While riding my bike around the near eastside of Indy one day, I came across Forest Avenue in the Westminster / St. Philip Neri Neighborhood (formerly known as TEAR United). I immediately recognized that something was different about the houses on the street. Most of the surrounding neighborhood dates back to the late 1800s, with the houses obviously of that era. But on Forest, many of the houses appeared to be small tract homes from post World War II, similar to what you would see in first-ring suburbs.
As I looked I discovered that Forest, from Washington St. to New York St., was not built until the very late 1920s or perhaps 1930. In old city directories I find no houses listed in that hundred block of Forest until 1930.
And most of the houses on Forest were built in the 1930s and '40, a full 40 to 50 years after the other houses in the surrounding neighborhood.
So what I'd like to know is, why was Forest Ave. such a late addition to the neighborhood? Was there perhaps a large business on Washington St. that took up the entire block? Was this an empty space between two different neighborhoods?
If anyone can solve the mystery of Forest Avenue, I would be grateful.
Here's a video I made of the street while riding my bike. I kept saying Forest "Street", when it's actually Forest Avenue. Also, I couldn't think of it when I was making the video, but Keystone, from Washington to New York, used to be called Gillard Ave. on old city maps. Forest Ave. is between Keystone and Tacoma Avenues.
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