Indiana Avenue

NARRATOR: This Indiana Bicentennial Minute is made possible by the Indiana Historical Society and the law firm of Krieg Devault.

A montage of black and white images appear on screen as Jane Pauley narrates. These images include aerial and street views of Indianapolis Avenue, close up street views of the Indianapolis Recorder, Walker Theater, and the Sunset Terrace.

JANE PAULEY: Built by a swampy area nobody wanted Indiana Avenue became perhaps the most celebrated street in Indiana. Platted in 1821 in our state’s capital, Indiana Avenue soon became the hub of the city’s African Americans. The center for black publishing with the Indianapolis Recorder, and for black business with Madame Walker’s beauty empire, but when the Ferguson brothers opened the Cotton Club in Sunset Terrace it was a musical sensation rivaling Harlem.

Black and white images of several jazz musicians are shown.

JANE PAULEY: The biggest names played here, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, and the city developed its own stars, the Hampton Sisters, Jimmy Coe, Freddie Hubbard, and the great Wes Montgomery. It was one of the most happening places in the country, Indiana Avenue.

Text on the screen reads: visit indianahistory.org for more information, with an image of African American musicians playing to a crowd in the background.

JANE PAULEY: I’m Jane Pauley with this Indiana Bicentennial Minute.
NARRATOR: Made possible by the Indiana Historical Society and the law firm of Krieg Devault.