A display of historic photographs from the former ZoonieVille neighborhood is featured during the annual ZoonieVille Reunion on July 18, 2026, at Washington Park in Indianapolis.

Former residents and their families gathered to celebrate the history, friendships and lasting connections of the neighborhood, bringing together generations to honor the community that once thrived there.

Darryl Harvey takes at least $30 a week and puts in a shoebox.

He doesn’t count it, he just collects the money until it’s time to help pay for his community’s annual summer reunion.

For roughly a decade, at least 60 southsiders have come together to honor their favorite community — one most people probably don’t know existed.

Clearstream Gardens, lovingly known as ‘ZoonieVille,’ was a low-income apartment complex on the southeast side of Indy near the corner of Emerson Avenue and East Raymond Street.

The housing project got its nickname from a visiting west sider, and it stuck.

Built around 1969 and demolished in the late-1990s or early-2000s, the project had a reputation for crime and poor property management.

Some people feel like the origins of the community were an afterthought to the city, just a way to get low-income Black people farther away from white communities near downtown Indy.

But former residents said the good times outweighed the bad, making a lasting and ultimately positive impression on many of the people who lived there — so much so that, roughly 30 years later, dozens of southsiders gather every year to honor their favorite community.

“We had a ball growing up, I mean, besides the crime and all that,” Harvey, 53, said during this year’s celebration.

“I wouldn’t trade it for the world because it made me who I am.”

Growing up in ZoonieVille

Living on the south side of Indy during the 1970s was hard, said Tony Pullins, another former ZoonieVille resident.

At 69 years old, he’s one of the only older residents who attends the annual reunion who can describe the early days of the community.

He said many families would have upwards of five people living in a two- or three-bedroom unit, relying on government assistance just to get by.

“It wasn’t really a bad place to live, and everybody that lived in there, we was all just trying to make it.

Poor people just trying to make it.

Didn’t nobody had no more than the next person.

“It was like one big family.

We was in and out of each other’s apartment, sleeping over there, eating over there.

When one didn’t have it, the other one did.”

Pullins said the strings attached to that funding often caused a rift among families who were just trying to make ends meet.

Social workers wanted to make sure families weren’t abusing the system.

So, he said they visited households to check on families who were receiving government assistance and would be skeptical of family members who looked old enough to earn an income that may disqualify them for government funds.

This led some men, and even teenage boys, to leave their homes.

“A father, who was supposed to be a father, could not stay with his family because of the welfare system,” Pullins said.

People feared “if a social worker came and said, ‘Well, your husband’s here, so we’re going to cut you off,” he continued.

The dynamic is one reason Pullins moved out of the complex when he was 16.

He was able to find other housing, but not everyone was so lucky.

He said the issue of men leaving so their families’ government funding would remain intact impacted low-income men in other areas across town, not just in ZoonieVille.

Some were forced to live in abandoned buildings on the south side, he said, which contributed to high crime levels as people tried to get by however they could.

“You couldn’t get a cab to go out there because they would rob the cab drivers,” Pullins said.

Violence also came from outside of the housing unit in other ways.

Pullins remembers racial tensions fueling some of the problems in the area.

But that isn’t how all residents remember their childhoods.

Kids were raised by all of the mothers in the community.

They fed them or gave them “a whoopin’” when needed, Harvey and Dean Tate, another former resident, said.

From left, Doren Douthit, Darryl Harvey, Dean Tate and George Hendricks, pose for a photo during the annual ZoonieVille Reunion on July 18, 2026, at Washington Park in Indianapolis.

The reunion celebrates the history, friendships and lasting connections of the former ZoonieVille neighborhood, bringing together generations of residents to honor the community that once thrived there.

“The older people, they taught us how to be men and how to be gentlemen to women.

We had a good time growing up out there.”

“A lot of us did without — with everybody.

So sometimes having nothing teach you to love when you do get something.

So you can’t forget where you come from, and I don’t think we forget where we come from.”

Now adults, many have fond memories of going to house parties, skinny dipping in the Bethel Park pool or untightening the fire hydrant so children could run through the water on a hot summer day.

Teenagers set up basketball tournaments with other nearby housing complexes such as Brokenburr Trails Apartments , nicknamed “Brick City.”

Some even grew up and raised their own children there.

For them, ZoonieVille was life.

“Even when times were hard in families’ houses out there, everybody shared everything,” said Raelynn Morgan, known as Sista.

“We shared laughs, we shared food — it was plentiful.”

The housing complex was a stepping stone for some, allowing people to save money until they were able to move to another area of town.

But the more people moved out, the more dilapidated the apartments became.

Pullins said the lack of repairs from the former property owner, the Indianapolis Housing Agency, prevented people from staying.

Over time, it became a hotbed for rodents and people experiencing homelessness.

“You were able to go in through the drywall of a closet and get into somebody else’s home,” Pullins said.

“So, that’s why it started dilapidating.

It’s just the way it was built, just the way we were living at the time.”

“Everybody looked out for everybody.

Like the blizzard in ’78 when we couldn’t get to the store, everybody was making sure everybody had food and milk and stuff for the babies and pampers and stuff like that.”

