Indianapolis in the '50s

Omar route salesman James Archer delivered baked goods on his route in Indianapolis in 1955.

Flanked by the Cisco Kid and Pancho, 5-year-old Eugene Ferry of Geneva, a patient at Riley Hospital For Children, was all set for a shot at the "bad guys" with Cisco's gun on July 23, 1954. The two television stars, Leo (Pancho) Carillo (left) and Duncan (Cisco) Renaldo met Eugene on a tour of hospitals on July 23, 1954 before making appearances at the Police PAL Club Circus at Victory Field. Proceeds from the circus helped finance PAL clubs throughout the city.

Walter E. Tierney, Roberts Dairy milkman, lines up 12 one-quart bottles of milk on the porch of a home in the 4300 block of Park on Feb. 4, 1953. The 12 bottles represent the cent-a-bottle cut made in milk by all Indiana-area producers (due to the price cut, consumers would receive a free pint of milk in the cost of 12 quart bottles of milk).

Riders on The Flash roller coaster at Riverside Amusement Park in 1950 was one of the park's most popular rides.

Shoppers brave the rain for Hoosier bargain day, sponsored by the downtown Merchants Association. This group of shoppers crossed Washington at Meridian streets in 1959.

he streetcar era in Indianapolis bowed out at 3:10 a.m. on Jan. 9, 1953, as the final clang, clang of the trolley and the last clank, clank of the "flat" wheels trailed off into oblivion. A gaily decorated No. 148 pulled out of the Indianapolis Railways car barn at 1 a.m., topped with a mortar board and tassle signifying its "graduation" from the College Avenue line. A sign reading "Streetcar Named Expire" was affixed to the front. Retiring motormen and dignitaries, including Mayor Alex Clark, rode on accompanying street cars. Transit operator Roy Leverett, 42, (shown here) then pulled the old car into the barn. It was one of 34 that were later cut up for scrap metal.

Precision timing had heats of three boys each rolling off every 60 seconds from the top of Wilbur Shaw Memorial Hill 40 years ago in the 22nd running of the Indianapolis Soap Box Derby. Rain halted the Derby on the first day after 20 heats. It resumed the next afternoon and 13-year-old Johnny Hargis won in a time of 26.57 seconds after finishing second the previous two years. Hargis defeated 11-year-old Ronnie Lee Myers of Bloomington by a car-length.

1955 Crispus Attucks state champions Front row: Oscar Robertson, Willie Merriweather, Sheddrick Mitchell, Willie Hampton, Bill Scott, Bill Brown Second row: Coach Ray Crowe, John Gipson, Stanford Patton, Johnny Mack Brown, William Burnley, Sammy Milton, John Clemmons, Assistant Coach Al Spurlock

Billy Klaus, Milwaukee third baseman, slides in safely at third during a sixth-inning rally in the 1951 opener with the Indianapolis Indians at Victory Field. Nanny Fernandez takes the throw from center while Manager Charlie Grimm of the Brewers and Umpire Bill Jackowski watch.

This is a 1951 photo of Jim Shelton whose ÒPick-A-PocketÓ general knowledge quiz show was broadcast on WIBC radio from the 1940s to the 1960s. The show went off the air in 1968. Shelton broadcast live at 12:15 each afternoon from Monument Circle. He stood in front of the Circle Theatre wearing a small apron with pockets that his wife had sewn and often a chimney sweepÕs hat. Here, he is shown interviewing Alaskan dog sledders passing through Indianapolis. During its 21-year run, the program aired 6,390 times. He retired in 1991.

Smiling youngsters (left to right) Patrician and Fife Orebaugh and Purlene and Rose Marie Rogers departed the Marion County LibraryÕs Haughville branch, 525 N. Belleview, with books in tow, April 20, 1952

This photo of riders on the wooden centrifugal force ride at Riverside Amusement Park in 1958 gives us different opinions of the rides enjoyment, boredom, fright and pain in the neck.... Do you remember the name of this ride?

Sleek and shiny new cars were on display at the annual Indianapolis Auto Show on Jan. 21, 1955.

