Holy Rosary/Danish Church Historic District

Holy Rosary/Danish Church Historic District. . , German, Irish, Scottish, Danish, and Welsh immigrants moved to this neighborhood starting in the mid-1800s. In the 1890s, Italian families who made their livings selling fruit and vegetables, particularly Sicilians, began to settle in the triangle shaped neighborhood formed by Virginia Avenue and East Street and became the dominant ethnic culture by the mid-20th century. In 1909, an Italian national parish was formed under Father Marino Priori, and construction of the Holy Rosary Catholic Church (1), the source for part of the neighborhood name, began in 1911 on Stevens Street. Now a culturally diverse neighborhood, the area includes residents who are direct descendants of the Italians whose names are set forth in the original 1909 church charter. The Italian Festival, which started in the early 20th century to raise money for the Holy Rosary Church, has become a yearly attraction for thousands in Indianapolis. On McCarty Street stands the former Trinity Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church (2), a reminder o the Danish immigrants who once lived in the neighborhood. Architecture includes vernacular worker’s cottages from the post-Civil War era, American Four-Square houses, and the Italian Renaissance Holy Rosary Church., [Caption:] , Above , Holy Rosary Church in 1925. Indiana Historical Society, Bass Photo Co. Collection, 91 36F2.