Built between1910 to 1940, Emerson Heights is a snapshot in time revealing much about early 20th Century Indianapolis’s architecture and development.

One hundred years later, Emerson Heights has retained its character of a stable middle and working class neighborhood, thanks in part to the many residents who have provided leadership over the years and the numerous activities that take place annually. However, we have our challenges as well…as does any urban neighborhood. These challenges also present us with opportunities.





In September of 2011, Emerson Heights Community Organization engaged students and faculty from Ball State University College of Architecture and Planning in an intensive design exercise for our neighborhood and surrounding areas.


The process took place over three days and featured input from the community and key stakeholders for initial ideas as well as refining those initial concepts. The project was funded through the generosity of Community Health Network and Indy-East Asset Development.



The analysis and results can be viewed in the document below. The ideas in the document are just initial concepts- they are not anything like final designs. We encourage residents, property owners, and other community stakeholders to review the document and give us feedback.

Our intent is to develop an implementation plan – prioritizing projects that are readily achievable while creating momentum for more ambitious projects. The working group for the Implementation Plan will be the Revitalization Committee, which meets the first Thursday of the month.

Please contact us if you are interested in participating in the working group developing the implementation plan. You may contact Rebecca Seifert or Kurt Wiegand at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or attend a monthly meeting to comment or participate.

Emerson Heights Charrette Document
Note: The document is quite large – approximately 30megs.