RetroIndy: Tomlinson Hall was the gathering place for Indianapolis

Mrs. O'Leary's cow took the heat for the Great Chicago Fire and it was a pigeon that gets the blame for the Tomlinson Hall fire of 1958.

But what exactly was Tomlinson Hall? Indianapolis' Tomlinson Hall had served the city as a public meeting hall for more than 40 years. Work began on the hall west of the City Market in 1883, and it was dedicated in 1886, the same year the market was completed.

Tomlinson Hall was financed through a bequest made by local druggist Stephen D. Tomlinson, who died in 1870. His will provided that a city market would have to be built in the hall on the west end of what then was known as East Market Square, where the farmers had sold their meat, eggs, milk and produce since the 1830s.

The auditorium seated 3,800 and the stage could accommodate 500. The city turned out for the gala music festival on and opening and dedication night June 2, 1886. Tomlinson Hall hosted performances of John Phillip Sousa, Polish pianist Paderewski and the May Music Festival. Silent movie star Rudolph Valentino had the ladies swooning during an appearance at the auditorium.

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The hall became a cultural showpiece in spite of the truck gardeners' stands and farm wagons in the surrounding streets. The Grand Army of the Republic, the Civil War veterans organization, held a fund-raiser there in 1886 to benefit the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, which was not yet built. The hall also was the site of United Mine Workers meetings, political and industrial conventions and concerts by big-name bands of the Roaring '20s. Old-time, sectional basketball tournaments were played there as well.

The decline seemed to begin with the age of marathon dances and unemployment. By the 1950s, city officials wondered what to do with the hulking hall.

The problem was settled on the night of Jan. 30, 1958. Firemen arrived to find the hall engulfed in flames. Reports at the time blamed the fire on a pigeon who had picked up a smoldering cigarette butt and dropped it on top of the building.

There were many debates and public outcry to restore the building, but on Tuesday, July 8, 1958, the remnants of the building were razed, leaving only an arch as the last vestige of the once grand old building.