Max Adams, director of the 1952 Indianapolis Custom Auto Show, sat in the cockpit of a "Jetmobile," a three-wheeled one-seat cockpit car built by Boonesboro, Maryland draftsman Richard Harp. Three surplus aircraft gasoline tanks - one belly tank and two wing-tip auxiliary tanks - were used to create the futuristic entry in Indianapolis' third annual custom car show. The car was capable of reaching a speed of 110 mph and featured a sliding glass canopy, automatic transmission, an aircraft engine for power and a chartreuse and dark green finish.

Typesetters prepare the next day’s edition of The Indianapolis Star on linotype machines in the composing room on Sept. 9, 1953. Newspapers went from “hot type” to “cold type” (offset printing) in the last half of the century.

May 30, 1955 Indianapolis News cover detailing the death of veteran Indy 500 driver and 1954 winner Bill Vukovich.

When the lunch whistle sounded at the Link-Belt Company Ewart Works plant on March 14, 1950, a small group of men headed to the locker room, where they gathered during the noon hour to read the Bible together. Most of the men had not set foot inside a church for years, or even read the Bible, until the group was organized the year before. Giving up most of their lunch hour to attend, the men met each Tuesday for a Bible lesson led by three men, Churchill Cofer, Howard Cottman and Fred League.

1951 Indianapolis 500 winner Lee Wallard and actress Loretta Young (center) and Wallard's wife Esther (right)

Kresge's ad for the Hoosier Bargain Day in 1958.

Elizabeth Hodge (l) and Vivian Hawkins (r) work on Carolyn Scott's dress during a Camp Fire Girls meeting at School #63 in 1950.

Charlotte Palmer, senior at Washington High School, collected a pile of college catalogues, on Nov. 27, 1954, to help her decide which college to attend. The school held a Go-To-College Week to encourage students to further their education.

The midway at the Marion County Fair in 1951.

Evangelist Billy Graham preaches to a crowd estimated at 20000 persons on the southern half of Monument Circle and Meridian Street in 1959 from the Circle nearly to Washington St.

Coca Cola Bottling Plant on Massachusetts in 1955.

A sheer crepe afternoon dress by Herbert Sandheim featured a pleated front panel. Jan. 1951.

All day long at the Indiana State Fair, big yellow tractors towed double trailers full of foot-weary fairgoers around the grounds. The trailers made a complete circuit of the fairgrounds, and when this photo was taken, on Aug. 29, 1952. More than 20,000 people paid their nickel for the ride.

Mr. and Mrs. Taylor Todd and Mr. and Mrs. Joseph M. Palmer enjoyed themselves at a square dance on Oct. 4, 1957.

A mother with two young children shop for a new TV at the Stop & Shop supermarket on Oct. 29, 1953.

L. Strauss & Co. building at Illinois and Washington Street on Oc. 24, 1950. The building faced both the Lincoln and Claypool Hotels.

Church-goers cross come and go in between Good Friday services at First Baptist Church on April 7, 1950. The church was located at the northeast corner of Vermont and Meridian Streets.

ÒDinah,Ó the skeleton of a giant ground sloth at the ChildrenÕs Museum, presented quite a sight for visitors on Jan. 13, 1952. The worldÕs fourth-oldest childrenÕs museum opened in Indianapolis in 1925.

Glendale Shopping Center is shown in 1958, just months after it opened.

This photo, taken Oct. 29, 1950, is an interior shot of the Cadle Tabernacle, which once stood on the northwest corner of Ohio and New Jersey streets. The portrait seen at left in the distance is of E. Howard Cadle, who built the tabernacle and preached there on the radio. The portrait at right is Cadle's mother, Etta Cadle, to whom he had dedicated the tabernacle after crediting her with his religious conversion.

Dwight Eisenhower at a rally on Monument Circle in 1952.

Hundreds of disgruntled voters stood in line for hours for the May 3, 1950 primary at 4228 E. Michigan, but few got to vote. Voting machines were augmented by an emergency supply of Australian ballots rushed there by the County Board of Election Commissioners.

WIRE radio personality "Uncle Wally" Nerhling was the center of attention at a birthday party for Rick Eddy (left front) and his brother, Jimmy (right front) in the youngsters' home, 8543 Broadway, on April 29, 1953. Uncle Wally read the Indianapolis Star Sunday comics for the party-goers, which was tape recorded and broadcast that following Sunday. In the 1940s, before the arrival of television, many radio stations across the country had someone read the Sunday comics for children to follow along in their papers at home. In Indianapolis, Uncle Wally's readings were broadcast each Sunday morning from 8:30 to 9, sometimes with as many as 20 youngsters crowded into the small studio room.

