Editing Beech Grove, Indiana (section)

== History ==
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By the turn of the 20th century, the Beech Grove area was a rural section of Marion County. Notable residents included poet and women's-rights activist [[Sarah T. Bolton|Sarah Tittle (Barrett) Bolton]] (1814&ndash;1893) and Indianapolis financier Francis McClintock Churchman (1833&ndash;1891).

Bolton's farm, "Beech Bank", and Churchman's cattle farm, "Beech Grove Farm", both reflected the abundance of [[beech]] trees in this area. This would eventually provide the reason for the city's name, although an early railroad stop in the area was known as "Ingallstown". The city's Sarah T. Bolton Park, situated on some of the former Beech Bank farmland, still contains several large beech trees along its southern boundary.

The actual city came into existence as a [[company town]] for a new railroad repair facility, the [[Beech Grove Shops]], constructed by the [[Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago, and St. Louis Railroad]] (nicknamed the "Big Four"). Through acquisitions and mergers over the years, the railroad shops have been run by the [[New York Central]], [[Penn Central]] and, presently, [[Amtrak]] rail systems. The complex sits on {{convert|108|acre|km2}} with {{convert|700000|sqft|m2}} underroof. In 2007, Amtrak had 550 employees working there.<ref>{{cite web |last=Guenzler |first=Chris |title=Amtrak Beech Grove Shop Tour 4/13/2007 |url=http://www.trainweb.org/chris/beech.html |access-date=March 10, 2018}}</ref> In recognition of the city's heritage as a railroad town, Amtrak's business car 10001 is named ''The Beech Grove''<ref>{{cite web |title=RailroadPix.Com Railroad Photos : Amtrak 10001, Beech Grove |url=http://www.railroadpix.com/rrphotos/detail/417.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090902101907/http://www.railroadpix.com/rrphotos/detail/417.html |archive-date=September 2, 2009 |access-date=December 5, 2008 |website=www.railroadpix.com}}</ref> and is often used by agency officials when they travel the system. <!--The facility gained attention when right-wing zealot Linda Thompson made a 1994 home video claiming that it was a [[Federal Emergency Management Agency]] concentration camp, and was released on YouTube a decade and a half later.-->

Although Beech Grove was incorporated in late 1906, it did not see rapid growth until the completion of the railroad facility in 1908; as of July 1907, for example, there were only four homes and two businesses in place.

Beech Grove grew with two annexations after [[World War II]], with the final one (1967) taking place just before the [[Unigov]] legislation which merged [[Indianapolis]] with most of the rest of Marion County, preventing future annexation.

Two famous actors have listed Beech Grove as their birthplace&mdash;[[Clifton Webb]] (November 19, 1889&ndash;1966) and [[Steve McQueen (actor)|Steve McQueen]] (March 24, 1930&ndash;1980). Webb was born before Beech Grove came into existence as a separate entity, while McQueen was born at the city's St. Francis Hospital.

On October 15, 1948, Beech Grove received the honor of a visit by a sitting [[President of the United States]]. [[Harry S. Truman]], a Mason, came to the city's Masonic Lodge during his [[1948 United States presidential election|"whistle stop" re-election campaign]] to participate in a ceremony involving a member of his staff who was one of its members.

[[File:Amtrak cars undergoing HEP conversion at Beech Grove, 1980.jpg|thumb|[[Amtrak]] trains are serviced at the [[Beech Grove Shops]] in 1980.]]