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Greenwood, Indiana
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Greenwood, Indiana
Greenwood is a city in Johnson County, Indiana, United States. The population was 63,830 at the 2020 Census. Greenwood is located southeast of central Indianapolis between Interstate 65 and Interstate 69. It is the most populous suburban municipality in the southern portion of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Area.
The first inhabitants of the area currently known as Greenwood were the Delaware Indians (Lenape). In 1818, the Treaty of St. Mary's opened central Indiana to European American settlement, and by 1823 the first cabin in northern Johnson County was erected by settlers John B. and Isaac Smock on land now occupied by Greenwood Park Mall. Greenwood was first known as "Smocktown" or "Smock's Settlement" in honor of the Smock brothers, and became "Greenfield" in 1825. Since this clashed with another Greenfield located in Hancock County, the name of the settlement was changed to "Greenwood" in 1833.
Greenwood was incorporated as a town under Indiana law in 1864.
Greenwood was an early and key cog in the Electric Indianapolis Interurban Railway System. In 1895, Henry L. Smith proposed and organized the Indianapolis, Greenwood & Franklin Company and graded the line to Greenwood. The Indianapolis, Greenwood & Franklin Railway was opened between Indianapolis and Greenwood on January 1, 1900, and, according to Indianapolis historian Jacob Piatt Dunn, was the Hoosier capital's first real interurban electric railway. The railway followed what is now Madison Avenue.
The J.T. Polk Canning Company was essential to Greenwood's early growth. The cannery was a major employer and canned a variety of vegetables grown in Indiana. Later, the company expanded into the dairy market and provided milk delivery to customers. At one point the cannery was the largest canning operation west of Baltimore. The cannery was eventually purchased by the Stokely-Van Camp company and retained operations in Greenwood until the 1950s. Portions of the cannery are still standing on Main Street and have been repurposed for professional office space.
Greenwood became a fifth-class city in 1960.
In February 1965, an Indiana Civil Rights Commission report found that Greenwood had recently been one of 19 sundown towns in Indiana, where African Americans were not allowed to live or stay after dark. The city had been exclusively white since the 1920s. The report analyzes Greenwood's housing problem within African American families in the few years leading up to 1965. The analysis confirms a study regarding poorly constructed homes on the outskirts of Greenwood and a purchased house bought by an African American family that sold below $15,000. Racial tensions rose when the family introduced themselves to their new neighbors. In response, the neighbors presented the African American family with hostile threats. In the aftermath, the owners revoked their sale from the housing market.
Greenwood has long been a rightward-leaning community politically. After the founding of the John Birch Society in Indianapolis in 1958, a landmark for many years on the south side, adjacent to U.S. Route 31, was a Society billboard demanding "Get US out! of the United Nations".
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Greenwood, Indiana
Greenwood is a city in Johnson County, Indiana, United States. The population was 63,830 at the 2020 Census. Greenwood is located southeast of central Indianapolis between Interstate 65 and Interstate 69. It is the most populous suburban municipality in the southern portion of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Area.
The first inhabitants of the area currently known as Greenwood were the Delaware Indians (Lenape). In 1818, the Treaty of St. Mary's opened central Indiana to European American settlement, and by 1823 the first cabin in northern Johnson County was erected by settlers John B. and Isaac Smock on land now occupied by Greenwood Park Mall. Greenwood was first known as "Smocktown" or "Smock's Settlement" in honor of the Smock brothers, and became "Greenfield" in 1825. Since this clashed with another Greenfield located in Hancock County, the name of the settlement was changed to "Greenwood" in 1833.
Greenwood was incorporated as a town under Indiana law in 1864.
Greenwood was an early and key cog in the Electric Indianapolis Interurban Railway System. In 1895, Henry L. Smith proposed and organized the Indianapolis, Greenwood & Franklin Company and graded the line to Greenwood. The Indianapolis, Greenwood & Franklin Railway was opened between Indianapolis and Greenwood on January 1, 1900, and, according to Indianapolis historian Jacob Piatt Dunn, was the Hoosier capital's first real interurban electric railway. The railway followed what is now Madison Avenue.
The J.T. Polk Canning Company was essential to Greenwood's early growth. The cannery was a major employer and canned a variety of vegetables grown in Indiana. Later, the company expanded into the dairy market and provided milk delivery to customers. At one point the cannery was the largest canning operation west of Baltimore. The cannery was eventually purchased by the Stokely-Van Camp company and retained operations in Greenwood until the 1950s. Portions of the cannery are still standing on Main Street and have been repurposed for professional office space.
Greenwood became a fifth-class city in 1960.
In February 1965, an Indiana Civil Rights Commission report found that Greenwood had recently been one of 19 sundown towns in Indiana, where African Americans were not allowed to live or stay after dark. The city had been exclusively white since the 1920s. The report analyzes Greenwood's housing problem within African American families in the few years leading up to 1965. The analysis confirms a study regarding poorly constructed homes on the outskirts of Greenwood and a purchased house bought by an African American family that sold below $15,000. Racial tensions rose when the family introduced themselves to their new neighbors. In response, the neighbors presented the African American family with hostile threats. In the aftermath, the owners revoked their sale from the housing market.
Greenwood has long been a rightward-leaning community politically. After the founding of the John Birch Society in Indianapolis in 1958, a landmark for many years on the south side, adjacent to U.S. Route 31, was a Society billboard demanding "Get US out! of the United Nations".
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