This June 1952 photo shows nearly 100 children lining up at the Rhodius Park pool on the westside for their first swimming lesson as the Red Cross' "Learn to Swim" program got under way. Nearly 1,700 children signed up for the free swimming lessons at the Indianapolis Parks that summer.

Clark Gable and producer/director Clarence Brown look over the Indianapolis Motor Speedway before filming "To Please a Lady" in 1950.

This view of Downtown Indianapolis looking southwest toward the Statehouse, taken March 18, 1953, shows the arched-roof Traction Terminal Station in center. The station was dismantled in 1968 and taken to the Indiana Transportation Museum at Forest Park in Noblesville. Three years after this photo was taken, the Traction Terminal Building (to the left of the terminal), was bought by Blue Cross and Blue Shield and renamed the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Building. It was razed in 1972 to make way for a new Blue Cross building. This view was taken from the roof of the Indiana Bell Telephone Co. Building and shows the intersection of Illinois and Ohio streets in the foreground.

The sight of this unusual vehicle passing Indianapolis News photographer Robert Lavelle on the highway made him do a double-take. What Lavelle saw was a marsh buggy, designed to negotiate marshy land, developed by Marmon-Herrington. The huge, ball-like wheels served to propel the craft while in mud or water. At the other end, smaller, traditional wheels steered the vehicle on dry land.

Six-year-old Jeffrey C. Eastman of Indianapolis sold plastic elephants full of honey to U. S. Sen. Mark O. Hatfield of Oregon (center) and former Indiana Gov. Harold W. Handley at the Republican fund-raising dinner on Oct. 29, 1968.

Three little stars who entertained the public in the summer of 1952 at The Indianapolis Star-City Parks Department amateur shows polished up their talent preparing for a new amateur review to be performed at Brookside Park Community Theater in February 1953.

Lines of children and their parents wait for the Circle Theatre doors to open on April 1, 1958 for a showing of Walt Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." The 1958 showing was the third reissue of the film.

As Gen. Dwight D. EisenhowerÕs car rolled to a stop at Municipal Airport on Sept. 9, 1952, Lt. Morris Settles of the Marion Co. SheriffÕs Dept. reached through a window to get the generalÕs autograph. The Republican presidential nominee delivered a campaign address at Butler Fieldhouse, where a crowd of 16,000-plus, and an overflow crowd of 8,000 in the Butler Bowl loved every minute of the 29 he spoke. Crowds lined every street from the airport to Downtown to see Eisenhower Ð more than 100,000 people. Two months later, Eisenhower was elected president over Democratic opponent Adlai Stevenson.

Tommy Burgner, a 6-year-old polio victim from Veedersburg, Ind., had a big grin for his stuffed dog, Skeezer, which sat atop his iron lung in Riley Hospital on Feb. 23, 1950. American Red Cross nurse Gertrude Nickel was one of the many nurses recruited for polio duty during the epidemic. Tommy, who had red curly hair, contracted polio during the epidemic of 1949. He succumbed to repiratory ailment when he was 12.

Were women shoe buyers as much of a pain to a shoe salesman as they were made out to be by cartoonists in 1950? ThatÕs the question The Star posed (as well as this picture), when they asked three local male salesmen what they thought. One said that women were easier to please and more reasonable customers than men. Another said women had a harder time deciding on shoes than any other part of their outfits. The third thought it was a draw between difficult-to-please males and females. They all agreed it was a silly notion that women were vain about small feet and bought sizes too small for their feet. However, one shoe department used to have two foot doctors as part of their standard personnel, a practice which had disappeared by the time this was taken.

Owen J. Bush throws out the first ball at Victory Field on Aug. 1954. (1887-1972) bought the Indianapolis Indians with Frank E. Mc Kinney Sr. in 1941. A native of Indianapolis’ eastside, Bush served as the Detroit Tigers’ primary shortstop for 14 seasons, then became manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Cincinnati Reds, the Washington Senators and Chicago White Sox. Bush remained with the Indianapolis Indians as president or general manager during the 1950s when primary ownership shifted. He retired in 1969. The stadium was named in his honor in 1967.

