Indianapolis, IN
After years of disuse, St. Peter Claver Center to reopen with food bank, after-school care
Nearly 50 years after it was dedicated as the St. Peter Claver Center, the once-thriving Near Northside building is getting a new lease on life.
Community members, including Trinity Church pastor Kim McCrackin and Marion County Recorder Faith Kimbrough, gathered outside the storied event space at 3110 Sutherland Ave. on a gray afternoon Sept. 13 to publicly commemorate the church’s plans to remodel and reopen the community center as the Trinity Youth and Family Services Center.
From beneath the drumbeat of heavy rain on umbrellas, McCrackin reminisced about the place where she would come to sing, dance and be among friends as a teenager.
“When you came here, baby, you dressed up,” she said.
The St. Peter Claver Center began in 1978 as a meeting space for the Knights and Ladies of St. Peter Claver, the nation’s oldest predominantly Black fraternal organization. For nearly 20 years, the space hosted meetings, dances, fashion shows, banquets, even speaking engagements from the likes Maya Angelou. But after the roughly 25,000-square-foot venue changed hands a few times in the 1990s, including its most recent stint as the Omega Events Center from 1998 to the early 2000s, the building fell into disrepair.
McCrackin, an Indy native who has been a pastor for about 25 years, said she spent nearly three months in 2014 tracking down the Omega Center’s owners in the hopes of purchasing it.
She then established the Indianapolis branch of the predominantly Black, Florida-based Trinity Youth and Family Services, holding church services out of a small auxiliary building on the center’s property while steadily making repairs to the main structure.
There remains much work to be done. McCrackin said Trinity had to essentially gut the building after buying it. Graffiti pocks the exterior brick walls and there is substantial damage to the roof. A sign out front reading “St. Peter Claver Center” has been nearly bent in half. The pastor estimates that in order to completely renovate the building, Trinity will need to raise around $1.5 million.
The ambitious project already has buy-in from Trinity congregant and lifelong Indy resident Brigitte Winters, who remembers coming to the St. Peter Claver Center in her 20s with her friends for dances where beloved local DJ Thomas “Sparkle Soxx” Griffin would spin records deep into the night.
“It was so fly back in the day,” Winters said.
Longtime Indy resident Bessie Manning would frequent the center with other kids from her church, often waiting in a line of cars to get dropped off. She and her husband, George, mourned the loss of a community staple when the backgammon nights and fashion shows stopped, leading to years of neglect.
“I hate that it went downhill,” Bessie said. “If they can get it fixed up, it’ll be real nice.”
With the money Trinity hopes to receive from community donations and grants, McCrackin plans to revive the center with various functions including a food pantry, after-school programs, a playground, a fellowship area and an event space to be rented for different community celebrations, weddings and funerals. If possible, she intends to rent buses to transport food to lower-income residents who can’t come to the Trinity Center.
“We’re gonna go to them,” McCrackin said. “Somebody’s got to treat somebody right at some point.”
After the afternoon ceremony, during which Kimbrough presented McCrackin with the physical deed to the Sutherland Avenue property, the driving rain dried to a slow drip and the 20-some people present began forming a line to fill plates and clamshell boxes with chicken, ribs, goat, macaroni and cheese, salad and green beans.
Among the group was McCrackin’s mother, Doris, an Indy resident of 70 years who used to attend the Claver Center for dances, fashion shows and bingo nights. Doris hopes that under her daughter’s guidance, the community staple that once served them both can do the same for a new generation.
“There’s just so much going on, we just need to get people on the right track,” she said. “If you show them love, maybe you can bring them in.”
Contact dining reporter Bradley Hohulin at bhohulin@indystar.com. You can follow him on Twitter/X @BradleyHohulin and stay up to date with Indy dining news by signing up for the Indylicious newsletter.
See inside construction of Signia Hotel in Downtown Indianapolis
IndyStar got an inside look at the work in progress on the newest hotel that is rising above the Indy skyline.
While Indianapolis isn’t exactly known for it’s tall buildings, we do have quite a few that tower above the city. The tallest, is visible nearly 10.5 miles outside the city.
These are the 10 tallest buildings in Indianapolis, according to Skyscraper Center.
1. Salesforce Tower
Salesforce Tower is the tallest building in Indianapolis. It’s located at 111 Monument Circle.
Construction on this building was completed in 1990. The office building boasts 49 floors and towers over the city at 701 feet tall.
It has also been known as the Chase Tower, the Bank One Tower and the American Fletcher Bank Tower.
2. One America Tower
The second tallest building in Indianapolis is the One America Tower. It is located at 200 N Illinois St., has 38 floors and is 533 feet tall.
The building was completed in 1982 and was previously known as the American United Life Insurance Tower.
3. One Indiana Square
The One Indiana Square building is the third tallest building in Indianapolis at 504 feet tall.
The building was completed in 1969 and has 37 floors. It has also been previously known as Union Planters Bank, Indiana National Bank Tower, INB Tower and NBD Bank Tower.
4. Signia by Hilton Indianapolis
Signia by Hilton, previously known as the Indianapolis Convention Center Hotel, is currently under construction, but is the fourth largest building in Indy.
The building is set to have 37 floors and be 441 feet tall once construction is complete, which is expected to happen in 2026.
