Jelly Roll Morton

ID: 1825 ~ Source: Courtesy of IUPUI University Special Collections and Archives ~ Creator: The Indianapolis Freeman ~ Date: June 13, 1916

This file appears in: Indiana Avenue

This Indianapolis Freeman article shows Jelly Roll Morton before he became a piano-playing jazz legend. Morton performed in vaudeville with his sister, and they had an early appearance at the Crown Garden Theatre, where he was billed as Ferd Morton.

This file appears in: Indiana Avenue

Indiana Avenue

By Braden Catt, Carey Nigh, Jonnie Fox, Indiana Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology

One of the four original diagonal streets of the 1821 plan for Indianapolis, Indiana Avenue tells an important part of the story of African American life in Indianapolis, much of which was centered here on the near northwest side of the downtown…