Shortridge High School sub-debs and their dates celebrated the changing seasons with a horse-drawn hayride, followed by a wiener roast around a bonfire. Teen-agers (from left) Deanna Woods, John Hollett and Penny Pearson roasted hot dogs and marshmallows as a fitting climax to their brisk, cool ride through the Hoosier countryside on Oct. 10, 1954

Deliverymen wished for boats on Jan. 3, 1950, when they ran into intersections like this, at Goodlet Ave. and 24th St., on the site of the former Hoosier Airport. It was one of many sections of the city inundated by nearly two inches of rain during the day. Shown attempting to make deliveries were (left to right): bakery truck driver John Hurst and milkmen Harry Riggs and Bud Beeson.

Mrs. Virgil Whitt, 2800 block of Questend Drive, posed for a picture at a Union Station industrial exhibit on July 8, 1955 as her family prepared to take a train to Cleveland.

Girl Scout leader Martha Jackson (center) and her troop raked leaves at School 43 for a community service project on Oct. 29, 1955. Harriette Conn (left), and Mrs. Jackson’s daughter Judy (right) are also pictured.

Street vendor Nicholas Marianos sells peanuts to passing motorists leaving work in the afternoon of April 12, 1950. He parked his stand by a fire hydrant along East Vermont Street, between North Meridian and North Pennsylvania streets. In the background is First Baptist Church (left), steps to the Indiana War Memorial and the parsonage and corner of Second Presbyterian Church. Marianos sold candy, popcorn and peanuts from his cart and also operated The Star Restaurant, a Greek eatery in the old Howard Johnson's at 333 W. Washington St.

The Hook’s Drug Store in the Meadows Shopping Center in 1957 was selling orange slices at 2 pounds for 39 cents - that’s a steal.

Basketball fans and the Lafayette and Elkhart teams stand at attention at Butler Fieldhouse on March 17, 1956, during the playing of the Star Spangled Banner. When the last trumpet note sounded, an official blasted his whistle and the afternoon semi-final of the Indiana high school tournament got underway.

Disgruntled motorists stood beside their cars in five lanes of stalled traffic outside the Speedway on May 18, 1957 on the first day of qualifications for the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race. The gates opened at 8:15 a.m.,15 minutes late, causing traffic jams for miles on all surrounding streets. This group on W. 16th St. just east of the main gate finally got moving and filed into the infield. At 11 a.m., the crowd was estimated to number 75,000 with a probable 50,000 more on their way. Practice was delayed 46 minutes to permit a crossover on the main stretch.

Two painters completed a huge map of the United States that decorated the back of the screen of the newly built National Drive-In Theater in 1952, located east of Cumberland on U.S. 40. The National opened Aug. 20, 1952 and had a car capacity of 1,110. The outdoor theater, which continued operating until 1984, was demolished to make way for the Glen Oaks Village subdivision.

Two Indianapolis brothers, Matthew Schnorr, 2 1/2 (left), and Raymond Schnorr, 5, were all smiles in anticipation of the 1959 Indianapolis 500 as they were photographed in their back yard in the 5900 block of N. New Jersey St. Though too young to race with the big boys at the Speedway, at least they had a car, built by their 18-year-old brother William.

This scene shows the majestic beauty of the Second Presbyterian Church at the corner of Vermont and Pennsylvania Streets, with the crystal effects contributed by an early morning breath of winter. The photographer made this 30-second time exposure from a position in University Park on Jan. 7, 1950. The congregation built a new church building at its present location on North Meridian Street; the first service in the new sanctuary was held on Oct. 4, 1959. The Downtown church pictured here was demolished in 1960.

Dr. William M. Kelley of the Speedway medical staff gave hot-footed Tony Bettenhausen a body check on May 14, 1952. Poking fun at Bettenhausen, but waiting their turn, are Rodger Ward, Johnnie Parsons and Manuel Ayulo. Parsons, who won the Indy 500 two years before, was the highest finisher of the four drivers in 1952 (10th place). In their careers, the four drove in an accumulative 29 races.

This little girl and her new companion met for the first time on Dec. 25, 1956 when she received the gift thanks to contributions made to The Indianapolis News Cheer Fund. The newspaper solicited donations from readers at Christmas time to provide for a happier holiday for families in the area that needed financial assistance. A new doll made this unidentified little girl’s Christmas a better one.

