The Flanner House opened its doors 125 years ago this year with the focus of support the needs of a growing Black community.The Great Migration sent thousands of African Americans north in the years after slavery, and many settled in Indianapolis.

The Flanner House started as a tool to moral, social and community, providing education, training and pathways to homeownership. In the 1940s, the nonprofit started building what would be known as Flanner Homes. The first of those homes built near Crispus Attucks High School. With many Black soldiers unable to cash in on the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the GI Bill, of those who did, many found their homes around Indianapolis.

The Flanner Houses were built on more than just wood. It’s a foundation laid with pride, welcoming in a group of people who made a lot of a little.