INDIANAPOLIS — Giving a piece of history a new look and purpose was the main goal of an east side neighborhood block party on Sunday.
The former women's prison located in the 400 block of Randolph St. has been an eyesore for residents of the Willard Park neighborhood.
According to Indiana Department of Administration, the 15-acre property once belonged to the first women's prison in the country. It opened in 1873 and remained on the east side until 2017 when the prison relocated to Girls School Road on Indy's west side.
The state is maintaining the site, but neighbors say the abandoned property is causing problems associated with crime to the near east side.
"On this site 150 years ago, the first inmate came in and was housed on this property and that was to the month October 1873," Joey Newson with the Willard Park Neighborhood Association said. "And so we're looking 150 years ago, now this site is still imprisoned in a way because we don't have access to it and it's causing significant issues to us. We are affected by this and we have no say, this is imprisoning our neighborhood."
Organizers hope the block party will gather the community together to move forward with the property they believe has so much potential.
"We have advocated to preserve the buildings with the state and to move forward with the vision these beautiful amenities provide," Newsom said.
Former inmates also attended the block party, many of whom helped install the prayer labyrinth that is still on site. While they were incarcerated on the site, they wrote the book Who Would Believe a Prisoner.
