The Rise and Fall of South College Avenue, Bloomington IN
By: derekandjenrichey
Tags: 1800s, 1870s, 1880s, 1890s, 1900s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 2012, 2nd Street, Bloomington, Bloomington Fading, Bloomington Then and Now, Bollenbacher, Historic, Howe, Indiana, James K Beck, Maxwell, Monroe County, Neeld, Ramsey, S College Avenue, Stodgsdill, Tourner
Category: 1880s, 1920s, 1930s, 1950s, 1957, 1960s, Bloomington, Bloomington Fading, IN, Then and Now, Uncategorized
I often lament on Facebook as we look at old photos of South College from yesteryear that the strip of land and homes that once sat along the east side and lower west side of the avenue were lost to false assumptions by developers in the 1950s and 1960s.
In 1949 aerials, most of the original homes can be seen on S College Avenue still standing as they had for almost 100 years. A side by side of the 1913 Sanborn Maps and 1949 aerials shows very little change over the 40 years between them.
CLICK TO ENLARGE 1913 v 1949.
The M E Church on College and 3rd Street was gone and replaced by Graham Motors, today the Convention Center. The S College neighborhood was still alive and well in 1949 and the old Central School, built in the 1870s to serve Bloomington’s youth, still stood along the west side of College Avenue.
CLICK TO ENLARGE. Old Central School still stood in 1949 at 328 S College Ave.
The neighborhood had a long history of being home to prominent doctors, educators and citizens of Bloomington. At one point, much of the land had been settled and developed by the pioneer Maxwell family. The Howes, Bollenbachers, Neelds, Becks, Hoadleys, Mathers, Hollands, Breedens, Adams and Tourner families all lived along S College Avenue over the years. Today, only the Adams family mansions still stand near 2nd Street and College Ave–but many of the other homes from that era were equally impressive.
The James K Beck’s Mansion at 327 S College was a sight to be seen in both its massiveness and it Victorian glory. It rivaled some of the largest homes in Bloomington and stood right across the street from the old Central School and was the home of professor Beck who served as Bloomington High School principal and Supterintendent starting in 1870s and retired in 1905.
CLICK TO ENLARGE
Beck also started the Bedford Products Company (stone company) with neighbor George Bollenbacher in 1911. The home only lives in descriptions and aerial photos, as no known family photo of the home exists.
CLICK TO ENLARGE The names of the former homes along S College Ave.
Joshua Howe owned the first “car” in Bloomington in 1903. He was a well-known jeweler in town and lived at 409 S College.
George Bollenbacher owned one of the largest spoke factories in town in the early 1900s–starting out as a shoe store man in 1874.
The Neelds were a well-known pioneer family who owned 402 and 408 S College, built by Cyrus Nutt Simpson Neeld in the mid 1800s. Cyrus was a self made man and Civil War veteran and named after former IU President Cyrus Nutt. Cyrus went on to be a prominent owner of a hardware store on the west side of the square.
CLICK TO ENLARGE. Cyrus Nutt Simpson Neeld
George Stodgsdill owned a few grocery stores in Ellettsville and Bloomington and still lived at 323 S College in 1940 after serving as county assessor in 1934.
Frank Tourner served as County School Superintendent in 1893 and on the Health Board in 1925 all while living at 311 S College Street.
Along the avenue were others: at 319 Stuart Strout the railroad conductor; at 315 William Ashley the Insurance Salesman; 335 Alango Morris the coal salesman; wife of Reverend John Ramsey (Mary) still lived at 342 as a 76 year old widow in 1940 (the home was demolished before the 1949 aerial). Paul Strain still ran his optometrist office at 350 S College at the age of 59 in 1940.
CLICK TO ENLARGE Looking south along College not long before you hit 2nd Street.
But as it happened all across Bloomington after World War 2, the feelings about old neighborhoods and old buildings had changed. Progress was the new theme. The 1950s and 1960s post war trend was about gadgetry, modernism, new electronics and comforts, and a whole new vision of architecture. There was little outcry as whole neighborhoods and old homes were bought up by developers and razed to the ground in order to build the new “Third Generation” landscape of Bloomington.
By 1961, most of the buildings along the east side of S College were demolished and paved over by developers for new businesses or offices. The problem was, they had made a grave miscalculation. What once was a thriving neighborhood full of old homes, family residences and doctors offices became a desolate undeveloped desert of pavement.
CLICK TO ENLARGE. Demolition of S College Ave can be seen in this 1949 v 1961 aerial comparison.
Unlike the development of East 4th Street whose preserved old homes were eventually filled by offices, businesses and restaurants and became a thriving economic community, businesses and entrepeneurs looked at the vacant and barren S College and saw little opportunity for growth. And so, the land has sat barren and unused for nearly 50 years. Had the old homes and structures been saved, might had law offices, realty companies, restaurants or even businesses eventually decided to occupy those old homes? We’ll never know now.
Bloomington Fading 
My recollection is that one of the houses on the east side of S. College in the 400 block was used by Clarence Marchant, MD as an office. When in General Practice he delivered me at Bloomington Hospital in 1939. Later, he focused his practice on ENT problems and was noted for the nose drops he dispensed.
I sure wish you could remember which one! That would be great info. Thanks for the tip, I looked into it and I am getting nothing for any Marchant in the archives. Is that the way it was spelled?
Found him: Bloomington (Monroe County, Indiana) Daily Telephone, May 11, 1940, p. 1.
Mother of Local Physician Dies
Dr. Clarence Marchant, well known Bloomington physician, Friday night left
for Calument City, Ill., after receiving a message advising him of the
sudden death of his mother, Mrs. Mary Marchant, age 56.
The deceased, a resident of Calumet City, had visited in Bloomington and was
known by a number of local residents. She is survived by the husband, a
[illegible] , a daughter and [illegible] addition to the Bloomington
physician.
May he have moved after 1939? He doesn’t come up there in the 1940 census…
I have a vague recollection of seeing him myself as a young lad in the ’40s, and I know my mother had his nose drops in her medicine cabinet at about the same time. At one time the northwest corner of 2nd and College was occupied by the Full-O-Pep business; Dr. Marchant’s office was in a bungalow-style house north of there and within a block of the 2nd St. intersection, and sitting a ways back from the street. As I look at your reproduction of the 1949 aerial view, I’d have to guess that it was #414 based on the roofline. I would think that the City Directories of the 1940s at the Monroe County History Center should have a listing. I’d be curious about when and how long he practiced in town
Also in that area was the old Central School (there are some interior photos in the IU Photo Archives); it was my recollection that by the late ’40s and early ’50s it was used for special needs children.
On the east side of College, wasn’t there a veterinarian office? Dr. Koeppen?
Here is a picture of the Neeld home on the Monroe County History website:https://monroehistory.pastperfectonline.com/Photo/2CFF0408-9642-4339-A103-894463416620