In addition to the streetcar lines, another large influence on the design of our neighborhood was the City Beautiful movement. And although it’s important to understand and appreciate all of the design elements in our neighborhood, the esplanades are particularly prominent features that are reflective of this movement. These esplanades help to make Emerson Heights unique and they deserve the neighborhood’s attention as it nears its centennial in 2011.

City Beautiful was an urban planning movement prevalent around the turn of the last century. It was a response to what had become crowded, dirty and disorderly cities. It was reform minded with the goal of not only introducing order, improving sanitation and such, but also using urban design to inspire the inhabitants to moral and civic virtue.

The Kessler system of parks and boulevards, including Pleasant Run Parkway and Ellenberger Park to the immediate south and east of us were part of the City Beautiful movement. The Kessler system of parkways follows many of the significant waterways through the city. Parts of the Kessler system, including Pleasant Run Parkway, are on the National Register of Historic Places.

The influence of the City Beautiful movement can be seen in our neighborhood in the esplanades on Bancroft, Riley and Dequincy as well as the terrace up from the street and the uniform setbacks of the homes from the street. The brick columns on Emerson and Michigan, landscaping, orderliness of the homes and hierarchy of the streets (the cross streets don’t have sidewalks and curbs) were all part of an intentional design of our neighborhood that reflects the ideals of the City Beautiful movement.

Although it’s important to understand and value all of the pieces of the design of our neighborhood and how they work together, it’s the esplanades that really stand out as being unique and special. In addition to their place in history as representative of a larger urban design movement, they have significant impact on the attractiveness, livability and marketability of our neighborhood.

As the neighborhood nears its 100 year anniversary, special attention is being focused on the esplanades. In past years, neighborhood volunteers, led by resident Tina Jones and Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, have worked on replacing the missing Sweet Gum trees in the medians. More recently Joe Wade, current EHCO treasurer, has led the charge on sprucing up the medians, particularly on Dequincy, and organizing others to do the same.

Going forward, we hope to build a more unified effort that includes completing the few remaining tree plantings/replacements, rehabilitating the lawns in the medians, establishing uniform flower beds and establishing a maintenance program that the neighborhood and individual neighbors can do. Because it’s city property, we must get our plans approved. Because it’s our neighborhood, we also want to build consensus and buy-in from the community. We must also be aware of the historic importance of the medians and landscaping and not do anything that would be inappropriate.

The good news is that we have members of the community with a formal education in historic landscape architecture and horticulture. In addition, we have highly motivated people who are willing to help organize and do the work. We also have many residents who are willing to do their part to help with ongoing maintenance of these assets such as mulching, picking up trash, mowing and raking leaves. Lastly, we have the resources of the City of Indianapolis and Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, who have been very helpful.

Together, we can preserve and revitalize these important and historic features of our neighborhood, while at the same time making the neighborhood more attractive for current and potential residents.

For information on how transportation influenced our neighborhood see Emerson Heights—A Streetcar Era Community.