I have actually been making much headway in finding various resources for historical information on Oaklandon, unfortunately the resource I find myself short on lately has been that of time to devote to this diversion.

Although I have not been able to share as much information - by way of posting articles - I have been doing many things behind-the-scenes that although they may not bear out the normal fruits for which I seek, they nevertheless deserve mention in the context of this blogging effort and have made it necessary for me to create a topic area here in which I might share some of my thoughts and experiences as I attempt to expand upon this repository of all things Oaklandon.

Introducing "The Dig" section of the blog. An area where I can blog about the blog. Watch this topic for some interesting content coming soon!

Detail Map of Oakland Published in 1889

Source: Atlas of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana
1889 - Griffing, Gordon & Co.
 [ pg 12 ] - Lawrence Township, Oakland, and Castleton
Courtesy: Map Collection, Indiana Division, Indiana State Library

Oaklandon Public School Building

Considered one of the finest of the day, this early school was on the outskirts of the present Oaklandon (then called Oakland). Note the two front doors of the imposing brick structure: one door was used by the boys, and the other by the girls. This school was erected in about 1882 according to reliable sources.

Riding to Oaklandon in "The Good Ole Days" wasn't all fun, for the traveler had to pay 10 cents to travel on Pendleton Pike from Post Road to Oaklandon. Note that the muddy road in front of Oaklandon High School is now four-laned and paved.

Source: The Bears' Den, 1966  [pgs 14-15]
The Bears' Den is the yearbook of Lawrence Central High School. 

One of the major reasons for beginning this Unofficial Oaklandon Community Website was the frustration I felt when trying to revisit an article I remembered seeing on the internet many years ago; unable to find it to spite countless searches. I knew it was an article dealing with Oaklandon history and spoke of the neighborhood of Paradise (located on the southern edge of Oaklandon.)

This effort served to motivate me to collect as much Oaklandon related content as I could in an attempt to make this a repository (of sorts) for all things Oaklandonish.

On a visit today to The Program of Digital Scholarship at IUPUI University Library; a search on Oaklandon revealed a digital edition of the 1994 Indiana University Press publication:

The Encyclopedia
of Indianapolis
Edited by DAVID J. BODENHAMER
and ROBERT G. BARROWS
with the assistance of David G. Vanderstel

A PROJECT OF THE POLIS RESEARCH CENTER OF INDIANA UNIVERSITY-PURDUE UNIVERSITY,  INDIANAPOLIS
 

 

 

The following excerpt (from pages 1200~01 by Glory-June Greiff) contains those very words for which I have been seeking:

During the 1920s the highway department began to construct bypasses around the business centers of larger cities and entirely past smaller villages, such as that of S.R. 67 around Oaklandon. New buildings containing businesses geared toward the highway traveler, such as short order restaurants and filling stations, appeared along these bypasses and approaches to towns. Paradise, now a group of rental properties on the south side of Oaklandon, began as a motley collection of tourist cabins, along with a grocery and gas station, serving the new S.R. 67 bypass in the late 1920s. There still exist scattered examples of this development along the present but especially the former state highway routes in Marion County, which give clues as to the past suburbanization of Indianapolis. 

Detail of 1915 Map showing Paradise Tourist Camp

Indianapolis Sanborn Map #458, 1938

Paradise Lost No Longer!

Source: https://digital.library.in.gov/Record/IUPUI_HEPL-550