News photographers perched atop a skid on a lift truck joined a crowd of 4,000 at Weir Cook Municipal Airport on Sept. 26, 1952 waiting for 1952 Democratic presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson to arrive. An estimated 50,000 people lined Indianapolis streets to welcome the Illinois governor on his ride from the airport to the Claypool Hotel. Although the welcome was warm and cordial, it did not compare with the tumultuous reception accorded Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, his Republican opponent, on Sept. 9. Police estimated the turnout for Ike at 125,000. StevensonÕs visit came two days after the famous ÒCheckersÓ speech by Sen. Richard Nixon (EisenhowerÕs vice presidential running mate), during which he declared, ÒI am not a quitter.Ó Eisenhower beat Stevenson in a Republican landslide in the November election and went on to serve two terms as president. Photographers who are identified include (clockwise from top left): Dean Timmerman (Indianapolis Times), Bill Palmer (Indianapolis News), Maurice Burnett (Indianapolis Star), Gene Herrick (Associated Press) and Ruth Chin (independent photographer).

Marsha Stoker presented Indianapolis muscleman Peter Lupus with a trophy on July 19, 1959, after his selection as Mr. Muscles of Indiana in a contest held in conjunction with the film, ÒMr. Hercules,Ó playing at the Indiana Theater. The judging took place at the Irvington Plaza shopping center.

Mt. Zion Baptist Church choir director George M. Robinson was a bookkeeper for city, county and state government until his retirement in 1958, but his evenings and weekends revolved around directing church choirs. Robinson is shown here on Jan. 19, 1950 directing the Mt. Zion choir during the recording of a half-hour show of hymns and spirituals, broadcast over radio station WIRE.

On the night of Jan. 30, 1958 Indianapolis' Tomlinson Hall caught fire, illuminating the downtown area as flames climbed hundreds of feet into the air. The historic hall was razed six months later. A single doorway arch facing east is all that stands today in the market's courtyard. Tomlinson Hall had served the city as a public meeting hall since 1886.

A young girl kneeled on the bare floor beside her bed in prayer for a photo published on Dec. 20, 1951 in The Indianapolis News. The photo was used to solicit funds for The News Cheer Fund, a campaign that raised money for needy families. The caption asked readers, “Would you seethe eyes of this girl brighten at the sight of a new pair of shoes for her bare feet? Would you place a bright toy in her small hands, a warm coat about her shoulders?”

Sixteen-year-old Lucille Raia made a test call from one of the cityÕs new emergency alarm boxes, at the corner of Alabama and Ohio streets, on Nov. 11, 1955. The boxes, placed throughout the city, were part of the first joint police and fire alarm telephone system in the world. It began operating the following month, on Dec. 3 and replaced the 57-year-old Gamewell system.

Claude Downs (right) rode his 7-year-old mule, Katie-Did to the polls to vote on election day in 1950. Elbert Russell, 1051 Division St., held the halter while workers at the poll, Precinct 2 in the 14th Ward at 901 Oliver Ave., hand fed sugar cubes to the mule.

Even small children had a victory celebration for Dwight Eisenhower following his nomination at the 1952 Republican Convention. After watching the event on television, these kids made their own banners and stopped traffic in the 4700 block of East 34th Street while they paraded . Appropriately leading the march was Patty Isenhower, 9 (left), and her sister Sue, 4. They were followed by neighborhood youngsters (from left) Jerry Dodd, 6, Mark Dodd, 4, and David (last name not given), 8, Nancy Hughes, 6, Sandra Hughes, 9, and Larry Willman, 4.

Boy Scout Curtis Downs smiled broadly as he was capped with an honorary firefighterÕs helmet by Indianapolis Fire Department Capt. Charles Hill at Station No. 1, 1445 W. Michigan St., in 1959 as the first fire company-sponsored Boy Scout troop in the city was activated. Also shown are scout Paul Carter (left) and Capt. Howard Clark (right), scoutmaster of new Troop No. 413.

Workers assemble Marmon-Herrington trucks in Indianapolis on March 11, 1952.

