About 17 city blocks comprise the North Meridian Street Historic District as recognized by the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. The Meridian Street corridor has housed Indiana’s governors, innovators in business and medicine, barons of industry, celebrities, and darlings of the arts and literature, as well as folks of local, national, and international importance, boasting names like Charles W. Fairbanks, Dan Quayle, Mike Pence, J.K. Lilly, Arthur Newby, Booth Tarkington, and Rev. Howard Cadle. Many Meridian residents were integral in shaping the Indianapolis known today.
Like most Hoosiers, Kassie Ritman grew up admiring the mansions of Meridian Street. Annual trips downtown to view the world’s largest Christmas tree at Monument Circle always included a drive along Meridian Street to spot Townsend’s Santa’s sleigh and other dazzling holiday displays. She rarely misses a chance to tour the St. Margaret’s Hospital Guild Decorators’ Show House when a Meridian Street home is featured and can often be found enjoying the hum of traffic and gentle babble of the Indiana Central Canal from her favorite bench in Alice Carter Park. Ritman collaborated with residents both past and present to bring this book into being.