Indianapolis, Indiana
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Indianapolis: A City under Siege
A Short Series
I am going to share a short series of photographs I made not too long ago. All of them are very near the downtown location of the most recent mass shooting.
Kids as young as 13 years old are carrying assault rifles and 9mm Glock's stuffed in the legs of their pants and in oversized backpacks. Gun battles using these military-style weapons by children from ages 13-18 years old have the city under siege.
After each shooting, law enforcement officers describe how the rampant access to guns by children is something they cannot stop nor defend the general public against. Elected officials wring their hands and start promising new laws that won't have any more impact than the current laws. Those laws are typically curfews or trying to go after the parents of the kids committing the crimes. The problem with guns isn't something you'll hear politicians say much about.
It's not rocket science folks. All the baloney about how guns are never part of the problem, that it's 100% the people with the gun that is the problem, is nothing more than a pathetic excuse by lawmakers who have done all they can to make guns easily accessible by anyone and everyone, including children.
The number one killer of children in America today is a gun. Not cancer, not diabetes, not drowning, not drugs. Guns. Welcome to the cesspool of death and destruction our elected officials have created. And remember: the solution is to put more guns on the street.
Indianapolis, IN
2025
© James Rice, All Rights Reserved
On one of its last runs, Iowa Pacific's 'Hoosier State' sits at Indianapolis Union Station after arriving from Chicago.
An Indiana Rail Road local heads north along the former Indianapolis Union Railway on the east side of Indianapolis. This line was referred to as the “Belt Running Track” in Conrail timetables. We’re looking west towards downtown Indianapolis on the former B&O, which comes in from Cincinnati. The jointed rail in the weeds at the right is the former PRR main line from Columbus, Ohio, which by this date of 04MAR90 was long gone as a thru-route. I don’t know what Conrail was doing with this portion of the line in 1990.
The white mass in the background is the inflatable roof of the Hoosier Dome, now demolished. The PRR signal in the distance is facing away from us and controlled traffic heading east. On the PRR, this signal was near a location called Pine.
Finally, if memory serves, not visible in the concrete bridge abutments were the words “Belt Crossing” in tile letters. Another location called Belt Crossing was further south where the NYC Cincinnati Line crossed the Belt near the Citizens Gas & Coke Utility plant.
A Street View capture of the theater in August of 2018. This is currently in the process of being demolished as of January, 2023. I hope someone was able to salvage some of those limestone details!
"The Ritz Theatre at 3430 N. Illinois Street was constructed in 1926-1927 by Oscar Markum and Son, owners of four other Indianapolis theaters. It was designed by Indianapolis architect George V. Bedell, who began his career in the 1880s as a decorative spindle and trim maker. The Ritz is brick and decorated with limestone carvings. When it first opened it had streetfront stores on either side of the central entrance and a separate smoking room with piped-in sound for the smokers.
According to cinematreasures.org, the Ritz opened on February 22, 1927 with seating for 1,400. Just on the cusp of talking movies, the theater was equipped with a two-manual Geneva organ. After years of success as a neighborhood movie theater, it became known as the Northside Theatre in August of 1958 and had a short-lived stint as a burlesque site in the 1960s before complaints led the managers and strippers to court. In June 1970 the theater was remodeled. All of the seats were removed to make way for a rock concert venue called Middle Earth. The popular hang-out featured some big names such as Richie Havens, Frank Zappa, and Savoy Brown. The name was changed back to the Ritz Theatre in January 1972, but the concerts were unsuccessful and the Ritz closed in late 1972."
For more information on this theater:
historicindianapolis.com/indianapolis-then-and-now-ritz-t...
For more information on this theater:
historicindianapolis.com/indianapolis-then-and-now-ritz-t...