East Side Enjoys 'Red Letter Day'

One Hundred Years Ago – From The Indianapolis Star, Thursday, June 28, 1923: Yesterday’s “Red Letter Day,” sponsored by the East Side Commercial Association, was a great success. Businesses in the area bounded by Emerson Av, Michigan St, Sixteenth St, and the Monon tracks were closed while proprietors gave support to the celebration’s events. Front porches along Parker Av were decked with flags and the street and sidewalks were a boiling mass of humanity of all ages with all eyes on the pushmobile, bicycle, roller skate, and wheelbarrow races. Other events included the girls’ tug of war, the girls’ nail driving contest, and a baby contest. In place of a cancelled balloon ascension, high-dive performer Capt. Wanamaker ascended a ninety-foot ladder and made a death-defying dive into a net. The festivities ended with dancing in Parker Av to the music of the Blue Devils Orchestra.

“East Side Enjoys ‘Red Letter Day’,” The Indianapolis Star, 28 June 1923, p. 3:3