The Stutz Building

 In 1911, Harry C. Stutz who had previously worked as an engineer at Marion, envisioned a sporty and powerful car priced under $2,000.  He built this car using components sourced from established manufacturers in just 5 weeks and immediately campaigned it at the inaugural Indianapolis 500.  The car finished 11th and Stutz immediately set about going into production, incorporating the Ideal Motor Company; and coined the phrase “The Car That Made Good in a Day”  based on the 500 success.  The first cars were simply duplicates of the car that ran in the 500 and were given the model name “Bearcat”.  Success followed quickly and the company was reorganized as the Stutz Motor Car Company in 1913. In 1916 Stutz took the company public, and sold controlling interest in the company.  Unhappy with the direction of the firm he departed in 1919, founded the HCS Motor Car Company and built a plant up the street that closely duplicated one bay of the Stutz Plant.

Stutz Motors had various ups and downs, coinciding with the direction of the overall economy, but perceivered until the Great Depression finally did it in, as it had many other luxury car manufacturers, in 1934.  Production had included FireTrucks as well as Automobiles, the final offering was a delivery van called the PackAge Car, which continued until 1938.

Eli Lilly and Co bought the building in 1940 and used it until 1983 for its Creative Packaging Division.  The building stood vacant for a decade until Turner Woodard  purchased the building and turned it into Artist Spaces.  Mr. Woodard’s visionary reuse of the building was very successful and the building became home to a wide variety of creative businesses.  This reuse became a model for other developers in the area, if not regionally and nationally.

Mr. Woodard sold controlling interest in the building in 2021 to Somerra Road, a national developer who is currently in the process of redeveloping the complex into more of a mixed use retail/business center.  A 7,000 SQF Museum is located in the former loading dock area of the building along 9th St. housing Mr. Woodard’s collection of Stutz motorcars, and is open to the public.