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The house at 828 North California Street was built sometime between 1880 and 1898. The 1880 Sanborn map shows the address as an empty lot but by 1898 a small house, numbered 814, and an outbuilding are shown. Since 99% of the 1890 U.S. Census information was destroyed by a fire at the Commerce Department in 1921, the first record of occupants at the house at 828 comes from the 1900 census. At this time the house was numbered 814 N. California and was occupied by Richard M. Cash, his wife Bertha, and son Milton. Richard was a White carpenter born in Indiana; Bertha was born in England. Milton was also born in Indiana and worked as a piano tuner. In 1910, the Cash family had moved up the street to 913 N. California and the house was occupied by William H. Tyler and his family. William was a 58 year old African-American born in Virginia who worked as a store janitor. His wife, Hanna, was 59 and born in Kentucky; their daughter Lydeska was 30 and worked as a public school teacher. By 1920, California Street
was referred to as "the Negro Meridian Street of Indianapolis" because of th Originally the house was a small one story wooden cottage; the large size of the family led Ransom to convert the house into the two-story, five bedroom home that stands today. After Freeman's death in 1947, Nettie continued to live in the house until 1970; in 1971 the house is recorded as being vacant. By 1975, the house had been purchased by Walter Theadford and his wife Rita who lived there until 1985. |
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number of influential African-American families living there and the
immaculate condition of its homes. The house at 828 was the residence of
Freeman B. Ransom, the man who the Ransom Place Neighborhood was named
after. Ransom was an attorney, well known civic leader, and the general
manager of Madam C.J. Walker's beauty business and was one of the most
influential African-Americans in Indianapolis. (For more information about Freeman Ransom
click