Email Chatham-Arch is an upscale neighborhood bordered by I-65, North and South Streets, and College Avenue features small-framed cottages from the 1860s and 1870s and brand-new condos
Massachusetts Avenue, known by many as the Arts and Theater District, is only a few blocks from Monument Circle. Massachusetts Avenue was designed in 1821 as one of Downtown’s four original diagonal streets. (the other three were Indiana, Virginia and Kentucky), Massachusetts Avenue mainly serviced the immediate area. When streetcars and interurbans came to town, businesses edged out residences along the strip and made Mass Ave a veritable hotbed of commerce between 1870 and 1930.
In the mid-20th century, the area’s prosperity started to wane, but it soldiered on, serving the surrounding community and beyond. Then, in the 1960s, construction on the I-65 inner loop virtually cut off Massachusetts Avenue from outside traffic, withering its vitality. Since then, merchants have reinvented Mass Ave as a thriving art district and home for unique entrepreneurial endeavors.
Mass Ave puts a whole new angle on excitement, one that promises to be “45 degrees from ordinary.” Known as the Arts and Theater District, the avenue fills with the free-spirited and friendly mood that spills from the many venues. Five performing arts theaters, each distinctive, call Mass Ave home. Numerous art galleries make the avenue the place to experience top-notch art. Independently-owned restaurants serve some of the best meals in town. Mass Ave boasts original outdoor art, rich architecture and historic neighborhood feel.