You may have seen old postcards featuring the Riverside amusement park, or the Beaux Arts-style Taggart Memorial, and wondered where these places were located. The Riverside Neighborhood on Indianapolis’s northwest side boasts a rich history with roots in the City Beautiful movement. Real estate developers and local land owners created a community in the early 1900s that was accessible by the newly expanded downtown transportation system.
The “street car suburb” featured landscaped ... view more »
You may have seen old postcards featuring the Riverside amusement park, or the Beaux Arts-style Taggart Memorial, and wondered where these places were located. The Riverside Neighborhood on Indianapolis’s northwest side boasts a rich history with roots in the City Beautiful movement. Real estate developers and local land owners created a community in the early 1900s that was accessible by the newly expanded downtown transportation system.
The “street car suburb” featured landscaped traffic circles, generous front yard set-backs, wide boulevards and glacier boulder retaining walls. George Kessler designed Riverside Park, bordered by Riverside Drive and White River Parkway, part of the boulevard system he created that is now listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Indianapolis’ first zoo, and the now demolished Riverside amusement park, followed the success of the planned community.
Explore the neighborhood’s history and architecture on Indiana Landmarks’ guided walking tour on Thursday, September 20. The two-hour walking tour will cover just over 1.5 miles in the Riverside neighborhood and the park. In addition to an overview of the diverse architecture of the neighborhood’s private homes, you’ll see the Taggart Memorial and take a look inside a private home on Riverside Drive and the newly-opened Riverside High School–an adaptive use of the gleaming white Heslar Naval Armory.
To make sure you have a great tour, we limit each timed-entry group to 20 people. The walking tour departs every 15 minutes beginning at 5 p.m., with the last tour departing at 6:15 p.m. The tour, which requires a ticket purchased in advance, begins and ends at the Riverside Family Recreation Center at 2420 East Riverside Drive, Indianapolis, IN 46208.
The tour will take place rain or shine. In the event of unsafe weather, the tour rain date is October 4. Refund requests must be received seven days in advance of tour date. Questions? Call 317-639-4534 or email reservations@indianalandmarks.org.
Note: The tour involves walking at least 1.5 miles and entering historic buildings that require climbing stairs.
Want to see even more of the neighborhood? Consider taking our Riverside Bike Tour on Saturday, September 22.
Indiana Landmarks offers our Riverside neighborhood tours in cooperation with Historic Urban Neighborhoods of Indianapolis (HUNI) and the Riverside Civic League.
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