The Ruins at Holliday Park

Because it’s still too cold to do much gardening outside, I’ll take this opportunity in our first post to share a story about a beautiful park in our area.

Daniel and I love to take advantage of the warmer weather to enjoy the outdoors, and one of our favorite places to go is Holliday Park. Acres of beautiful woods threaded through with wooden stairs and dirt paths to lead you up, down, and around the sloping hills near the White River. The front of this park is covered with lovely green lawns, and some breathtaking ruins. 

“Ruins?” you say. That’s what we said the first time we went to explore Holliday Park. As soon as we saw them we made a beeline for them to find out what it was. Up close you can see the incredible detail on the carved statues who strain to “hold up” the stone roof. Fascinated, we circled the entire monument a couple of times trying to find something at the base of the ruins that would tell us their story. To our surprise and chagrin there wasn’t anything.  

Thank goodness for cell phones with internet capabilities. We were able to find out on the park’s website what the ruins are and why they are in Holliday Park. We’ve been to the park many times since that first trip, and were actually stopped once by a couple driving by who wanted to know the story behind the ruins. Daniel and I felt it was a great story to know, so in the absence of information at the ruins we’ll fill you in so you’ll know the next time you visit.

The following is the story of the Holliday Park ruins, taken from Holliday Park’s website (more information can be found at http://www.hollidaypark.org/resources/Ruins.pdf): 

“In the 1950s the St. Paul Building, at 220 Broadway in New York City, 

was torn down to make way for a modern skyscraper. Karl Bitter, one of 

the outstanding architectural sculptors of the late 19th century, had designed 

the facade of the original building, including three massive statues made of 

Indiana limestone called “the Races of Man.” To find a new home for the 

sculptures, the building’s owner, the Western Electric Company, held a 

competition among U.S. cities, which were required to submit plans for their 

display and preservation. Indianapolis proposed to place them in Holliday Park, 
which was then an arboretum, and the city was ultimately awarded the highly 

prized sculptures, valued at the time at $150,000.”

How great of a story is that? I feel that it more than deserves at least a plaque at the site to let passersby know about the story. Nevertheless, you have all now been informed, and will hopefully appreciate the site more now that you know the story behind it too!

Daniel and I will be posting more from Holliday Park since it’s such an amazingly beautiful place to visit no matter the season. Right now bulbs are starting to come up! There are beautiful snow drops popping up along the trails, and hundreds of daffodils are getting ready to do their thing. Hopefully spring will be arriving sooooooooooon!