Riverside Racism

Humble Beginnings: 1903

Racism Flourishes: 1919

Building on Exclusion: 1930

Fighting Segregation: 1950s- 1960s

End of an Era: 1970

Sickening Legacy: 1978

Change of Scenery: 2001

What Now?

Riverside Racism: Segregation at Riverside Amusement Park

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Photograph of the Old Mill Ride, one of the first attractions, at Riverside Amusement Park. Courtesy of the Larry Foster Collection, Indiana Historical Society. http://images.indianahistory.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16797coll35/id/229

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Riverside Amusement Park opens as a simple toboggan railway with several concession stands on West 30th Street near White River. The owners, J. Clyde Power, Albert Lieber, and Bert Feibleman, as well as several investors from Pittsburgh, continually add rides, a dance hall, a waterside, and the "Old Mill," which was a replica of a working flour mill. Instead of charging admission, fees were garnered from individual rides and concession lease agreements. A devastating flood in 1913 inundates the amusement park, demonstrating the powerful effects of the neighboring White River upon the man-made attraction.

A picture of Derby Racer at Riverside Amusement Park almost completely underwater during the 1913 flood. Courtesy of the Walter N. Carpenter Family Photographs Collection, Indiana Historical Society. http://images.indianahistory.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p16797coll61/id/121/rec/30

Community Resources

Beginnings and Origins

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Get involved! Below are resources and links to more information about Riverside Amusement Park, the Riverside community, local organizations and partners, and broader historical and political resources related to social and environmental injustice in Indy. Make your voice heard!

This Indianapolis Sandborn Map #118 depicts the amusement park only 2 years from its opening. Courtesy of the IUPUI Indianapolis Sandborn Map and Baist Atlas Collection. http://ulib.iupuidigital.org/cdm/ref/collection/SanbornJP2/id/708

This trend of segregation was also mirrored in local schools throughout the early 18th century. All of the red dots represent white-only schools. Notice how many of these schools exist around the Riverside Amusement Park area, even all the way into the mid-1900s after the demographics of the area had shifted. Courtesy of the Indianapolis Recorder Collection, Indiana Historical Society. http://images.indianahistory.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p16797coll34/id/0/rec/64

Local Organizations/Efforts

• Riverside Civic League (http://www.discoverriverside.org/rcl)
• Kheprw Institute (http://kheprw.org)
• Hoosier Environmental Council (https://www.hecweb.org)
• Groundwork Indy (http://groundworkindy.org/)
• Rivers of the Anthropocene (https://rivers.iupui.edu/cms/)
• The Polis Center (http://polis.iupui.edu/index.php/about-us/)

Local Political Contacts

• State Senator: Mike Braun
• State Representative: Andre Carson
• City-County Council of Marion County and Indianapolis (http://www.indy.gov/eGov/Council/Pages/home.aspx)
• Indianapolis Department of Environmental Management (https://www.in.gov/idem/)

Historical Resources

• Indiana Historical Society (https://indianahistory.org/)
• Indiana State Library (https://www.in.gov/library/)
• Encyclopedia of Indianapolis (http://ulib.iupuidigital.org/cdm/ref/collection/EOI/id/4848)
• IUPUI Library (http://www.ulib.iupui.edu)

Other Resources/Information

• Riverside Regional Park Master Plan (https://www.riversideparkplan.com)

Local attorney Lewis Coleman forms the Riverside Exhibition Company, later gaining control of the amusement park and issuing public stock. He adds 2 roller coasters and a miniature railroad. The addition that has the biggest impact is the implementation of a "whites only" policy, forcing African Americans to stay away from the amusement park with the exception of rare "Colored Frolic Days." This is considered economically feasible because the area is still predominately white.

Implementation of Segregation

Riverside Amusement Park was not only attraction in the area that was segregated. Nearby Riverside Park also implemented a "Whites Only" policy, and many African American residents were forced to go all the way to Douglas Park, several miles away. Courtesy of the Indianapolis Recorder Collection, Indiana Historical Society. http://images.indianahistory.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p0303/id/36/rec/193

Who's Missing?

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Construction Controversy

Riverside Amusement Park continues to grow and expand with the assistance of local businesses. A popular local restaurant chain, Laughner's Cafeteria, opens 6 separate concession stands at the amusement park, each with varied menus offering everything from root beer and caramel corn to chocolate-dipped "polar cubs" and ice cream on a stick. However, this growth occurs at the expense and exclusion of local African American residents, unwelcome to the amusement park located in their own neighborhood.

