named Morton Place for Indiana governor Oliver Morton, the neighborhood was home to to some of Indianapolis' most influential residents including prominent politicians, physicians, business leaders, and artists. HMP historic homes reflect many architectural styles including Queen Anne, Italianate, Tudor, Arts & Crafts, Cottage, and Colonial Revival styles, and the neighborhood shows off some of these breath-taking examples of Indianapolis history every two years in their tour of homes.
My love-affair with Herron-Morton Place
I moved into HMP in 1995, into an attic apartment of a Tudor-style home that belonged to a friend. This third-floor apartment had once been a servants quarters for the staff of a prominent local doctor, who had lived in the main part of the elegant home where my landlady resided.
I would sit in the cozy gable windows of my apartment in the afternoon, reading and watching the restoration work being done on the enormous Queen Anne home across the street, and daydreaming of owning a home like it someday.
Eventually I moved to a small restored cottage home that I rented with my sister, while I looked for a house to purchase in the neighborhood.
My house hunt took a while because I was looking for a house in a very specific medium range: inexpensive enough for me to purchase on a single person's salary, but also livable while I do restoration on the house. That can be a tough buy in this neighborhood, because many fully-restored homes are priced for two-income or higher families, and most low-priced houses need too much work to be lived-in. Houses in the medium range that I was shooting for are also very attractive to investors, so I was competing with contracting companies and small businesses for some properties.
After a long period of house-hunting, I was finally lucky enough to purchase a medium-sized Queen Anne style Victorian in the neighborhood. While not as large or ornate as the huge home I originally fell in love with, it does have a unique style and grace. The original owner of the house was the managing editor of the Indianapolis Journal, a long-ago prominent newspaper in Indianapolis. He was also a friend of Hoosier poet James Whitcomb Riley. During the Depression, my house was divided into 3 apartments, and for eighty years it was a rental property, until I moved in and turned it back into a single-family dwelling.
Herron-Morton History
Even before it became a residential neighborhood in the late 1800's, the land of Herron-Morton Place had a colorful past. The undeveloped land started out as Henderson's Grove, a popular picnic spot around the middle of the 19th Century. In 1859, the state purchased the land as a home for the Indiana State Fair. When the Civil War began, however, the area was requisitioned by Indiana Governor Oliver P. Morton as an induction center for Indiana soldiers and was called Camp Morton.
In 1862, Camp Morton was enclosed with an oak palisade and became a prison camp for captured Confederate soldiers. You can read more about Camp Morton's history in Camp Morton 1861-1865 - Indianapolis Prison Camp, by Hattie Lou Winslow and Joseph R. H. Moore. In 1962 an Indiana Historical Bureau marker was installed in 1900 block of North Alabama Street to mark the Camp Morton location.
After the war, Indiana reclaimed the fairgrounds and used them until 1890, when the State Fair was moved "north of the city" to it's current 38th Street location. Herron-Morton Place was then platted into 280 residential lots and home construction began.
Indiana artists T. C. Steele and William Forsythe founded their famed art school in 1888 at the south edge of the neighborhood. The school was reorganized in 1902, when John Herron bequeathed funds to build a new building and museum. The John Herron School of Art is the state's premier art school, and "Herron" was added to the neighborhood's name to reflect the affiliation with this prominent art institute.
Since the Art School opened, Herron-Morton has been home to many artists associated with the school as teachers, students and alumni. For over 50 years, the famous, popular Talbott Street Art Fair has been held in the streets of Herron-Morton Place.
Herron-Morton Place thrived until the Great Depression. Throughout this time and through World War II, many of the large elegant homes were divided into apartments. Throughout 1950-1970, many homes were lost to fire and demolition.
The Herron-Morton Place Neighborhood Association was formed in 1976 to spearhead the renovation of homes, encourage new residential development, reduce crime, and rebuild community spirit. Since then it has worked with the city and with residents to reclaim many of the historic treasures of the neighborhood, establish a park on a vacant lot, and document the neighborhood's history.
In 1983, HMP was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and became an historical preservation district in 1986. At that time, the Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission researched the history of many of the remaining homes.
Herron-Morton Place 2000 Census Demographic Information
Total Population: 1266
Persons Per Acre: 7.7
-Males: 696
-Females: 570
Total Households: 615
White: 635
Non-white: 630
Non-white: 49.8%
-Black: 572
-American Indian & Alaskan Native: 1
-Asian: 15
-Hawaiian & Pacific Islander: 0
-Other: 19
One Race: 1243
Two Races: 23
Hispanic: 25
Hispanic Origin: 2.0%
Age 0 to 5: 58
Age 5 to 17: 163
Age 18 to 21: 54
Age 22 to 44: 616
Age 45 to 64: 264
Age 65 and Older: 108
Total Dwelling Units: 857
-Occupied Units: 615
-Vacant Units: 242
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Comments
1. Jun 25, 05 11:34 PM | Tracy said:
Can anyone give me any information on the former home of poet James Whitcomb Riley? Why has the house been vacant for so long?
2. Jun 27, 05 03:01 PM | Steph Mineart said:
Tracy, it's in the process of being renovated now, I'm thrilled to say, because it's next door to me. It went through a decline during the depression when it was cut up into apartments (as did most of the houses on Pennsylvania and Talbott Streets) and suffered from years of poor improvements and bad landlording. It was empty for years because the foundations were shaky, but the current owner jacked up the house and rebuilt them. He's doing an amazing job of redoing the house, also; it's been gutted and redone inside and outside, with some really amazing craftmanship. I should do an entire article on it, actually, because it's going to be great.
