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’ biking tour on Saturday, September 22. The three-hour tour will cover approximately seven miles in the Riverside neighborhood and the park. In addition to an overview of the diverse architecture of the neighborhood’s private homes, stops along the way include the Taggart Memorial, an exclusive look inside the Beaux Arts-style Riverside Pumping Station, the newly-opened Riverside High School–an adaptive use of the historic Heslar Naval Armory.

 To make sure you have a great tour, we limit each timed-entry group to 15 people. Groups depart every 15 minutes, beginning at 9 a.m., with the last tour departing at 10 a.m. The tour, which requires a ticket in advance, begins and ends at the Riverside Family Recreation Center at 2420 East Riverside Drive.

 If the bike tour sounds like too much work, consider taking our two-hour walking tour on Thursday, September 20. The walking tours depart every 15 minutes from 5 to 6:15 p.m. and also require an advance ticket.

 The tour will be offered rain or shine. In the event of unsafe weather, the rain date is Saturday, October 6. Refund requests must be received seven days in advance of tour date. Questions? Call 317-639-4534 or email reservations@indianalandmarks.org.

 Indiana Landmarks offers our Riverside neighborhood tours in cooperation with Historic Urban Neighborhoods of Indianapolis (HUNI) and the Riverside Civic League.