Earlier this summer, I wrote about the history behind the names of some well-known roads, parks and buildings on the west side. So many of you liked it, that I’ve been asking the subscribers of our Westside Beat texting service for suggestions of more places to look into.
I took those ideas and learned about how the city’s first municipal airport was renamed after an accident in the sky, about the American military leaderss behind westside township names and how a drive-in theater’s failure led to a park in the Maywood neighborhood.
Here are those stories. And keep sending me the places you’re curious about by signing up for the Westside Beat texting service. Just text “WESTSIDE” to 317-659-7738.
Stout Field named after fallen pilot
Stout Field, the home of the Indiana National Guard and Indiana Air National Guard, is named after 1st Lt. Richard Harding Stout, a World War I veteran killed in a plane crash at Fort Benjamin Harrison in 1926.
Richard Stout was one of three sons of Harry Stout, a businessman who owned several shoe stores around Indianapolis called Stout’s Footwear. The elder Stout would die in 1912, and his brother, Edward, would take over the business.
When World War I broke out in 1914, Richard Stout wanted to enlist to fight in the war but the U.S. was not yet involved. Stout enlisted in the French Army, where he served as an ambulance driver, bringing wounded troops away from the battlefront. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre, a French military award, for his bravery under fire.
According to the Indiana National Guard, when the U.S. entered the war in 1917, he enlisted in the aviation branch of the U.S. Army Signal Corps, which was focused on communications. After the war, he was commissioned as a pilot in the Air Service Officer Reserve Corps, the equivalent of today’s U.S. Air Force Reserve, and joined the Indiana National Guard in 1926.
Stout and his brothers, Capt. Oliver Stout and 2nd Lt. Sidney Stout, would make weekly trips to Schoen Field at Fort Benjamin Harrison to practice flying, according to the Oct. 4, 1926 edition of the Indianapolis Star.
According to the Star, on Sunday, Oct. 3, 1926, the brothers made their trip with Richard and Sidney flying and Oliver observing from the ground. Oliver Stout saw Richard’s plan fall into a tailspin and drop 1,500 feet to the ground. Richard Stout died and a private that was in the plane with him suffered internal injuries but survived. Sidney Stout was flying and did not see the crash. Richard Stout is buried at Crown Hill Cemetery.
About two years after Stout’s death, the Indiana National Guard acquired Indianapolis’ first municipal airport, called Mars Hill Airport. The airport was known as National Guard Flying Field and Indianapolis National Guard Airport before it was renamed Stout Field in his honor, according to the Encyclopedia of Indianapolis.
Oliver and Sidney Stout served in World War II. When they returned, they took over the shoe business from their uncle, according to the store’s official history. Oliver Stout helped establish the Indiana Air National Guard and served as its first commanding general.
Stout’s Footwear still has locations in downtown Indianapolis, Brownsburg and Greenwood.
‘The Swamp Fox’, a pirate fighter and Batman’s ancestor
Marion County and its three westside townships are named after important figures in American military history.
Marion County, which was established in 1821, is named after Revolutionary War Brig. Gen. Francis Marion. A South Carolina plantation owner, his militia fought against the Cherokee Indians in the Seven Years’ War.
During the war, he learned the Cherokees’ tactics of using the landscape to their advantage. He later used those tactics against the British during the American Revolution. His supporters gave him the nickname “the Swamp Fox” due to his ability to evade British forces through swampy terrain. The 2000 movie “The Patriot” is loosely based on Marion’s life.
Decatur Township, established in 1822, was named after Stephen Decatur, a U.S. Navy sailor known for his actions against Barbary pirates and against the British in the War of 1812.
Decatur and the crew of the USS Intrepid snuck into Tripoli harbor disguised as a British merchant ship in 1804 to burn a ship the Barbary pirates had previously captured.
He was later killed in a duel against a Naval officer with whom he had a longstanding feud in 1820.
Pike Township, established in 1822, is named after explorer and military officer Zebulon Pike, who is known for his expeditions to find the source of the Mississippi River and which he encountered the mountain that would be named “Pikes Peak” in his honor.
Pike was killed in an explosion as American forces attempted to capture the Canadian city of York during the War of 1812.
Wayne Township was established in 1822 and was named after Maj. Gen. “Mad Anthony” Wayne, a founding father and leader in the Revolutionary War. He was called “Mad Anthony” because of his personal courage in fighting the British.
About 20 years after the revolution, Wayne defeated the Northwestern Indian Confederacy, a loose union of tribes in the Great Lakes region that was fighting to end American raids on their villages during the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794.
The subsequent Treaty of Greenville ended the fighting but pushed the Shawnee, Delaware, Wea, Wyandot and other tribes out of their Indiana homelands.
Wayne Township’s namesake also has ties to the comic book world. Bruce Wayne, also known as Batman, claims Wayne as an ancestor in the comics and even partnered up with him.
Bel-Aire Park’s history is fast food and outdoor flicks
Bel-Aire Park, at 2901 S. Mooresville Road, is a 14.7-acre park in the Maywood neighborhood named after the drive-in theater that was originally at the park’s first location.
The park was established at its current location in 2018 from across the street at 2915 S. Tibbs Ave.
The Tibbs location was the former site of a drive-in theater established in 1948 called the Maywood Open Air Theater. The Maywood was one of 10 drive-in theaters across the city in the early 1950s. Now, only the Tibbs Drive-In Theatre, which opened in 1967, remains.
The property was eventually purchased by Martin Marietta Materials, Inc., which also owns the neighboring Kentucky Avenue Mine. The company gave the property, which was not part of the mine, to Indy Parks in 2002 to establish a neighborhood park.
The park was at that original location until the Indy Parks Board voted in 2011 to trade that land for an equivalent-sized piece of land from South Side Landfill, Inc., just across the street, in order to fulfill buffer requirements from the mine.
The northern corner of the new property was, at various times, a gas station, a Burger King and a Hardee’s restaurant.
Bel-Aire Park reopened at its new location in 2018, complete with a playground, splash pad, basketball court and a walking trail.
Mirror Indy reporter Enrique Saenz covers west Indianapolis. Contact him at 317-983-4203 or enrique.saenz@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @heyEnriqueSaenz.
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