3. Sep 9, 05 03:50 PM | Joshua Ramsey said:
Excellent article! I've been looking at buying a home in Herron-Morton and this page is easily the most informative. There's one particular house that is currently for sale that I have my eye on, but can't find any history for it. Is there someone involved in the neighborhood that might have more specific history on individual houses?
http://www.joshuaramsey.com
4. Dec 21, 05 02:20 PM | Thomas Quinn said:
Does anyone have any historical information concerning my house at 1925 Central Avenue? I know technically it does not sit in Herron Morton, but given it was right across the street I'm hoping someone may have come across some information. Some things I have been told but cannot verify...
It was built in 1860. It was built by Jeramiah Johnson but he never lived there. Artist Harry Davis did a painting of the home in its run down condition in the 1970's and called it "Central Avenue Gothic"
Not much to go on. But, with the war camp and the the fair grounds right across the street the house must have had its fair share of visitors and historical moments.
If anyone could supply any leads I'd be much obliged.
5. May 16, 06 08:09 AM | niki said:
I was looking on the web and I found this story. Does anyone know if this is true?
I was a live-in nanny for a couple that lived in a beautiful house in the Herron-Morton area downtown. They were renovating the house, which had been split into several apartments. I lived in what had been the maids quarters on the 3rd floor.
I had lived with the family for about 3 months when I began to hear things. At first, I would hear the sound of children whispering and giggling in the hallway. I thought it might be the boys I was caring for, but they would always be fast asleep when I checked. The next thing I heard was the sound of someone opening the side door and walking downstairs. When I would check, no one would be there. The mother also heard this, so we would make sure we identified ourselves when we came in so the other would not be freaked out. The father (being a HUGE skeptic) thought we were weird. This went on until it happened to him. He heard someone come in, walk around the downstairs and then stop. He thought I had come back for something, but I was at the zoo with the boys.
I would also be woken up by the sound of a baby crying. The youngest was about 3 months old when I started working for the family, so at first I thought it was him. I found out that it wasn't always him when the family went on vacation. I woke up to the sound of the baby crying and couldn't figure out why the Mom and Dad weren't getting up. I then got out of bed and started downstairs when it hit me that the family was in Texas and not even home. It was then that the baby's cries stopped. This happened off and on every time the family went out of town.
The Mother reported the most chilling event. She had come home from a business trip. When she opened the door, she heard a child's voice yell from upstairs "Mommy's home!" She went running upstairs only to discover that no one was home.
The house caught fire the weekend after I moved out. The fire Department said that it looked like the fire had smoldered for a long time. It broke out about 20 minutes after the Mother left to run errands. If I had still been living with the family, the youngest child would have been napping at the time the fire broke. He would have been in his room at the back of the house and I would have either been in the kitchen under him or the living room at the front of the house. The fire would have cut me off from getting to him. As it was, he was safe in day care and I was his teacher, having only gotten the job a week before. The family moved out of the house and sold it. I don't know the new owners, so I don't know if they have heard "my kids" as I called them.
Sarah Kennedy
6. May 17, 06 10:28 AM | bmundy said:
Niki, the Indiana Ghost Trackers are having a meeting this Saturday at the library in Glandale Mall. Someone there may know Sarah Kennedy or more details about her story.
http://www.indyghosts.org/schedule.html
7. Jul 24, 06 08:12 PM | Thomas Quinn said:
I was just checking in again. I never did hear from anyone regarding possible leads about my house at 1925 Central Avenue, so I thought I might try "refreshing" my request.
If anyone has any information regarding the history of this gothic beauty I would sure appreciate it.
Tom Quinn
8. Jul 25, 06 02:03 PM | Steph Mineart said:
Tom, you might try calling the historic landmarks foundation, and the Indiana Historical Society. HLF works with old houses and can help guide you towards research strategies for your house. and IHS has had classes in the past on searching for a house's history, focusing specifically on Indianapolis neighborhoods.
At one time, the Indiana Historic Preservation Commission had historians on staff, but they don't any longer. Back then (this was in the 80's and 90's) the historians put together research on every house still standing in Old Northside and Herron Morton Place neighborhoods. I gather the work is rather laborious -- they would hunt down the title work at the library, working backwards from one title to get the name of the previous owners, hunting down that title work, finding the previous owner from that paperwork, and so on... all the way back to the builders of the home.
9. Jul 25, 06 02:06 PM | Steph Mineart said:
I did a google search and discovered the Indianapolis Public Library has some information on researching your home's history as well:
http://www.imcpl.org/resources/guides/family/househistory/househistoryaid.html
10. Aug 10, 06 08:14 AM | Carolynn McLaughlin said:
Thanks so much for this wonderfully informative page. As an Indianapolis historian, I find it fascinating. As a new resident and renter in the heart of the area, I find it welcoming...how lovely to live in such a significant and proud neighborhood. I have had nothing but pleasant encounters with my neighbors...walking dogs, sitting out on porches, and so forth. I find that renters have as much pride in curb appeal as do homeowners, which is rare and wonderful. As a member of the Hoosier Environmental Council (and political advocate/fundraiser there), I enjoy knowing that I live in a neighborhood that cares about maintaining and creating greenspace and trees (they're our planet's lungs, after all). Thanks so much to everyone in the neighborhood for being welcoming and for caring about our environment!!
11. May 1, 07 03:25 PM | steven gerst said:
Hello all, Im so glad that im am seeing work being done in the area. I am a historical carpenter working at 1829 Delaware although for the most part working for free untill the job is done. Just thought I would put some feelers out there in case any home owners in the area need any work done for them. My email address is stevenbriangerst@hotmail.com, please feel free to stop by and see my work or drop me a line. Thanks Steve