With festivals, parades, a reputation for lots of haunted houses, and even a society of witches, Halloween is big in Indianapolis.

We wanted to see what it was like before, so we visited the Indiana Historical Society’s photo collection.

Some of the goodies we found: a photo from the 1947 Irvington Halloween costume parade; a mysterious 1910s image of women gathered around a stew pot; one of the very first Bag Ladies fundraisers to fight AIDS; and some ’80s treats from the Indy Recorder’s collection showing children in clown costumes.

Mirror Indy, a nonprofit newsroom, is funded through grants and donations from individuals, foundations and organizations. Sign up for our free newsletters.

Jennifer Delgadillo is Mirror Indy’s arts and culture editor. You can reach her at jennifer.delgadillo@mirrorindy.org.

Close window

Republish this article

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our website. AP and Getty images may not be republished. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of any other photos and graphics.

This is what Halloween in Indy looked like 1910s-1980s

by Jennifer Delgadillo, Mirror Indy
October 28, 2025

<h1>This is what Halloween in Indy looked like 1910s-1980s</h1> <p class="byline">by Jennifer Delgadillo, Mirror Indy <br />October 28, 2025</p> <p>With festivals, parades, a reputation for lots of haunted houses, and even a society of witches, Halloween is big in Indianapolis.</p> <p>We wanted to see what it was like before, so we visited the Indiana Historical Society’s photo collection.</p> <p>Some of the goodies we found: a photo from the 1947 Irvington Halloween costume parade; a mysterious 1910s image of women gathered around a stew pot; one of the very first Bag Ladies fundraisers to fight AIDS; and some '80s treats from the Indy Recorder’s collection showing children in clown costumes.</p> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/P0303_BOX173_FOLDER13_UNNUMBEREDP0303_BOX173_FOLDER13_UNNUMBERED-1-scaled-1-1024x695.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-65676" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Children at IPS School #35 are gathered around a large Jack-o-lantern, Oct. 26, 1985.</figcaption></figure> <div class="wp-block-columns alignfull"> <div class="wp-block-column"> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/P0303_BOX169_FOLDER13_010P0303_BOX169_FOLDER13_010-scaled-1-1024x811.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-65674" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">"Clown Around with the Tawasis" was the theme of the Oct. 27, 1984 annual Tawasi Club Halloween Dance. The event took place at the St. Peter Claver Center, and prizes were awarded for best costume.</figcaption></figure> </p></div> <div class="wp-block-column"> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/DAMIEN_CENTER_04DAMIEN_CENTER_04-scaled-1-1024x734.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-65679" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The annual Bag Lady Bus Tour began in Indianapolis in 1981. Around Halloween about 70 men dressed in drag and boarded buses to travel from bar to bar soliciting money to fight AIDS. They were named for their likeness to New York City "bag ladies," who were described in an article as fun and campy with lots of "hutspah."</figcaption></figure> </p></div> </p></div> <div class="wp-block-columns"> <div class="wp-block-column"> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/P0303_BOX162_FOLDER6_006P0303_BOX162_FOLDER6_006-scaled-1-808x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-65672" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The fifth and sixth grade group of the Indianapolis Chapter of Jack N Jill of America Inc. participated in the Children's Museum Halloween opening day parade and tour of the Haunted House, 1981. Children pictured are [from left] Heather Smith, Dawn Bullard, Keith Gray, Angela Gordon, Ashanti Butler, Allison Jones, Walden Thompkins, Michael Henderson and Bryan Murphy.</figcaption></figure> </p></div> <div class="wp-block-column"> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/P0303_BOX162_FOLDER6_018P0303_BOX162_FOLDER6_018-scaled-1-820x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-65673" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The Wheeler Boys Club celebrated their annual Halloween "Spooky Experience," at the Wheeler facility, 2310 E. 30th Street, 1981. Pictured with Halloween decorations are Mrs. Mary Cole and Robert Cole.</figcaption></figure> </p></div> </p></div> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/P0129_BOX13_FOLDER5_25004P0129_BOX13_FOLDER5_25004-scaled-1-1024x807.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-65669" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Adults and children are wearing costumes. The room is decorated with crepe paper, black cats, jack-o-lanterns and cornstalks. There is a stage at the back of the room.</figcaption></figure> <div class="wp-block-columns alignwide"> <div class="wp-block-column" style="flex-basis:33.33%"> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/M1225_BOX3_FOLDER7_009M1225_BOX3_FOLDER7_009-scaled-1-711x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-65668" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A volunteer "witch" pours out punch from her caldron at a Halloween theme dance at an the Indianapolis Service Men's Centers Inc.,1957.</figcaption></figure> </p></div> <div class="wp-block-column" style="flex-basis:66.66%"> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/M1225_BOX3_FOLDER7_001M1225_BOX3_FOLDER7_001-scaled-1-1024x702.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-65667" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A group of volunteers poses during a Halloween theme dance at an the Indianapolis Service Men's Centers Inc., 1957. The organization provided a "home away from home" for people in military service from WWII into the 1960s.</figcaption></figure> </p></div> </p></div> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/P0129_BOX29_FOLDER8_31361P0129_BOX29_FOLDER8_31361-scaled-1-1024x811.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-65670" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A Boys Club Halloween party in 1943.</figcaption></figure> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/P0569_A_4X5_14470_001P0569_A_4X5_14470_001-scaled-1-1024x794.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-65678" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The first of Irvington's Halloween festivals occurred in 1927 and was organized by the Irvington Commercial &amp; Welfare Association. After a hiatus, the Irvington Business Men's Association sponsored the event from 1946 until the mid-1960s. One feature of the celebration is the costume parade, seen here in 1947.</figcaption></figure> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/P0130_N_8X10_094232P0130_N_8X10_094232-scaled-1-1024x794.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-65671" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A large group of men and boys are gathered for a photograph at the YMCA Halloween party, c. 1925. Some of the boys are dressed in costumes while others appear to be in regular clothing.</figcaption></figure> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/P0469_G_5X7_BOX49_0865P0469_G_5X7_BOX49_0865-scaled-1-1024x709.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-65677" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Women in costumes around a stew pot, c. 1910.</figcaption></figure> <p>This &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://mirrorindy.org/halloween-in-indianapolis-through-time-witches-parades-parties-children/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://mirrorindy.org&quot;&gt;Mirror Indy&lt;/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/cropped-Mirror-Indy-square-logo-1.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;amp;ssl=1&quot; style=&quot;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&quot;&gt;</p> &lt;img id=&quot;republication-tracker-tool-source&quot; src=&quot;https://mirrorindy.org/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=65664&amp;amp;ga4=G-X0R0QW371R&quot; style=&quot;width:1px;height:1px;&quot;&gt;&lt;script&gt; PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: &quot;https://mirrorindy.org/halloween-in-indianapolis-through-time-witches-parades-parties-children/&quot;, urlref: window.location.href }); } } &lt;/script&gt; &lt;script id=&quot;parsely-cfg&quot; src=&quot;//cdn.parsely.com/keys/mirrorindy.org/p.js&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;

Copy to Clipboard

1