Many reunion attendees left before the building shuttered around the late-1990s or early-2000s.

Once ZoonieVille closed, Harvey said he would drive by and see firemen jump in and out of the building, using it for what he believed were training drills.

The Indianapolis Housing Agency eventually sought out companies willing to demolish the facility, according to a 2001 edition of The Indianapolis Recorder .

Meanwhile, another southeast housing project, Brick City, was demolished in 2003 before the land was redeveloped for Red Maple Grove, which provides affordable apartments, townhomes and houses.

Those housing units still stand today.

Tate, 53, left ZoonieVille well before it closed, but believes the complex could’ve been revitalized like Brick City.

“I think they should have kept it because that was history and they got rid of it,” Tate said.

Maintaining family connections

Now, ZoonieVille residents come together every summer to reminisce and celebrate the community that raised them.

Cordell Tucker started the events in 2016 using a small grill to serve just a handful of people.

After Tucker passed away in 2020, Harvey said he vowed to take on the tradition and honor his friend by wearing a reunion shirt with Tucker’s face printed on it so people will always remember the original event planner.

Now former neighbors Harvey, Pullins, Tate, Tasheika Vanhorn, Doren Douthtit, Ayeselah Cross, Ollie Armour and Margo James help organize an annual reunion.

People meet to eat barbecue, jam to booming rap and soul music and share sweet memories that may otherwise be forgotten.

Kevin Beikman and Doren Douthit admire ribs cooking on a grill during the annual ZoonieVille Reunion on July 18, 2026, at Washington Park in Indianapolis.

The reunion celebrates the history, friendships and lasting connections of the former ZoonieVille neighborhood, bringing together generations of residents to honor the community that once thrived there.

Four generations of families from the neighborhood attend the reunion.

Former residents and their families gather for the annual ZoonieVille Reunion on July 18, 2026, at Washington Park in Indianapolis.

The reunion celebrates the history, friendships and lasting connections of the former ZoonieVille neighborhood, bringing together generations of residents to honor the community that once thrived there.

Former residents and their families gather for the annual ZoonieVille Reunion on July 18, 2026, at Washington Park in Indianapolis.

The reunion celebrates the history, friendships and lasting connections of the former ZoonieVille neighborhood, bringing together generations of residents to honor the community that once thrived there.

George Hendricks dances as DJ TJ plays music during the annual ZoonieVille Reunion on July 18, 2026, at Washington Park in Indianapolis.

Former residents and their families gathered to celebrate the history, friendships and lasting connections of the former ZoonieVille neighborhood, bringing together generations to honor the community that once thrived there.

DJ TJ entertains the reunion with music.

Former residents and their families gather for the annual ZoonieVille Reunion on July 18, 2026, at Washington Park in Indianapolis.

The reunion celebrates the history, friendships and lasting connections of the former ZoonieVille neighborhood, bringing together generations of residents to honor the community that once thrived there.

Angela Goodman (center), who proudly describes her connection to ZoonieVille by saying, “I am the neighborhood,” sits in the shade visiting with friends and watching the crowd during the annual ZoonieVille Reunion on July 18, 2026, at Washington Park in Indianapolis.

Darryl Harvey wears a shirt of Cordell Tucker during the 2022 ZoonieVille reunion to honor the resident who started the annual gathering for residents of the former southside apartment complex.

The reunions were initially held at Bethel Park before renovations forced the group to find another location a few years ago.

They didn’t want to compete for space at Garfield Park, so the annual meetups are now held at Washington Park on the east side.

Harvey and Pullins said some southsiders skip the annual event out of protest since it isn’t in their neighborhood, but others don’t care where they gather.

Former residents come from all over the country just to reunite with their ZoonieVille family.

That’s the case for George Hendricks, who’s come all the way from Iowa the past three years.

“It’s peaceful, everybody is getting along — it’s just pure love.”

Hendricks said.

Former residents and their families gather for the annual ZoonieVille Reunion on July 18, 2026, at Washington Park in Indianapolis.

The reunion celebrates the history, friendships and lasting connections of the former ZoonieVille neighborhood, bringing together generations of residents to honor the community that once thrived there.

The event is attended by some aunties and uncles, but most people are in their 40s to 60s.

Many enjoy the hot sun and greasy food, but it’s a barrier for some of the elders who are concerned about their health.

But if they don’t meet at the reunion, Pullins said he and his friends sometimes don’t see each other again until they’re at a funeral.

So, he hopes to create a more age-friendly, indoor event for elders who can no longer sit in the sun for extended periods of time or eat certain foods due to health reasons.

“A lot of us are gone, a lot of us are sick, especially the older generation,” Pullins said.

“But some of these guys out here, who are my son’s age, they have grandchildren who are carrying the tradition on.

So this will be going on for a long time.”

‘ZoonieVille’ reunion honors a demolished southside community ^⁠16%

Speakers

George Hendricks

Analysis

Biases

Fallacies

Manipulations

‘ZoonieVille’ reunion honors a demolished southside community ⁠16%

Speakers

George Hendricks

Analysis

Biases

Fallacies

Manipulations

‘ZoonieVille’ reunion honors a demolished southside community ^⁠16%