Irvington Historic District

About this property

The neighborhood of Irvington, named after Washington Irving, includes Irvington Historic District, a historic district in Indianapolis, Indiana. The historic district is a 545-acre (221 ha) area that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987. That year, the district included 2,373 contributing buildings, 5 other contributing structures, and 2 contributing sites. Founded in 1870 by Sylvester Johnson and Jacob Julian, Irvington was originally created as a suburban town of Indianapolis. It formed along winding roads of dirt and brick that reflected landscape design in the Romantic era. The town was built as a quiet suburb where artists, politicians, military generals, academics, and heads of local industry resided. In 1902, Irvington was annexed by Indianapolis. Irvington is located five miles (8 km) east of downtown Indianapolis on the western edge of Warren Township. The neighborhood is situated on Washington Street, which is the route of the historic National Road, a National Scenic Byway. US 40 was formerly routed along the road. Through the early 1900s, a commuter rail/trolley system ran from Irvington to downtown Indianapolis along US 40, making Irvington a streetcar suburb of Indianapolis. Irvington is the largest locally protected historic district in Indianapolis. The district includes roughly 2,800 buildings and about 1,600 parcels of land. Seventy-eight percent of Irvington homes were built before 1960. Irvington began petitioning its residents to support historic preservation in 2001 through the efforts of the Historic Irvington Community Council. The Irvington Historic District Neighborhood Plan was adopted by the Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission on October 4, 2006. From 1875 to 1928, Irvington was the home of Butler University. Butler transformed Irvington into a college community. The campus grew in the southwest corner of Irvington, between the Pennsylvania Railroad and the B&O Railroad tracks. Buildings at the campus eventually included the Main Building (1875), Science Building (1892), Women's Dorm (1880s), Bona Thompson Memorial Library (1903, later the Bona Thompson Memorial Center), and a World War I era gymnasium. The Christian Woman's Board of Missions built a missionary training school in 1909 adjacent to the campus. By the 1910s, the university had over one thousand students. All the Butler buildings have since been demolished except for the Bona Thompson Memorial Library and the President's Home (which became Irvington United Methodist Church, locally called the "Church on the Circle"). The Bona Thompson Memorial Center is the home of the Irvington Historical Society. It houses the society's art collection and historical documents. The art collection can be viewed in the rehabilitated gallery space. Also on display are various art shows, including a yearly juried show. Events from meetings to weddings and receptions are held at the center.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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