Eastside Story: Portrait of a Neighborhood on the Suburban Frontier published by IUPUI Anthropology classThe Eastside of Indianapolis is the subject of a book produced by professor Susan Hyatt’s anthropology class at IUPUI. In the Spring of 2009, thirteen of her students set out to interview, photograph, and record the history of the Community Heights neighborhood and surrounding areas. The book is a treasure house of local history, documenting such landmark businesses as the Steer Inn, Justus Homes, the Arlington Theater, Eastgate Mall, and a handful of popular restaurants, including Al Green’s. The book includes a photo of Al Green’s sign, the “Same Day Service” T-shirt, and Randy Wilson’s recollections of the restaurant, all used with permission from www.algreensdrivein.com. The Eastside Story tells a much bigger story than what is typically told. It is comprehensive picture of how the Eastside grew organically over time, from the earliest settlers to the present day. Chapter 10, for example, relates the glory days of Indianapolis’s rail transit system, which once connected Indy to virtually all the neighboring towns and cities. A 1913 interurban map shows the tracks extending eastward to Columbus, Ohio and beyond, although passengers would have to purchase multiple tickets to travel that distance. The interurbans ended in 1953 but by then they had helped push the city’s growth limits to Community Heights and boosted some of the outlying towns such as Cumberland.
The Foreword describes Post-War suburban development and how it affected Community Heights. The GI bill encouraged WWII veterans to buy new homes with low-cost mortgages, while Eisenhower’s Federal Highway Act of 1956, described as the “largest public works project in US history,” built the highways that enabled people to move from cities into suburbs. A chapter on Employment tells of the boom years, when factories such as Western Electric, Chrysler, and Jenn-Air provided thousands of jobs and prosperity, helping to create the bustling retail atmosphere at Eastgate Mall and the thriving atmosphere at Al Green’s and other restaurants of the time period. The book nicely transitions from the general historical trends into the fine grain of personal anecdotes and old pictures. In fact, the class has invented something they call the “scanathon,” where local residents are asked to bring in their old photos which students scan while they are entertained by a presentation. This is an outstanding way to gather information and could easily become a major trend for all groups interested in local history. Hats off to Susan Hyatt and her anthropology class. The book launch was mentioned in the following two links: Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Inc. Related to this, a website of old Indianapolis photographs from the Near Eastside History group.
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