The area along the White River became a popular recreation space during the last half of the nineteenth century and several privately owned parks opened along this corridor.

Investment in Riverside Park declined after World War II and many facilities were demolished and never replaced while others suffered decades of neglect.

It was expanded to 18-holes in 1915 and a two-story brick clubhouse with a wraparound porch, locker rooms, a refreshment stand, and a second-floor assembly hall was built in 1916.

The City of Indianapolis leased the land to the club, allowing them to construct a 9-hole golf course and a clubhouse that would eventually become public property.

The 75-acre (30 ha) nursery was part of a system with the Garfield Park Conservatory, which propagated flowers and tropical plants.

During World War I, land adjacent to the nursery was developed as a victory garden, raising produce that was sold at cost.

The complex includes the Major Taylor Velodrome and BMX Track, which is owned by the Indianapolis Department of Parks and Recreation and operated by Marian University.

Today, the track features a digital weighing system, laser timer, scorer's bridge, and pit area.

The city of Indianapolis purchased the property in 1927 for use as a dance and music hall and sports venue, renaming it Municipal Gardens.

Riverside Park housed Indianapolis’ first zoological garden, beginning in 1898 with exhibits containing eagles and foxes.

The 20-foot (6.1 m) diameter pit housed two brown bears and was enclosed by stone steps and two concentric seven-foot (2.1 m) iron fences.

The 75-acre (30 ha) nursery was part of a system with the Garfield Park Conservatory that propagated flowers and tropical plants.

During World War I, land adjacent to the nursery was developed as a victory garden, raising produce that was sold at cost.

[5] Built by a private corporation on land adjacent to the public Riverside Park, with easy access from the city via electric streetcars, Riverside Amusement Park contained roller coasters, a mirror maze, a carousel, a miniature railway, a large shoot-the-chutes ride, a skating rink, a dancing pavilion, canoe and rowboat rentals, a bathing beach with a six-story diving tower, and arcade and carnival games.

The bridge, of steel-reinforced concrete with Bedford limestone facing, was designed as a dramatic gateway to Indianapolis from the Lafayette and Crawfordsville highways.

The roadway passed below an arch flanked by two towers, providing a sense of entry into the city while marking the main entrance of Riverside Park.

[5] In 1934, the New Deal era Civil Works Administration constructed an area for nature study and habitat for waterfowl where the Crooked Creek emptied into the White River.

Constructed on 20 acres (8.1 ha) just north of Riverside Golf Course, the watershed was named for Reginald H. Sullivan, mayor of Indianapolis in 1930–1935 and 1940–1943.

Lake Sullivan needed to be dredged several times of years of accumulated sentiment and debris from Crooked Creek but was still a natural educational site for area schools.

The construction of Interstate 65 and its bridge across the White River bisected what was Lake Sullivan leaving behind a kind of swampy wasteland that served no one.

[15] In 1895, Thomas Taggart was elected mayor of Indianapolis, becoming the first Irish American to hold a major city office.

After leaving office in 1901, he became a national figure in Progressive Era Democratic politics as well as a co-owner of the French Lick Springs Hotel.

These changes left the Taggart Memorial isolated on one side of the new drive, severely damaging the formal entrance to Riverside Park and the carefully designed processional experience.