Kingan & Co. salesmen posed for a picture at the Òkick-offÓ sales meeting for KinganÕs ÒBeat CarnegieÓ football contest conducted on WIRE radio in connection with the meat companyÕs sponsorship of Indiana and Purdue University football broadcasts. In the first 10 weekly contests, sportscaster Tom Carnegie beat 82.5 percent of the more than 500 entries. KinganÕs, a former slaughterhouse and meatpacking firm, originated in Belfast, Ireland in 1845 and came to Indianapolis in 1862. In 1952, the company was sold to Hygrade Food Products Corp. of Detroit and it took the Hygrade name in 1960. The plant employed about 2,500 workers when it closed in 1966. T

The Indianapolis Milk Foundation's annual milk bottle drives encouraged the local dairies' home-delivery customers to return empty and broken bottles for recycling. Officials estimated that as many as 4 million bottles disappeared between the 1950 and 1951 drives.

Baseball great Carl Erskine gave tips on gripping a baseball to young admirers at a luncheon held in Anderson, Ind. in his honor after he lead the National League with 20 wins in 1953. Getting a close-up look were (left to right): Jerry Byard, Jimmie Johnson, Davie Hitchcock and an unidentified youth (man at right is unidentified as well). Pitching for the Brooklyn and later Los Angeles Dodgers, Erskine compiled a lifetime record of 122-78 over 12 seasons, including two no hitters and two wins in the World Series.

Partygoers William Fuller and his wife celebrated the arrival of a new year as they blew on noisemakers at the stroke of midnight on Jan. 1, 1952. The couple was attending a party sponsored by the City Salesmen’s Club in the Knights of Columbus Hall at 13th and Delaware Streets. T

The football uniforms and helmets worn by high school football players in the 1950s were quite plain by today's standards. In this action shot from the third annual City High School Football Jamboree on Sept. 11, 1954, Broad Ripple's Ken Long (bottom) brings down junior fullback Ronnie Sherbert of Shortridge at the 45-yard line. An estimated crowd of 8,000 at Butler Bowl watched Sherbert score both Shortridge touchdowns in the Jamboree -- one on a 15-yard sweep around left and the other on a 37-yard pass interception. Broad Ripple's Clarence Munro (80) and Bob Ross (79) watch the action up close as they run in to assist the stop. Broad Ripple finished up on the short end of a 13-0 contest, one of five one-quarter matchups between city schools in the Jamboree. The other schools participating were Howe, Arsenel Tech, Crispus Attucks, Washington, Manual, Southport, Sacred Heart and Cathedral.

Dolly Davis displayed her acrobatic talents in the finals of The Indianapolis StarÕs 1951 City Parks Amateur Contest. Davis, representing Garfield Park, competed in the class for youngsters 11 to 15 years of age. The show was held at Garfield ParkÕs outdoor bowl and featured 24 acts, culminating a month of sectional elimination contests held in parks throughout the city. A total of 37 participants competed in three age classifications in the finals, represented eight city parks.

Five-year-old Kenton Smith (left) and his brother, Keith, 7, saluted Old Glory, flying at half staff on a homemade flag pole in their backyard at 3843 S. Olney St. on Aug. 27, 1951. Their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Orphus Smith, raised the flag in tribute to a neighbor, Sgt. Frank Redmon Jr., who was killed in Korea.

Parade-watchers at the southeast corner of Ohio and Pennsylvania streets watched the Hoosier Motor Club float pass by during the 500 Festival Parade on May 29, 1958.

Three-year-old Susie Taylor didnÕt appreciate the strange man that made a pre-Halloween appearance in her front yard at 9 S. Sherman Dr. on Oct. 29, 1951. The ghoulish character was created by Susie's father, William Taylor.

Attucks High School's post-game celebration on March 10, 1951 proved more perilous than the Tigers' semistate victory over Batesville moments before. A ladder collapsed while players were cutting down the net, bringing laughs from several players, but concern from coach Ray Crowe (right). No one was hurt. The Tigers went on to lose to Evansville Reitz in the state semifinals, and Muncie Central would win its third state title (Muncie Central now has eight championships overall, a state record). Attucks would go on to win three state championships that decade Ð 1955, 1956 and 1959. Pictured here (from left) are Charles Cook (foreground), Charles Toliver (with hand on rim, looking down), Bailey Robertson, Hallie Bryant, Willie Gardner, Ben Cook and coach Crowe.

Firemen from Indianapolis Fire Department Engine Co. 7 turned a high pressure hose on City Hall steps on orders of Mayor Alex M. Clark on Jan. 3, 1952. After a tour of City Hall, Clark, who became one of the youngest mayors of Indianapolis when he took office on January 1 that year, pronounced the building as "filthy" inside and out. Mayor Clark obtained a "loan" of prisoners from the Marion County Jail the following day to help assist in the cleanup. Mayor Clark left office in 1956, having secured approval to build a new City-County Building.

