Indiana Avenue’s Bohemian Club

April 13, 2025

During the mid-20th Century, social clubs played a large role in the Black music scene of Indianapolis. Local social clubs, including the Defiants and Cosmo Knights, hosted major concerts and dances across the city. One of the earliest Indianapolis social clubs to make an impact on the city’s music scene was The Bohemian Club.

The Bohemian club was started in the early 1920s and included many prominent Indiana Avenue men, from civil servants, like the Indianapolis police officer Roy Kennedy, to William “Kid” Edwards, a boxing promoter, and owner of a radio and record shop, on the Avenue. During the 1920s and ‘30s, the Bohemian Club sponsored major concerts and dances, featuring national and local performers, including Earl Hines, Roy Eldridge, Cleo Brown, Speed Webb, Slim Green, and many others. 

A 1947 article in the Indianapolis Recorder declared that “The Bohemian Club hosted the ritziest and most elegant affairs ever held along the Avenue.” The club also gave back to the community, as many of their events, were fundraisers for the Indianapolis Colored Orphans Home.

This week on Echoes of Indiana Avenue, we’ll celebrate the history of the Bohemian Club, by listening to music from artists who performed at their events.