AT THE THREE-WAY intersection of Delaware, Walnut, and Fort Wayne avenues sits a wee building constructed of white enamel-glazed brick with battlements and buttresses, telltale clues to its former identity. White Castle was the first fast-food chain in the country, ahead of McDonald’s by nearly two decades. Indianapolis White Castle No. 3 offered seating for just nine patrons, with a footprint of 200 square feet—and that’s after an expansion in the 1930s. Students from the nearby original IPS Benjamin Harrison School No. 2 (since demolished) later recalled being distracted by the scent of frying burgers and onions wafting into their classrooms’ open windows during springtime lessons. “Buy ’em by the sack!” the restaurant’s slogan proclaimed, and a take-out window made that easy. The second location in the chain opened in the city (planned as the third, hence the name, but construction delays pushed back the opening of the second), it is the oldest White Castle building in Indiana, which earned it a spot on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011. Since the restaurant closed in 1979, the building has housed a real estate office, a National Guard recruiting center, and a hair salon. Indiana Landmarks secured the property in 2017, completing repairs and attaching a protective covenant to the deed, safeguarding it from the wrecking ball, says Mark Dollase, vice president of preservation services at Indiana Landmarks. “We felt it was important for us to step forward, acquire the property, and stabilize it because of the building’s significance, both architecturally and historically.”
