Tony and Becky Ridley know a lot about their neighborhood and about the history of Fort Wayne, in general.
Tony is a retired firefighter of 29.5 years whose
father, Richard Ridley Jr., was the first black firefighter in Fort Wayne. Becky is a secretary in the technology department of Fort Wayne Community Schools, whose mother, Bonnie Andrews, serves on the historic East Central Neighborhood Association a few blocks away.
Married in 2010, the Ridleys live in the 1400 block of Fisher Street as part of the Renaissance Pointe Neighborhood on Fort Wayne's Southeast side, where Tony is President of the Southeast Area Partnership (SEAP) and Renaissance Pointe.
At his home office, he sits behind a computer screen as Becky sits on the couch, and they talk about the projects around town—how the old Eden Green Apartments are now the Village of Hanna, or how Carlos Brooks and Beth Hodges with
Growing Minds have started an urban garden for local youth within sight of their front window.
The list of changes goes on and on.
Tony champions the work of Joe Jordan at the Boys and Girls Club on Calhoun, and of Amos Norman at the Renaissance Pointe YMCA at the end of his street, which has become a center of local life.
Becky explains how the YMCA is on the site of the old S.F. Bowser & Company campus, which once employed 1,200 manufacturing workers on the Southeast side in the late 1800s and early 1900s, dubbing the area "Bowserville" or "Bowsertown."
Today, the couple is inspired by their neighborhood's history and its ongoing revival, as well as the City's plans for the old General Electric Co. campus, which promises to give talent a place to thrive near their home once again.
The Ridleys sat down with Input Fort Wayne to tell us about the history of the Southeast side and their hopes for its future.
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The S.F. Bowser & Company plant once employed 1,200 on the Southeast side.
IFW: How long have you lived in your current house?
TR: This is our eighth year here. We met about four years before that. I moved in the house in 2006. Then we met, and we dated off and on until we decided to get married, and start living here together in 2010.
IFW: Where did you grow up?
TR: I was actually born in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, in 1959, and my parents moved up here six months to a year after I was born. You might as well say I’ve been here since the early 1960s.
My grandfather worked for Harvester. Then everybody knows the whole Ridley thing about my dad being the first black fireman here.
BR: I grew up on East Central Neighborhood. If you go on the other side of the tracks that’s East Central.
That’s where
Samuel Hanna’s estate was. A lot of the (City’s) founding fathers were there. When the City first started out, East Central was where people started to build their homes.
My mom was the neighborhood president there, so I created
a website for her and East Central.
IFW: In addition to the website you made for East Central, you also did research on your own neighborhood, and learned that it was once part of a booming place known as Bowsertown. Tell us more about that.
BR: I researched this whole area. It was very important for me to know what was here before and what was thriving and what had happened. I noticed the churches. Everything was like there was money here at one time, so that made me dig, and I found out this area was booming in the early 1900s, and (a man named Sylvanus Freelove Bowser) was basically what made this area thrive.
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Sylvanus Freelove Bowser
He built
his headquarters here. He was very giving. He donated the park. He built several homes here for his workers, so basically this area was all known as Bowsertown.
IFW: Refresh our memory. What did Bowser do?
BR: He
invented the actual gas pump. He was in his 40s when he did it, and he went from rags to riches. It was an amazing story.
He was a traveling salesman, and he would get really, really sick. He would push himself so hard, and then he would get sick, so then he would be down for awhile. And he was in that cycle of poverty. He’d be down, and then his family couldn’t survive very long, and then he’d be back up, and he’d push himself again.
One day, it was really cold outside, and his wife wanted him to get some water from the well before he left, and he did. But he was thinking there should be a better way to pump the water out.
That was what he was thinking while he was traveling. He started making drawings, and when he came back, he talked to his brother. They invented what became the gas pump, and they thought they could use it for kerosene. But kerosene was too thick, and so gasoline was the next thing, and it was right when he did it that Ford was getting going, too.
Everything was perfect timing. And from there he became very, very rich. Gas pumps here sold all over the world as the automobiles started to hit.
Then other companies came in to compete with them. So we were the capital of the gas pumps.
TR: When Bowser moved here, there’s wasn’t anything here. It was basically like, you go to work where the YMCA is now (at the end of the block), and there was big manufacturing there.
Everybody used to walk back and forth from work, and so Bowser made this park, so they would have a place to meet during the day and kind of socialize a little bit and go back.
From what I understand, he was move of a giver than a taker, and went out of business, but he’s what brought the industry here.
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Busy in warmer months, Bowser Park provides a place to socialize near the Ridley's home.
BR: Bowser lost it back in the Depression. And then he moved out, the actual company moved out of here and moved to another state, so
Phelps Dodge moved in, and then I don’t know how long they were there.
TR: Then the police moved in and used it as temporary quarters.
BR: And then it was just abandoned for a long time.
Once Bowser left, everything else started to run down, as well. And then of course you had other factories closing. You had Harvester, and all the things that were supporting it.
So this area was very on the move, and then all of that crashed in the 80s. The Rust Belt sort of died in the 80s.
IFW: The history of this area is incredible. What do you love about your neighborhood today?
