Woodruff Place is a neighborhood in Indianapolis, Indiana located about a mile east of Downtown Indianapolis. It was established in the 1870s by developer James O. Woodruff as an early suburb of Indianapolis. Woodruff Place’s boundaries are 10th Street on the north, Woodruff Place West Drive on the west, Michigan Street on the south, and Woodruff Place East Drive on the east. This community was an independent municipality and maintained autonomy, even as the City of Indianapolis grew and expanded around the neighborhood, enclosing the community well within the city limits. Woodruff Place was incorporated in 1876 and remained an independent town until 1962 when it became one of the final municipalities to be annexed by the City of Indianapolis prior to the merger of city and county governments in 1969.
Woodruff Place is bounded on the west by the campus of Arsenal Technical High School, which opened in 1912 on the former site of the Indianapolis Arsenal, and which still uses several historic buildings from the arsenal. Bed Bug Exterminator Indianapolis
Woodruff Place was the first “suburban” neighborhood in Indianapolis. Located just over a mile from downtown, the area’s significance lies in its unique character as a planned residential community created within a park-like atmosphere. Though not exactly a convenient location in 1872, (nearly an hour by wagon from the center of town), local advertisements were successful in attracting curious visitors eager to see what could possibly be so special about this place where the cost of a 40 x 80-foot lot exceeded a year’s wage.
Woodruff Place was once considered to be one of Indianapolis‘s more affluent neighborhoods before beginning a gradual decline as the automobile led to the development of newer upscale subdivisions beginning in the late 1910s. By the 1950s many of the grand homes had been subdivided into apartments; previously, the neighborhood had only a modest collection of duplexes and smaller apartment buildings which were added beginning in the early 1910s. The neighborhood reached its lowest point in the 1960s, prompting community organizing in the early 1970s to encourage neighborhood revitalization.
Attractions
- Catacombs are located at 222 E Market St, Indianapolis, IN
- Children’s Maze is located at 801 W Washington St, Indianapolis, IN
- Rhythm! Discovery Center is located at Claypool Court Building, 110 W Washington St A, Indianapolis, IN
Restaurants and Pubs
- Beholder is located at 1844 E 10th St, Indianapolis, IN
- Mayfair Taproom is located at 2032 E 10th St, Indianapolis, IN
- Mass Avenue Pub is located at 745 Massachusetts Ave, Indianapolis, IN
- Vern’s Place is located at 2322 E Washington St, Indianapolis, IN
Check out other neighborhoods like Bates – Hendricks
