Map
The Broad Ripple Gazette
Vol. 10 No. 1
Including the Cultural Districts and Midtown: Meridian-Kessler, Butler-Tarkington, and Meridian St.
page 18
The Village
Sudoku page 10
Jan 4 - Jan 19, 2013
Review
Numerous events took place around Broad Ripple in 2012. Here is a look back at some of the happenings the Gazette covered.
Razing Volume 9 Number 3 Marathon station comes down for the new mixed-use garage project
Matty Bennett and Brendan Fox of National Moto + Cycle and Indie Bike
National Moto + Cycle at 52nd and College By Mario Morone
mario@broadripplegazette.com National Moto + Cycle Co. (NMC) co-owner Matty Bennett’s trek into bicycling has crossed paths with history and design. “I’ve always been into bicycles. I’ve done a lot of BMX racing growing up and the pro downhill racing circuit with National Off-Road Bicycle Association (NORBA). Back then, there were a lot more sponsorships. I worked at bike shops while going through college at Herron School of Art for furniture design. I jumped ship my junior year, doing mural paintings and decorative finishes for designers and companies. I decided to focus on interior design on a full-time basis. We’ve designed restaurants in town and retail spaces. That whole design theme is a through line, a connective path to this business. As a creative rightbrain individual, you always have to be looking for new avenues. It’s been a big full circle transition. Racing became a little stressful, so I started looking at bicycles after a visit to Holland. It reset my white balance (perspective) on how bikes are part of their genealogy and how they operate in the community. We’ve always been sports-oriented on how bicycles can be utilitarian when used in a community. The average trip in the U.S. is about 29 miles by car. It’s important that these generations with kids see bicycles. My heart was telling me a few years ago to come back to bikes,” he explained. His company’s name is part of a historic Indianapolis icon. “National is from National Motor and Vehicle Company from around 1903 until they went into receivership in 1924. The National brand was started by Charles Test, a Woodruff Place resident and Arthur C. Newby. I was introduced to National and their factory at 22nd and Monon Trail. A charter school was located in their number four building. The first factory was building was built in 1903, but the next four buildings were established in 1911. For about two months, it was the largest 5206 N. College Ave. production facility in the United [PP23 on map] States. They built one of the first 6-cycle engines in the country in (317) 698-2418 this factory. A mentor of mine and owner of the factory was Mike www.nationalmoto.com Higbee, when William Hudnut was Mayor when we became the amateur sports capital of the world. He helped develop the Circle Center Mall, Pan Am Plaza and procure the Pan American Games. One direct connection is that he helped with the negotiation between CSX and the city to develop the Monon Trail. Higbee has always taken on the tough projects and bought this factory seven to eight years ago. His company, DC Development, is involved in urban planning and started Martindale on the Monon. He built over 40 homes before that Black Monday in real estate in 2007. Everything slowed down when Mayor (Bart) Peterson wasn’t re-elected and we re-branded the factory as the National Design Factory into condos and loft spaces. It’s a design-driven factory focusing on urban development. Construction on Phase II should begin in the spring/summer of 2013. It’s important that when
National Moto + Cycle
Celebration Volume 9 Number 9 Broad Ripple Village hits 175 years, hundreds of rubber ducks hit the canal
Man-Made Flood Volume 9 Number 10 Village streets and shops are flooded due to flood control gates in the wrong position during a storm
Flood Wall Discussions Volume 9 Numbers 15, 18 Residents speak up on concerns about the Army Corps levee plan
Greenspace Volume 9 Number 25 Alice Carter Place is re-dedicated as a public park
National shut down and went into receivership, it sat dormant where it was used for logistics and shipping. When you lose schools, crime increases and in the 1970s, there was a mass exodus of the neighborhood. Higbee and I looked at the factory as a beacon of light for the neighborhood and continuing support for the National Design District. With the factory, we copyrighted the National logo and cleaned it up. That’s why we’re named National Moto + Cycle Company.” Bennett described National’s beginnings: “They built electrobiles from 1897 to 1903 and went full combustion in 1905. They had Thomas Edison ceramic cell batteries. National was an elite group of men and women that won the second Indy 500 with the SX-1 race car in 1912. They were practically stock cars. They took off the back seat and modified the cars with higher performance. The SX-1
See MOTO pg. 4
6 Buzzing Around Town
10 Sudoku / Hidden History
15 Crossword
21 Random Rippling RA
1 Review
7 Local Contacts
11 Frog's Random Rippling
16 Poetic Thoughts
21 Random Rippling Classic
2 Random Rippling Blue
8 Classified Ads
12 Random Rippling UPL
16 Public Notices
22 Gettin’ Ripped in Ripple
3 BRVA meeting schedule
8 Public Notices
13 Frog's Random Rippling
17 Business Directory/Maps
22 Query Corner
3 Historic Postcard
9 Wine Scene Jill A. Ditmire
14 Random Rippling Legion
20 Career Corner
23 Right in my Own Backyard
9 Random Rippling Taste
15 Mistakes winner
20 From the BRMHS anncmts 23 Random Rippling Petit
15 Historic Ad
21 Letters from Readers
INDEX
1 National Moto
3 Calendar 5 BR Brewpub Quiz
10 Where in the Village?
24 Random Rippling Snow