Garfield Park Amenities

Here we see, on the hill past the parking lot, the Garfield Park Arts Center, site of art and other cultural classes and constant art exhibits and entertainment. The building, once known as the Shelter House, was for many years the site of indoor sports programs led by the officers from the Police Athletic League (PAL Club) which taught fundamentals and life skills to thousands of area youth. It also was used as the entrance to the original swimming pool (now the parking lot) and it housed animals from a small zoo in the wintertime. It also housed the Indianapolis Children’s Museum. Looking up the hill we see the 1903 Japanese-style Pagoda designed as a bandstand and for dancing.

Looking slightly left, we see the MacAllister Center, an amphitheater built in 1920. It housed the original Starlight Musicals and is currently the site of Shakespeare in the Park, annual visits by the ISO, free concerts each Thursday night in the summer, and frequent additional concerts sponsored by the Park Department and/or the Friends of Garfield Park (FOGP). The FOGP raised $370,000 for recent improvements of the Center.