Nora is a community on the far north side of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is home to North Central High School and the founding section of the

Monon Trail The Monon Trail (known as the Monon Greenway in Carmel) is a rail trail located entirely within the state of Indiana. The Monon Railroad was a popular railroad line connecting the cities of Chicago and Indianapolis, with stops at major settleme ...

. Nora's neighborhoods typically feature diverse housing stock, large lots and mature trees. The Nora community contains six distinct business/commercial districts, including Nora Plaza, Greenbriar Plaza, and

The Fashion Mall at Keystone The Fashion Mall at Keystone, known better as The Fashion Mall, is an upscale shopping center in the northeast section of the city of Indianapolis, Indiana. The mall is located off I-465 at 86th Street and Keystone. The mall is considered the hear ...

. Nora is generally considered to be contained by White River on the east (southward around the Broad Ripple oxbow), Williams Creek and 79th Street on the south, Township Line Road on the west, and 96th Street (which forms the border between

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and

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

counties) and I-465 on the north. Nora was never an incorporated town, so its accepted boundaries have varied. Today, the boundaries of Nora are commonly accepted as the area defined by the Nora-Northside Community Council.

History

The name Nora for this area can be traced back to December 1871, when Swedish immigrant Peter Lawson was appointed postmaster at Nora. Lawson owned a grocery store situated at what is today the southwest corner of Westfield Boulevard and 86th Street. Lawson named the area after his home parish in Sweden. He was born as Per Israelsson on March 29, 1828, in Blexbergstorp, Nora parish,

Örebro County Örebro County ( sv, Örebro län) is a county or '' län'' in central Sweden. It borders the counties of Västra Götaland, Värmland, Dalarna, Västmanland, Södermanland and Östergötland. It is frequently culturally divided into the hilly ...

Sweden. He emigrated in 1854 and from at least 1860 he is known to have lived in Washington Township, Marion County. In 1861 he was one of the founding members of the Union Church Washington Township. Lawson died on October 29, 1884, and was buried in

Crown Hill Cemetery Crown Hill Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located at 700 West 38th Street in Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana. The privately owned cemetery was established in 1863 at Strawberry Hill, whose summit was renamed "The Crown", a high point ...

. The locality of Nora grew around Lawson's grocery store and post office. Soon there were more shops, smithies, and a train station in the area. Nora Elementary School was opened in 1895. About 150 people lived in Nora in the 1880s, but the area did not become densely populated until the mid-1900s. Nora Plaza Shopping Center was built in 1959, anchored by an Ayr-Way that became a

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and a

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that later became a Lowell's No Frills Discount Foods, Wild Oats Market, and most recently

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. A new post office was opened in 1961 (a Steak 'n Shake is at the old location). Nora Community Council was established in 1967. It became part of Indianapolis under

Unigov Unigov is the colloquial name adopted by the city of Indianapolis, Indiana, to describe its consolidated city–county government. By an act of the Indiana General Assembly, Indianapolis consolidated with the government of Marion County in 197 ...

in 1970.

Education

Nora has a public library, a branch of the Indianapolis Public Library. Nora Elementary School, part of the Metropolitan School District of Washington Township, is in the neighborhood. as is North Central High School. Image:Peter-Lawson-Nora.jpg, Peter Lawson, the founder of Nora. Image:Nora-post-1998.jpg, Nora Post Office in 1998 (built as a movie theatre). Image:Nora-library-1998.jpg, Nora Branch Library in 1998.

References

Notes

Sources

* Håkan Henriksson: Spår av Örebro län i Amerika. In ''Lokalhistorisk läsning för Örebro län nr 5'' (Örebro, 1999). * Nora Northside Community Council boundary map * Nora Alliance

External links