Eli Lilly & Co. workers call it a day on Oct. 11, 1956, heading home as they crossed the intersection at McCarty (middle) and Alabama Streets. A new intersection control system stopped all traffic, permitting pedestrians to cross the intersection in all directions, including diagonally.

Polk Sanitary Milk Co., located at 1100 E. 15th St., photographed on Aug. 25, 1952, touted it's dairy products as "Polk's Best." The company, formed July 7, 1893 by James T. Polk, was family-owned for 70 years. It experienced financial problems in the late '50s and early '60s, blaming sagging sales and lost customers on cut-throat pricing by big food chains. Polk's sales dropped from $5.88 million in 1957 to $4.23 million in 1961, and lost 9,000 home delivery customers. The company was placed in receivership in Sept. 1962 and sold the following year to the president of Maplehurst Jersey Farms and a Milwaukee businessman after sales dropped to $3.5 million.

Indianapolis Symphony flutist Harriet Peacock (right) photographed housemates Jean Marie Reicherts (left) and Gale Bray, double-bass players, on Nov. 29, 1950. The three were among the largest group of women ever to play with the ISO up to that time -- 14. Led by conductor Fabien Sevitzky, the symphony's manpower was tapped as the country teetered on the brink of war in Korea.

City workers today have it made as they plow city streets while riding inside heated snow-removal trucks. In the 1950s, Indianapolis' "snow troops" had to bundle up, as the city's odd-looking snow graders provided absolutely no protection from the blustery weather. This worker removed snow from a Downtown street on Feb. 1, 1951 after a six-inch snowfall blanketed Indianapolis, the city's heaviest in five years. To make matters worse, strong winds reached 20 to 25 miles an hour and temperatures dropped from 9 degrees at 12:30 that afternoon to 0 degrees at 7:30 p.m. By noon the following day, the temperature was 9 degrees below 0. The snow forced a drastic change in Indianapolis' way of life. Schools were closed and traffic plowed its way sluggishly through snow.

While driving to Indianapolis on U.S. 40 on July 13, 1956, Mrs. Paul Stanley of Greenfield stopped to use this drive-in telephone built by Indiana Bell. Company officials in Indianapolis believed it to be the first drive-in phone in the entire Bell network. Located four miles east of Cumberland, it was the first telephone available for direct calls into Indianapolis for motorists approaching the city from the east.

Whose eyes wouldn't pop if they were paid $250 for a shoe shine? That's the reaction of (left to right) Willie Sanders, 11; Chester Winters, 12; and Jimmie Jones 11 on July 18, 1951, after a stranger paid off handsomely for a shine at the Indianapolis bus station. Police officers Robert Alcair (left) and William Babbitt assured the boys the money was real.

13-year-old Michael Cook, an eight-grader at Eastwood junior high school in Washington Township (now Eastwood middle school), shows off his robot, "Elmo" during the central Indiana science fair at Butler University's College of Pharmacy April 11, 1958. Michael spent two months building Elmo out of $25 worth of wire, switches, stovepipe, old TV tubes, cardboard and anything else he could get his hands on. Cook said Elmo was more of a "stage robot" than anything scientific. He didn't win a prize from the science fair, but did win a crowd appreciation award.

The weather was nice, the sidewalks were dry and it looked like spring. Mary Clare Leonard and Charlotte Remmetter, both neighbors on N. Euclid on the eastside, strapped on their roller skates and enjoyed the day.

Roy Rogers paid a personal visit to 8-year-old Larry Jacobi, a polio patient at the James Whitcomb Riley Hospital for Children on April 12, 1953. Rogers and his trusty horse Trigger called on Larry between performances of their rodeo show at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum.

Arthur E. Adams,18, operates the U. S. Army Finance Center's inserting machine at the newly opened center in Lawrence on Oct. 1, 1953. The machine inserted checks to the dependents of soldiers serving around the world-- and sealed them in envelopes --at a rate of 72 a minute.

4/19/1952 -- Hundreds of people crowd the Galyan's Supermarket at Fall Creek and SR 37 for an appearance by Rough Rider on April 19, 1952. The supermarket was started by Albert and Naomi Galyan, the first 24-hour a day store in Indianapolis. The couple later started the Galyan's Trading Post empire.