BR: For me, just being near downtown, quickly going to work and getting around. I feel like we’re in the center, so it’s easy to get anywhere unless we’re going to the outer parts of the city.
This is where I want to be. I was gone from the time I was 18 to 40 years old, and when I left, Fort Wayne was on its decline. Since I’ve come back, it's started to go back up. Watching the downtown thrive, it’s just been really awesome.
TR: If you had this house in Detroit, 10 minutes away from downtown, how much would this house cost you? If you can get on your bike and get to the center of town in 10 minutes, the houses would be $300,000-400,000, and maybe not as good of quality because they’re older homes.
IFW: You mentioned the revival of Downtown Fort Wayne. Let's talk about some of the things happening in your neighborhood. The old Bowser factory was the center of local life in the early 1900s, and today, in its place is the Renaissance Pointe YMCA, which is also a local hub of activity. Tell us more about some of the programs there.
BR: The YMCA is doing an awesome job of having fairs and things like that, really trying to connect people to the programs and things that are out there.
TR: They have the language classes. They have Spanish classes. The churches that are starting up, they let them use their space. They have meal programs there for kids who are not getting enough to eat. They have senior clubs. They have rallies where they just let the neighborhood come in and give their opinion on what direction they want them to go.
IFW: That's great to hear. There's a perception in Fort Wayne that the Southeast side can be dangerous. Can you speak to that?
BR: Whenever there’s a shooting, if it’s on the Southeast side of town, they’ll always describe that on the news. I’ll listen to the news, and if it’s a shooting anywhere else in the city, they just name the street. They never say Southwest or Northeast. They name the street. But if there’s a shooting on the Southeast, before they even name the street, they will name the Southeast side.
That’s how it gets that perception. People who don’t live over here think if they drive over, they think it’s going to be like Chicago. Nowhere in Fort Wayne is like that.
I go for two-mile walks in the summertime. Tony rides his bike. People are out and moving around quite a bit in our neighborhood, so there is no fear.
Families are having parties all the time at the pavilion in the park. When I first moved in, I never saw that. That little pavilion was rarely ever used. Now it is. For the holidays, that’s rented out for people to have get togethers just like any other park.
TR: Indiana Tech students live right behind us.
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The Ridleys live in the Renaissance Pointe Neighborhood.
IFW: You mentioned more people moving around the neighborhood, using the park. It sounds like the Southeast is starting to see new energy. Tell us about some of the future developments near you.
TR: There’s going to be 31 units
there at the old Coca-Cola plant. The construction started three months ago, and the new houses you see up and down the block are part of it. They’re going to have an indoor year-round playground that’s going to be accessible to the public. They’re going to try to coordinate with the urban farm as far as setting up a market there. And they're going to try to get rid of two older buildings, and probably new homes are going to be put in there. And that will connect to the main block.
We’re trying to get houses visible to Anthony Street and Pontiac Street, which are main corridors.
BR: They’re doing great with bringing the housing back, but what everybody has been saying, what City Councilman Glynn Hines and anybody involved with the City has been saying, is that there’s no real shopping here. We have to get in our cars, and we have to drive for awhile. So the lack of shopping, the lack of grocery stores, having that availability, and not just throwing up some gas stations, and thinking it’s enough. That’s not enough. That’s a good start, but that’s not enough.
IFW: The Southeast side of Fort Wayne is part of a food desert in the city. What does that mean?
TR: What we’re talking about with a food desert is walking distance stores that fully serve you with prices that are reasonable.
After Phil's left in the early 2000s, it really impacted the neighborhood. Phil's Market was right there on the corner of Anthony and Pontiac Street (2632 South Anthony Blvd.), and it was all purpose. It had a butcher shop, a meat counter, everything you needed as far as groceries, and it was locally owned. So if you lived in the area, you knew you could walk there or get dropped off in four or five minutes. And you knew you could get food at a reasonable price, not like the Quickie Marts that we have now.
BR: That’s where people who don’t have cars have to shop. If I forget something, I can jump in my car and go to any of the stores. I can go to New Haven or Southgate to Kroger for groceries. I have that ability. But there’s many who don’t. Especially the elderly. It’s really hard for them.
IFW: Looking to the future, what's something you want to see happen in your neighborhood?
BR: Just getting rid of the negative image that has been tainting us.
As far as Fort Wayne Community Schools, I know that
Bunche Montessori is one of the best local schools, and the waiting list is huge. People from all over the city want to get in. All my grandsons went there. I could literally walk over there; it’s four blocks away.
Young Early Childhood Center is another off Pontiac, and it’s an extraordinary school as well.
Weisser Park Elementary is awesome.
Fort Wayne Community Schools believes in this area, and not abandoning it. I know the City is doing a lot, but I also want them to change the perception over here, that we’re some deprived people.
TR: But you have to realize that in order to change that perception, the people who live here have to work toward that same goal. It’s not just totally with the City. There’s a lot of people that work for the good of this neighborhood; there’s a lot of good people, but there’s just a handful of people (who cause trouble) that they’re paying attention to.
When you look at the perspective of the whole thing, it’s a community effort of those that are doing positive things, and those are the ones who are able to start changing the way people think about it.
They have to get involved, and we’re trying to get them involved.