In Fall 2016, students in Dr. Jen Erickson’s Ethnographic Methods course at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, created this site to share their research about the Riverside/Normal City neighborhood, located to the east of the University. The story of this neighborhood is also a story about Ball State and the city of Muncie, known widely as Middletown, U.S.A., after Robert and Helen Lynd’s iconic study of this small city (1929, 1937). We invite you to read about the history and contemporary status of this iconic Middletown Neighborhood.
Check out this video of our project.
The Riverside/Normal City Neighborhood 
I lived in this neighborhood at my grandmother’s house from about September, 1975 to about August, 1980. I went to Ball State. My grandmother was Helen Barlow, widow of Leo Barlow. They ran the Riverside Grocery at Pauline and Ashland Avenues until about 1963. It was nearly destroyed by zoning that allowed single family homes to be occupied by multiple student dwellers.
LikeLike
Thanks for sharing, Michael!
LikeLike