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Despite concerns about another histoplasmosis outbreak, UNWA Development Corporation, along with Methodist Hospital and Citizens Gas as the collective Riverside Partners, LLC, put forward a a plan to construct single-family homes and condos on the former amusement park site in the 1990s. The plan is not only controversial due to health reasons, but also because it involves transfer of lands to private developers. Despite local outrage and a lawsuit by the Hoosier Environmental Council, construction plans are approved and finished in 2001 by developers Kosene and Kosene for $20 million. The housing project includes 167 units and ranges in price from $110,000 to $170,000.

A photograph of one of the Laughner Cafeteria locations near 10th and Emerson. Courtesy of Sylvia Likens. http://www.sylvialikens.com/forum/gallery/image_page.php?album_id=16&image_id=982

Notice that no African Americans are present in the photograph. Almost all commercial photographs of the amusement park exclusively feature white patrons. Courtesy of the Larry Foster Collection, Indiana Historical Society. http://images.indianahistory.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p16797coll35/id/281/rec/3

Chest X-Rays of an Indianapolis patient infected with histoplasmosis

https://www-jstor-org.proxy.ulib.uits.iu.edu/stable/pdf/4456398.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A78bb894095895623391b047e461f5d63

Photograph of a single-family home on former Riverside Amusement Park site. Courtesy of Kosene and Kosene. http://www.koseneandkosene.com/pastprojects.shtml

Fighting Back

Toxic Remains

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Saying Goodbye

The middle-class movement to the suburbs during WWII leads to a further increase in prosperity. By 1952, almost 1 million people are now visiting the park annually, due in part to the number of troops stationed at nearby Fort Benjamin Harrison. However, during this decade, the African American population in the area increases 119%, while the white population decreases 59%. The growing Civil Rights Movement leads to protest about the segregation of the amusement park, with local chapters of the NAACP organizing and participating. An increase in racial discrimination incidents, like the one below, also occurs.

This 1963 image by an unnamed photographer depicts members from the local NAACP Youth Council picketing Riverside Amusement Park. Courtesy of the Indianapolis Recorder Collection, Indiana Historical Society. http://cdm16797.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p0303/id/445

After sitting as ruins for 8 years, the city of Indianapolis finally orders that all remaining buildings, rides, and structures must be razed. However, during demolition, a massive outbreak of histoplasmosis, an infection that is caused by breathing in fungus that is typically spread during construction or demolition, is thought to have originated from the site. Beyond causing fever, chills, coughing, and joint pain, if untreated, the infection can be fatal, especially to infants or those with compromised immune systems. Although the city never confirms the origin of the outbreak, it is widely believed and assumed that the former amusement park site is the origin of the outbreak.

The amusement park went from this...

Aerial photograph of Riverside Amusement Park in 1926. Courtesy of W.H. Bass Photo Collection, Indiana Historical Society. http://images.indianahistory.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/dc013/id/863/rec/14

By the mid-1960s, Riverside Amusement Park is already starting to decline. The "Whites Only" policy is finally lifted, but only because the amusement park owners and investors are trying to increase revenue. Despite its later integration, local resident Imhotep Adisa, recalls being told by his mother to that he was never allowed to attend. The amusement park is now losing $30,000 each year, and many white patrons no longer feel "comfortable" going to an inner city neighborhood. By the closing of the 1970 park season, Riverside Amusement Park shutters for good.

A 1978 video anchored by Mike Ahern of WISH-TV as part of a series, "Ahern at Large." The video shows the dilapidated park grounds, interspersed with rare footage of the park during its heyday. Ahern fails to mention any aspect of the park's history of segregation or potential demolition health hazards. Courtesy of Steve Sweitzer.

This front page of the January 27, 1951 edition of the Indianapolis Recorder discusses Manual High School's ban on Riverside Amusement Park after African American students were denied roller skates while their white peers were all given pairs. Courtesy of Newspaper Archives.com. https://newspaperarchive.com/indianapolis-recorder-jan-27-1951-p-1/

to this, in just 50 years

A photograph of the abandoned amusement park in 1970. Courtesy of the Indianapolis Star. https://www.indystar.com/picture-gallery/news/history/retroindy/2014/07/28/retro-indy-riverside-amusement-park/13263087/

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