FEATURE
Park Tudor at 50: Remembering the Merger of Park School and Tudor Hall
Then: Park Tudor Class of 1971
Now: Park Tudor Class of 2020
The 2020-2021 school year marks the 50th anniversary of the merger of Park School and Tudor Hall to form Park Tudor. In this issue of the Phoenix, we look back to the merger and the opening of our current campus on the site of the former Lilly Orchard.*
Another factor that played into Park School’s desire to relocate was the understanding that the population of Indianapolis was moving north. Planning for the construction of I-465 had begun in the early 1960s. Since highway planners routed I-465 nearly 12 miles north of downtown, they all but guaranteed that the suburban expansion of Indianapolis would continue in that direction. Relocating to an area closer to the new I-465 and anticipated suburbs would help to guarantee a steady flow of students in the decades ahead.
In 1964, then-president of the Park School board of trustees, Russ Ryan, wrote to the Lilly family about potentially selling their property on North College Ave. in order to build a new campus. Park’s enrollment had been increasing throughout the early 1960s, but the cost of maintaining the campus on Cold Spring Road were high and growing. The buildings were aging and required constant repair. In addition, Park School’s campus was hemmed in by Marian University, so the ability to expand was limited. In fact, Marian University approached Ryan and the rest of the Park School board to inquire about purchasing the Park School campus so that the University could continue its growth.
Ryan received a reply to his letter in early 1965. John Rauch Sr., the attorney who represented the Lilly family, asked to meet with the entire Park School board in Foster Hall on the Lilly Orchard property. At the meeting, Rauch handed over the deed to the property and told the board that Mr. Eli and Josiah K. Lilly Jr. - both graduates of Park’s predecessor Brooks School - wanted Park to have the property. Said Mr. Eli, “It is quite certain that Mr. J.K. Lilly Sr., my brother, and I would much rather see the orchard, which had meant so much to us all for 70 years, become the campus of a fine school than to have it cut into who knows what kind of real estate venture.” By May 1965, Marian University had agreed to purchase Park School’s Cold Spring Road campus, creating pressure for a merger of Park with Tudor Hall, whose campus was also adjacent to Marian’s. In fact, Mr. Eli and J.K. Lilly had foreseen PARK TUDOR PHOENIX FALL 2020
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