Victorian mansions line the Old Northside Historic District, the residential neighborhood near downtown Indianapolis that you are entering. This pocket of the city is bordered by 16th Street on the north, Pennsylvania Street on the west, Interstate I‑65 on the south, and Bellefontaine Street on the east. The Monon Trail runs along the eastern edge of The Frank and Judy O'Bannon Old Northside Soccer Park, skirting the neighborhood.
Old Northside was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and is home to many residences from the Victorian era. In the late 19th century this was a prominent residential neighborhood where many of Indianapolis’ wealthier residents built mansions. It was home to Benjamin Harrison, Ovid Butler, magnates of the L.S. Ayres department store, and the author Meredith Nicholson, who wrote House of a Thousand Candles while in residence.
This district was also the original location of Butler University, then named North Western Christian University, before it relocated to Irvington. Over time the neighborhood began a slow decline, but the streets and homes here still hold the echoes of that grand past. Notice that this neighborhood was also the original home of Butler University, back when it was still called North Western Christian University.