Beech Grove

Early-20th-century Indianapolis was developing into a major transportation center. The extension of rail lines operated by the �Big Four Railroad,� the Cleveland, Chicago, Cincinnati, and St. Louis Railway, invaded farmland 5 miles southeast of the busy Indianapolis Union Station. By 1904, the native beech trees neighbored the construction of the Big Four Shops, a facility charged with the production of steam locomotives. The shops brought jobs, an immediate draw for commercial and residential d