City planned morgue in historic Norwood neighborhood. Then officials heard from residents.

City officials killed plans to build a morgue and forensics facilities in the historic Norwood neighborhood, after a heated meeting between residents yelling in opposition against the roughly dozen city officials present, including Deputy Mayor Judith Thomas.

The meeting came after IndyStar reporters questioned city officials about the project as part of a series on Norwood that starts Tuesday with a feature about the community's long history and detailing the actions that led to the city’s recent decision.

Morgue and forensics facilities were intended for the west side of Vandeman Street, south of Prospect Street, across from Norwood’s community center and on top of historic grounds previously owned by the family of John Wesley Hardrick, the early 20th century painter whose portrait Little Brown Girl currently hangs in Newfields.

Local historian Kaila Austin called the decision a “little victory.” 

Austin has been working for a year with residents of Norwood to uncover the neighborhood’s largely unknown history, which has escaped public knowledge for over a century: from the pages of IndyStar, through the corridors of city hall, even from several residents.

Norwood was once a Freetown, home to the first generation of Black Hoosiers born out of slavery; the settling place of Black veterans from Indiana’s only Black Civil War troops known as the 28th Regiment.

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“It always felt like no one cared,” Austin said, referring to the jail and Community Justice Campus erected near Norwood’s northern boundary last year. Many residents said they disagreed with the campus' placement, but had no voice before its arrival. A 2017 meeting with the city and neighborhood groups about the campus included representatives from Norwood, a city spokesman said.

“As hard as it is to keep fighting,” Austin said, “it’s better to keep fighting if the only other option is to lose everything you’ve ever built.”

Residents’ reactions to the decision ranged from satisfied to excited, from relieved to skeptical.

“I’m happy,” Austin said, “but there’s some reasonable skepticism. Yeah, you’re not going to build a morgue but what is being built, and how much is the city going to include Norwood in the process?”

Norwood resident Donetta Strader said she’s never seen this level of engagement from city officials with the community before. She believes it’s a sign of changing times prompted by the racial justice movement spawned in 2020.

“When I first read it, I just thanked God,” Strader said. “It just felt like that he had answered our prayers.”

Life-long resident Flinora Frazier, 92, described the news as “a battle won.

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“We’ve had to fight for everything we got,” said Frazier who is recognized as the neighborhood matriarch.

City officials declined additional comment beyond the letter emailed and distributed to residents.

In the letter, signed by Thomas and others, the city also announced plans to meet with Norwood residents at Pride Park again Tuesday to "help the community shape the future it wants and deserves." 

Contact IndyStar reporter Brandon Drenon at 317-517-3340 or BDrenon@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @BrandonDrenon.

Brandon is also a Report for America corps member with the GroundTruth Project, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization dedicated to supporting the next generation of journalists in the U.S. and around the world.

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