﻿HOUSING CONDITIONS IN INDIANAPOLIS 



127 



Foreign District, 



In the heart of Indianapolis, only a few squares from the prin- 

 cipal business district, is located the foreign or "Hunyak" 

 quarter. It is not over one-half of a square mile in area. But it 

 contains the homes, stores and loafing places of several hundred 

 foreigners, in addition to a packing house and other industrial 

 concerns. It extends from Washington Street on the north to the 

 railroad tracks on the south, and from Missouri Street on the east 

 to the river on the west. A number of reasons may be assigned 

 for its location and delimitation within the territory just de- 

 scribed. The primary ones are : 



(1) The Kingan & Co. packing house is located in the center 

 of this district. Large numbers of these foreigners are employed 

 in or around this establishment. They naturally desire to live 

 near their work, hence they find homes in this quarter. 



(2) Within the past two years the various railroads running 

 through this part of the city have been engaged in the elevation 

 of their tracks. This work has furnished employment to hun- 

 dreds of laboring men, most of them foreigners. In addition to 

 the track elevation in the city, two of the railroads which pass 

 through this district have been doing an enormous amount of 

 reconstruction work on their lines west of Indianapolis. Thou- 

 sands of foreign laborers have been employed on this work. 

 Naturally, on account of its convenient location, this district was 

 m.ade the headquarters or, if we may call it that, the permanent 

 home of most of these men. When they quit work at any partic- 

 ular point they drift back here until they obtain new em^ploy- 

 ment. 



(3) The third cause of the existence of this foreign district 

 is probably the most important one, since in many cities it is 

 given as the primary and only reason. There seems to be a 

 marked tendency on the part of these foreigners to live close to- 

 gether in a little district set off from the remainder of the city. 

 This desire to live among one's own people, even when in a 

 strange land, is a perfectly natural one. The American quarter 

 in numerous cities of Europe is the result of the working of the 

 same tendency. 



This desire on the part of the "Hunyaks" to live close to- 

 gether does not meet with any discouragement from the people 

 of Indianapolis, or in fact of any other of our American cities. 

 The coming of a group of foreigners or even of a foreign family 



