Location: Bluff Road & Hanna Avenue, Bluff Park, Indianapolis. (Marion County, Indiana)
Erected 1998 Indiana Historical Bureau, Indpls. Gardeners Benefit Soc., Marion Co. Greenhouse Growers Assn., and Indpls. Vegetable Growers Assn.
ID# : 49.1998.3
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Side one:
Many of Indiana's German immigrants settled in southwestern Marion County during the mid-1800s and began greenhouses and truck gardens on Bluff Road; area grew to major boundaries of Harding, Raymond, Madison, and Banta streets. Family owners formed organizations for collective bargaining power, uniform product quality, and members' health and death benefits.
Side two:
German Gardeners Benefit Society founded 1867. "Hoosier Boy" trade name used by 87 businesses of Marion County Greenhouse Growers Association, founded 1920. Area was one of the largest concentrations of winter tomato and lettuce production under glass in U.S. Refrigerated transportation contributed to closure of many growers' businesses. Greenhouses still a part of the economic life of this area.
Keywords
Immigration and Ethnic Groups, Nature and Natural Disasters , Business, Industry, and Labor, Agriculture