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THE CHANGING FACE OF INDIANAPOLIS: 1920-1929

Ku Klux Klan dominance marked an ugly era for city

ROB SCHNEIDER

Published: Dec. 23, 1999

It wasn't too long ago that the Ku Klux Klan took to the Statehouse steps, fighting broke out and a handful of people were injured.

Some 35 Klansmen showed up for the rally. The crowd that turned out that October day in 1993 -- which included hundreds of anti-Klan protesters -- was estimated at more than 1,000.

If some people saw it as a throwback to long-ago times, they were wrong. If it had been, there wouldn't have been several dozen Klansmen at the Statehouse -- there would have been thousands.

State officials probably would have joined them. City officials, too, for that matter. After all, the Klan's political punch helped elect them.

Butler University history Professor George W. Geib calls it the state's dark side. "The fact that we defeated the Klan, I think is a good thing. The fact that we had to defeat the Klan is a reminder there is a dark side."

And that makes it one of the top events to affect the city this past century.

In the aftermath of a world war, people remained suspicious of anything foreign. People also worried about changes sweeping through society.

Indianapolis, a city that prided itself on being 100 percent American, seemed ripe for the Klan's warped message: It stood for what was good for America. It was a message that spread like wildfire.

The Klan opened its first Indiana chapter in Evansville in 1920, The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis notes, and quickly established chapters in every county. D.C. Stephenson, a salesman, arrived in Evansville from Oklahoma and became involved with the organization.

In 1922, Stephenson moved to Indianapolis, where he was named Grand Dragon of Indiana and 22 other states.

Membership in the Klan exploded to about 250,000 statewide. In Indianapolis, as many as 40 percent of all native-born white men in the city paid $10 to join.

M. William Lutholtz, whose book Grand Dragon: D.C. Stephenson and the Ku Klux Klan in Indiana detailed the life of the Klan leader, points out that Stephenson received commissions on new members and became wealthy. He purchased a large home in Irvington.

The Klan quickly became the largest social organization in Indianapolis and dominant force in the city from 1921 to 1928.

Lutholtz notes that Stephenson's presence at a July 4, 1923, Klan rally at Kokomo drew an estimated 10,000 to 50,000 people.

Catholics, Jews and blacks became the target of the Klan here. But it was Catholics who drew the most attention.

Lutholtz noted there were about 32,000 Catholics in the city. "It was commonly believed that Catholics owed their first loyalty to the pope in Rome, not to the president of the United States."

Many Midwesterners believed Catholics were just waiting for orders from the pope to revolt and claim the country for the church of Rome, he said.

The Klan emerged as the dominant party in the May primary in 1924. To celebrate, an estimated 25,000 Klansmen, women and children gathered at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.

Later, some 6,500 Klansmen and their supporters paraded through Downtown while a crowd of 75,000 to 100,000 lined the streets.

A Klan newspaper trumpeted the organization's election successes: "Protestant Ticket Sweeps State" and "National Papal Machine Smashed," it proclaimed in 1924.

Political candidates openly supported by the Klan were elected to the offices of mayor, City Council and Board of School Commissioners in 1925. Klan-supported candidates also controlled the legislature and governor's office.

But it was a short-lived victory.

Stephenson was arrested and convicted of second-degree murder charges in the death of Madge Oberholtzer. She was a young Statehouse worker whom Stephenson began dating in 1925. He was sentenced to a long prison term.

The Indianapolis Times received a Pulitzer Prize in 1928 for its reports on the Klan's involvement in bribery and corruption of government officials.

Political scandals led to the undoing of the city's mayor and the governor at the time, and interest in the Klan declined abruptly.

Down, but not necessarily out: Smaller groups bearing the Klan's name continue to find a home in Indiana.

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