This was called the Traction Terminal when it opened in 1904 to centralize interurban train service in Indianapolis. These buses are parked in the old train shed. By the mid-1940s, interurban train service had ended, and "the tracks in the Traction Terminal were paved over for bus service. After construction of a new bus station, the train shed was torn down in 1968, and the terminal’s office building was razed in 1972. The Indianapolis Traction Terminal reputedly had been the largest traction terminal in the world."
Greyhound in Indianapolis now operates out of the back end of Union Station. Not a place you want to go at 6 o'clock on a cold winter morning. And it would sure be nice to have the interurban trains back.
The Indiana State Capitol in the background is still standing, but the bus station on West Market Street is long gone. The Indiana Roof Ballroom (advertised in the posters below the Terminal Lunch sign) was an important musical and social venue that declined over the years, closing sometime in the '70s or '80s. Luckily, Indianapolis' downtown revival centered around the Circle Center Mall extended to the Indiana Roof. It's been beautifully rehabbed, preserving both the dance floor and the decor, which suggests being in the center of a Moorish village at twilight!
