The north side of the Butler Bowl, the football stadium at Butler University, is today dominated by a native plant growing area, pickleball courts, apartments and parking lots. But the area was once the center of winter recreation in the Butler-Tarkington neighborhood, known as the Butler Sledding Hill. The north end of the stadium at one time formed a steep hill, a part of the ridgeline which runs south from Broad Ripple into Butler-Tarkington, and forms part of the eastern side of the shallow valley of the White River.
The sledding hill ran downward from the football field towards 52nd Street, allowing students and local residents a wide area for sledding runs. Jack Clarke, a former resident of Butler-Tarkington, grew up at 46th and Graceland and recalled sledding on the hill as a child in the 1950s, and then bringing his own kids to the hill after his family moved to Rocky Ripple. “The hill was being used for sledding well before I got there as a kid,” he told me while reminiscing about the hill at the Chilly Water Taproom. Most of the hill is visible in the image above (from 1981), in between the two red arrows. Boulevard is the road on the right of the image.
Sleds of various types were used on the hill. One method used to tackle the hill was called “traying” where cookie sheets or food trays from the Atherton dining hall would be commandeered for use on the hill. Tubes and more traditional sleds were also used. Various photos of sledding at the Butler hill can be found through Google searches. This blog link has several excellent images of the hill in the 1950s-1960s, including a panoramic image from the top of the hill looking north.
In the early 1980s, a new building was constructed at the base of the hill which would house Butler's dance programs. Today this building houses the university’s service building and maintenance garages. Its construction limited the sledding run on the eastern portion of the hill and the university asked that students and local residents to use the western side of the hill for sledding to avoid the building and its landscaping. Alumni did not respond well to the modification in the hill, with several notes critical of the defacement of the hill received during a fundraising drive being held at the same time.
Even with the construction of the dance facility at the base of the hill, sledding continued to be a seasonal tradition. However, drama ensued on January 14, 1992, when sledders were met by several Butler security guards (or police depending on the source) who informed those visiting the hill that sledding was prohibited. David Mannweiler, a columnist for the Indianapolis News, wrote on January 16 that when his family arrived at the hill on the afternoon of January 14, they found the hill closed by Butler security. “Sledding on Butler Hill is an Indianapolis tradition,” wrote Mannweiler. “People sledded on that hill long before Butler moved to its Northside campus.” The closure had something to do with insurance and liability, according to the Butler personnel on campus. A new fence installed near the dance facility was also mentioned as a reason for the closure.
The community uproar resulting from the closure was substantial, impressive in a time before social media. The next day, Butler’s spokesman addressed the situation, explaining that there had always been a policy of no sledding on the hill. Mannweiler quoted the spokesman as saying “[t]his year, our insurance company advised us and encouraged us to strictly enforce the no sledding policy. We have a liability issue. If someone is injured sledding, it becomes our responsibility.” News reports at the time indicate two lawsuits pending against Butler, both for bicycling related incidents, and nothing related to sledding.
Later that morning, Butler’s president, Geoffrey Bannister, who had been attending a meeting of the board of directors of the Indiana National Bank, discovered the sledding hill public relations kerfuffle was spreading. Bannister acted quickly and overturned the closure of the hill and even joined students and residents in taking a sled ride down the hill, still in his suit and overcoat from the meeting earlier that morning. A photo of his sledding run appeared in the Indianapolis Star:
Later, he acknowledged that the university had a 'no sledding' policy but emphasized that he wanted the campus open for all. “My position is we welcome people to our campus and we welcome them to use it. We accept no liability for an accident that might happen while they are enjoying our property, but we welcome them,” he said. “Let me assure you, my position is we like people to come to our campus and enjoy it.”
The liability concern was not inaccurate, as injuries did occur on the hill. As early as the 1930s several news briefs in the Butler Collegian referenced injuries while sledding on campus, although other injuries were likely unreported. On February 25, 1993, the Butler Collegian’s ‘Safety Report’ noted three injuries on February 16th and 17th of that month. One involved a child who struck a guide wire for a utility pole while sledding. Another child was injured and transported back to her nearby home. Finally, a student who lived in Schwitzer Hall crashed her sled at 11:30 pm on the 16th, and after visiting the health center the next morning was directed to MedCheck due to concerns about a head injury. Despite these injuries, and no doubt many others, sledding continued on the hill, and it was described in 1995 as the “most renowned sledding hill” in Indianapolis. During one particularly snowy week that same year, the Butler hill was quite crowded. "They've been busy all week," said Bannister. "We don't dare close that hill again. We learned our lesson."
While sledding on the hill received a presidential reprieve, the end of the sledding hill was approaching. Prior to the early 2000s, the strip of land between Boulevard Place and the Butler Bowl (between 52nd and 49th Streets) had been undeveloped. Early in the school’s history at the Fairview Park site there were no trees, although over the year a thick stand of trees grew up, terminating at the sledding hill on the north end of the football field. In the early 2000s plans were finalized for a new apartment complex on the strip of land between Boulevard and the Bowl which would eliminate a large section of the hill, while additional improvements would further erode the remainder of the hill. The end of the sledding hill was in sight.
The January 26, 2005, edition of the Collegian paid homage to the hill, under headline which read “BU says goodbye to sledding tradition.” The story notes that the food trays at Atherton “will finally be able to rest easy next year,” and with the impending construction, “the demise of the Butler Hill is close at hand.” Indianapolis news media were reporting live from hill that winter, and Butler leadership noted that they had received many complaints from residents of the nearby neighborhoods about the loss of the hill, but little from the student body itself on the closing of the hill. Mike Gardner, Vice President of Operations for Butler, quoted in the Collegian, noted darkly that “[c]hange is difficult sometimes, but I think there are many traditions that, at some point, just have to die.”
Today ‘No Sledding’ signs are posted, and the remains of the hill are covered in native plants, and pickle ball courts and parking lots sit where the hill’s slope used to run (see images above). There is still sledding at the Butler Bowl, but not on the remains of the original hill. Instead, at times students and residents sled on the hill behind the south end zone, a site which prior to the 2000s, was occupied by the Starlight Musicals Theater.
Sources
Butler Collegian: January 28, 1976, February 14, 1979, January 30, 1984, January 29, 1992, February 25, 1993, January 26, 2005
Indianapolis Star: December 28, 1995, December 19, 2004, January 2, 2005,
Indianapolis News: February 6, 1979 (cover image, photo by Tim Holcomb), January 16, 1992, January 17, 1992, December 28, 1995, March 10, 1999, July 7, 1999
Aerial photograph of Butler University taken on October 3, 1981, Butler University Digital Collections, https://palni.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/BldgsGrnds/id/994/rec/36