Profiles in Preservation: Nancy Holliman Johnson shares early memories of Indiana Avenue

Miss Nancy sits down to talk about growing up near Indiana Avenue and returning to the area later in her life.

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Indianapolis historian and HUNI Editorial Board Member Sharon Butsch Freeland interviewed longtime Ransom Place resident, Nancy Holliman Johnson, in June of 2018, about her early memories of her family, growing up near Indiana Avenue and downtown Indianapolis.

Listen to the full interview

 

The 1927 Baist Atlas Map shows IPS School 4 on the northeast corner of W. Michigan Street and N. Blackford Street.  Miss Nancy's family's home was at 510 N. Blackford Street, which was across the street from the west side of School 4. Indiana Avenue is the angled street three blocks east of School 4 and the Holliman home. Today, both 930 W. Michigan Street and 510 N. Blackford Street have parking garages built on those sites and are part of the IUPUI campus.

Indianapolis Public School 4 was located at 930 West Michigan Street, which was the northeast corner of Michigan and Blackford Streets.  Miss Nancy's family lived at 510 N. Blackford Street, which was across the street (to the west or left in this photo). Today this corner is the site of a parking garage for IUPUI.

 

 

This article appeared in The Indianapolis Star on November 14, 1926. The photo was taken in the schoolyard at School 4. A portion of the Holliman residence at 510 N. Blackford Street is in the background of the photo, as their home was across the street from the school.   

 

Miss Nancy's mother passed away in 1963.

 

Miss Nancy's father passed away in 1975.

 

In 1995, Miss Nancy and her sister Louise fulfilled their dream of returning to the neighborhood in which they grew up and living next door to one another. 

 

 

 

Nancy Holliman Johnson in front of her Ransom Place home.