5. Market Tower
Market Tower, located at 10 West Market Street, is the fifth tallest building in Indianapolis at 421 feet.
The building was completed in 1988 and has 32 floors. It has also been known as the Mansur Center.
6. 300 North Meridian
300 North Meridian, which shares a name with its address, is 408 feet tall and has 28 floors.
The building was completed in 1989 and is the sixth tallest building in Indianapolis.
7. BMO Plaza
BMO Plaza, located at 135 North Pennsylvania St. is 401 feet tall.
The building has 31 floors and was completed in 1988. It has also been known as M&I Plaza, First Indiana Plaza and Marshall & Isley Plaza.
8. JW Marriott Indianapolis Downtown
Perhaps one of the most visually recognizable on this list, the JW Mariott Indianapolis, located at 10 South West St. is the eighth tallest building in Indy.
The large blue hotel was completed in 2011, stands at 376 feet and has 34 floors. Over the years, the hotel has put giant images on the side of the building to celebrate current events in both sports and pop culture.
9. City-County Building
The City-County Building, located at 200 East Washington St. is the the ninth tallest building in Indianapolis.
The building was completed in 1962 and is 372 feet tall with 28 floors.
10. 101 West Ohio
The tenth and final building on this list is 101 West Ohio. The building, which shares a name with its address, is 360 feet tall and has 22 floors.
The office building was completed in 1987 and was previously known as Old National Financial Center.
Katie Wiseman is a trending news reporter for IndyStar and Midwest Connect. Contact her at klwiseman@usatodayco.com. Follow her on Bluesky @katiewiseman and X, formerly Twitter, at @itskatiewiseman.
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indiana Metropolitan Police Department is reinforcing downtown safety as crowds grow with warmer weather.
This comes after a violent weekend that included an early Monday morning shooting, and in a separate incident, an officer and a security guard were hit by an impaired driver.
Police say the shooting that happened Monday near Maryland and Meridian Streets was caused by a fight that broke out at bar in the area and escalated into a shooting at a nearby parking lot. IMPD says a woman has been arrested in connection with the shooting.
IMPD Downtown District Commander Shane Foley says officers were able to take control of the situation quickly.
“Officers were there when the shooting occured, and then because of their presence, they were able to make a very quick arrest, and arrest another individual for possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon,” Foley said. He says the response from the officers is exactly what he expects to see as the temperatures continue to get warmer.
People who like to spend their time downtown on the weekends say they enjoy that there are things to do, but think the violence is getting out of hand.
“It just gets crazy at night for real, and then, everybody just drinking and stuff and they can’t control their liquor,” Indianapolis resident Schuyler Landrum said.
“Chill out man, you gotta know your limits when you’re drinking because stuff like that can happen. People who don’t go to clubs and stuff, we’re trying to have fun downtown but you guys are getting wild and drunk and stuff, so lets just help each other man,” resident Peyton Bush said.
Officers say they hear the public’s concerns and are doing what they can to prevent incidents before they escalate. Last week, IMPD announced the installation of new public cameras downtown to help assist with monitoring and crime prevention.
“If you come downtown and you engage in illegal activity, because we have people all over the place, the likelihood of you being arrested is increased. We’re being very proactive with our policing, and if we need to be reactive in making arrests, we’re doing that as well,” Foley said.
People who are frequently downtown say that they hope things get better, but one man says he believes he’s noticed an increase in crime downtown, especially among the youth. “Start thinking before you act, you know? It’s just the way it is,” he said.
“Our officers are working diligently to keep everybody safe. As we have more events, we’re going to have more officers downtown. We want people to not only be safe, but feel safe, visiting, living, working in Downtown Indianapolis,” Foley said.
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Mild temperatures are expected Monday, with severe storms possible mid-week.
Flooding threat continues:
Rivers remain elevated across southern portions of central Indiana, where widespread minor to moderate river flooding continues south of Interstate 70. This is likely to persist well into the end of the week, with renewed rain chances moving in Tuesday and continuing into Wednesday.
Today:
High pressure will keep us quiet across much of the state, with mostly sunny skies. Expect high temperatures to reach the low 70s, which could tie or push very close to the old record in Indianapolis (72° set in 1878).
Tuesday:
Temperatures will be even warmer heading into Tuesday with a strong southerly wind. Highs will reach the mid-70s. The record high for that Tuesday is 74°, set back in 2009.
Strong storms Tuesday/Wednesday:
A cold front will move through the state and trigger scattered showers and thunderstorms late Tuesday night into the overnight hours.
Some isolated strong storms will be possible late Tuesday night. Much of the state is under a Level 2 out of 5 risk for severe storms, with all modes of severe weather in play.
Heavy rain Wednesday:
A second round of showers and thunderstorms will move through on Wednesday. While some damaging wind gusts could occur, the primary concern will be heavy rain and the ongoing flooding risk. Much of the state could see anywhere from a half inch to an inch and a half of rain, with some locally higher amounts that will worsen river flooding in the southern half of the state.
7 day forecast:
Sharply colder temperatures will move in for Thursday, as highs fail to get out of the 40s. We should see a nice bump in temperatures by Friday and through the weekend, with highs in the mid to upper 50s for Friday and Saturday, and potentially near 60° on Sunday.
The end of the weekend looks soggy, with the potential for a significant cooldown in the wake of our Sunday system early next week.
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