Carol Parks Morrison was 16 when she was crowned the very first Indiana State Fair Queen in 1958.

Alex M. Clark - Indianapolis mayor 1952-56

This view looking west at the Indiana State Fair was taken from atop the Coliseum August 31,1958. The administration building is on the far right and the beginning of the Goodings Amusements midway is at the end of the street (shown in the background).

Two young couples shared conversation and laughter as they spent a leisurely day sun bathing at an area recreation park on June 14, 1959. Shown (from left) are Frank Stites, Becky Williams, Jim Potter and Jo Anne Root.

Jo Ann Pleak and Tom Ross showed off attire on April 10, 1956 that they planned to wear to Shortridge High School’s Hardtimes Dance in the school gymnasium the following month. The dance was sponsored by the Key Club, a boy’s service club, of which Ross was a member.

Feet danced in three-quarter time at the “German Frolic” at the Country Club of Indianapolis on July 22, 1951, to the “oompahing” of Tommy Moriarty’s German Band. Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Lewis (right) cheer on Mr. and Mrs. Franklin G. Kearney on the dance floor.

Third baseman J. C. Martin of the Indianapolis Indians gave out pointers on playing the hot corner to boys age 8 to 12 in The Indianapolis News-Indianapolis Indians baseball clinic at Victory Field on June 15, 1959.

Seventeen-year-old Lillian Della-Penna demonstrated the newest craze to hit the country in 1958 – the Hula Hoop, created by Wham-O Mfg. Co. in San Gabriel, Calif. With the plastic hoop spinning about her waist on Sept. 7, 1958, Della-Penna joined the ranks of youngsters (and some middle-agers) who used them for fun or, in some cases, exercise.

Clark Newsom, training supervisor for Marsh Foodliners, talks over final preparations with Phyllis Fischer at one of the checkout counters at it's store at Shelby and Hanna Ave. September 25, 1957.

Methodist Hospital ChildrenÕs Ward in 1950.

A pediatrician at Riley Hospital examines a boy for the muscle weaknesses that indicate paralysis of polio in 1952.

There was no hint of the legacy Jim Jones would leave behind in a remote South American colony when, in Dec. 1953, he playfully posed with Sugar, one of the monkeys an Indianapolis church sold to raise building funds. Long before the preacher gained international attention, Jones built a dedicated following of believers in Indianapolis. Starting out as a student pastor at Somerset Christian Assembly in June 1952, Jones soon after founded People's Temple Full Gospel Church in Indianapolis.

Donna Olive takes her turn at shoving while her friends take advantage of the season's first "heavy" snow at Coffin Golf Course near 30th and Cold Springs Dec. 1, 1952. Hanging onto the sled are (left to right) Judy Oliver, LaDonna Smith and Thelma Wilson.

Indiana Bell Telephone operators Sept. 4, 1950

The focal point of Indianapolis' Union Station is the head house illuminated during the day by stained-glass wheel windows at each end. The building designed by Thomas Rodd of Pittsburgh was built in 1887-88. As many as 200 passenger trains passed through Union Station each day at the beginning of the century but train travel decreased throughout the 1900s. In this photograph from Oct. 18 1950 porters assist train passengers in the center of the grand hall.

Westlake Beach club turned into a miniature Coney Island as bathers dotted the beach in 1951.

Jim Borden, 8, digs deep into his jeans for a dime that will give him a rip-roaring ride on a mechanical horse at Galyan's Super Market on Sept. 4, 1952. The mechanical broncs, a common sight in front of Indianapolis stores years ago, have all but disappeared from stores today.

The Teen Canteen at the Mid-East Community Center reopened in 1950 after renovations.

The Indianapolis Clowns were the dominant Negro Baseball League team in the 1950s, claiming the pennant in 1950, 1951, 1952 and 1954. Shown here are teammates (from left), King Tut , Manager Oscar Charleston and Connie Morgan.

Glark Gable sits in the Blue Crown Spark Plug car at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Gable was at the Speedway filming "To Please a Lady" with co-star Barbara Stanwyk. June 1, 1950

Frank Butler, Charles Dosch and Doris Patston stage a photo from the Starlight Musicals production of "Annie Get Your Gun" at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in 1951.

Grand opening of the Marsh supermarket at Lawrence in 1959.