A pool hall, a park, and a border war – here’s the westside history behind each:

(MIRROR INDY) — Last month, I wrote about the history behind some well known road names on the west side, and a lot of people liked it. I asked the subscribers of our Westside Beat texting service for some suggestions on which places you were curious about, and you came through with some locations that have interesting histories.  

A childless family’s donation that led to a Haughville park for kids. An inscription that tells of the political battle from a century ago. And how one of Indiana’s most famous monuments celebrates something that happened in Texas.

Here are those stories. And please — keep the suggestions coming by signing up for the Westside Beat texting service by texting “WESTSIDE” to 317-659-7738. 

Lentz Park is for kids

Lentz Park, 700 N. Traub Ave., is a 3.4-acre park in the Haughville neighborhood named after the family who donated the land to the city in 1928.

Sarah M. Lentz gave the city the land in honor of her late husband, Christian Lentz, who died the year before. She stipulated that the land could only be used for a playground. 

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“We first thought of giving the ground for the use of a hospital,” Sarah Lentz told the Indianapolis News in 1930. “But as we saw the children around us playing in the streets for want of a better recreation ground, we thought that a playground would be a fine thing for the youngsters.”

Lentz also told the Indianapolis News the family purchased their property, which included the land they would later donate, in 1886 with profits from a garden they maintained. 

Although the couple had no children, Lentz told the paper she and her husband planned to donate the property, where they would sit in their yard and watch kids play. He died before the plan was carried out.

The city installed playground equipment two years after the land was donated. 

“We both loved children,” Lentz said in 1930. “So I carried out his wishes the best I could, and the children seem to be enjoying it to the utmost, for it is filled from morning until night.”

The park today is maintained by Indy Parks and has a modern playground, basketball court and an open greenspace. 

The Worm building’s storied history

Along Oliver Avenue, just across from where Elanco is building its headquarters, sits a red brick building with an inscription that reads “1899 Albert R. Worm.”

The now vacant building, at 1223 Oliver Ave., was built by Albert R. Worm, one of Indianapolis’ most successful meat vendors in the early 20th century. Worm was born in Germany and emigrated to the U.S. in 1893. 

The building was part of several that used to exist there that were once a slaughterhouse, a hotel, an administration building and a pool hall. Most of those buildings have been demolished, and it’s unclear which business was housed in the remaining structure.

“A man must hustle to keep pace with the growth of West Indianapolis,” Worm told the Indianapolis Star in 1904 before the hotel was built.

Worm, a Republican, was caught in a local scandal in 1905 after he signed a petition endorsing the administration of Mayor John W. Holtzman, a Democrat. Worm told the Indianapolis Star he believed he was signing a petition to change the railroad track elevation and had been tricked into signing it by city attorney Henry Warrum and a Democrat running for city council. 

Worm said his public denial led to retaliation from the administration. City and state laws prohibited some businesses, such as barber shops, theaters and other places of entertainment, from opening on Sundays, but the Holtzman administration reportedly often turned a blind eye as long as they registered with the city and stayed out of trouble.

That included Worm’s pool hall, which he said was exclusively for use by his employees on Sundays. After his public denial, authorities forced his pool hall to close on Sundays, he told the Indianapolis Star. When Worm complained to a Democratic leader who frequented the pool hall, the leader told him, “Well, you know why it was done.” 

The closure drew unwanted attention to his pool hall. Anti-alcohol activists, known as temperance workers, sued to close the building permanently, claiming Worm allowed illegal gambling and underage drinking and was an overall public nuisance to West Indianapolis residents. The lawsuit was later dismissed. 

Worm died in 1944 and is buried in Crown Hill Cemetery.

The Indiana National Guard’s first border deployment

On the north side of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument at Monument Circle, an inscription lists several military conflicts where service members from Indiana were involved, including the Revolutionary War, War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War in the 1840s. 

But below all those, the monument lists a lesser known action that happened between 1916 and 1917 — the Indiana National Guard’s first deployment to Texas to guard the U.S.-Mexico border.

Mexico was in the middle of a civil war, called the Mexican Revolution, and several factions battled for control of the country. One faction was led by a general named Francisco “Pancho” Villa. In March 1916, Villa raided Columbus, New Mexico for supplies, burning down much of the town.  

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson ordered Gen. John J. Pershing, the namesake of Pershing Avenue, to hunt him down. When in May 1916, Villa’s forces raided two Texas towns, Wilson called up National Guard units from several states, including Indiana, to help protect vulnerable towns from raids and to position units in case the U.S. went to war with Mexico.

More than 3,000 Indiana National Guardsmen, whose headquarters are now located at Stout Field on the west side, were mustered at Fort Benjamin Harrison and deployed to Camp Llano Grande in deep South Texas, about five miles north of the Rio Grande River. 

According to a 1916 U.S. War Department report on the deployment, the area was harassed by Mexican units, and National Guardsman were sent there so quickly there was a shortage of hats and transportation wagons among the Hoosier infantry units. 

Ultimately, the Indiana units trained extensively but never experienced a raid. The greatest enemies were the weather and snakes. The troops began returning home to Indiana in December 1916.

According to photos taken by troops who served on the border, some units brought home living souvenirs from their service: wild pigs, called peccaries or javelinas. 

Lt. Col. Freyermuth of the 3rd Indiana Infantry of the National Guard is pictured with the “Co. L mascots” in Llano Grande, Texas. (Provided Photo/Indiana Historical Society)

A marker at the Texas A&M University AgriLife Extension Service in Weslaco, Texas commemorates the Indiana National Guard’s border defense.

Mirror Indy reporter Enrique Saenz covers west Indianapolis. Contact him at 317-983-4203 or enrique.saenz@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @heyEnriqueSaenz