A New Suburban Campus
In 1928, after years of fundraising and planning, Butler University officially moved to its third—and present—campus, located on the north side of Indianapolis. The site had previously been Fairview Park, a trolley park owned by the Indianapolis Street Railway Company. The University acquired the property in the early 1920s and began construction on new buildings in 1926
The campus opened with two major buildings: Arthur Jordan Memorial Hall (commonly referred to today as Jordan Hall) and Butler Fieldhouse (renamed Hinkle Fieldhouse in 1965 to honor longtime coach Paul D. “Tony” Hinkle) and has grown significantly over the years. Today the core section of the Fairview Campus is bounded by Hampton Drive, Sunset Avenue, 52nd Street, and the Central Canal. In 2017 the University purchased the forty-acre campus of the Christian Theological Seminary (formerly the University’s College of Religion)—bounded by 42nd Street, Haughey Avenue, and the Central Canal—and it is now known as South Campus.
Since the turn of the 20th century—and after surviving the financial strain of the Great Depression and reduced student enrollment during World War II—the University has expanded beyond the original College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (initially established as the College of Literature and Sciences). This growth has occurred through department expansions but more commonly through institutional mergers:
- College of Religion (1924-1958), which later seceded to become the independent Christian Theological Seminary
- College of Education (1930), originally the Teachers College of Indianapolis prior to merging
- Lacy School of Business (1937), established as the College of Business Administration before a more recent name change in honor of a $25 million donation
- College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (1945), formerly the Indianapolis College of Pharmacy and previously known as the College of Pharmacy prior to the addition of health sciences
- Jordan College of the Arts (1951), formerly known as the Jordan College of Music and Jordan College of the Fine Arts
- College of Communications (2010), a restructuring of the departments of Communications and Journalism
In 2023 the University administration announced the establishment of Founder’s College (2024), a part of the Come to Believe Network of programs aimed at “supporting underserved students in achieving higher education success.”
Butler University opened for classes on its current campus in 1928. The early campus consisted of one academic building, an athletic complex with a basketball court and football stadium, and a few additional buildings. From bottom to top in the 1928 photograph there is Jordan Hall and the Butler Fieldhouse in the distance.
Butler University’s current campus was once home to Fairview Park, a popular trolley park owned by the Indianapolis Street Railway Company. In addition to walking paths in a quiet nature setting, Fairview Park offered such varieties of entertainment as boat rides, a bowling alley, and pony rides. The postcards to the right depict some scenes from the park.
