Commentary by Fred Hecker
Circa 1901, there was a modest bungalow located near 16th and Senate, Indianapolis, near the Methodist/IU Hospital. Rumor has it that it was an African American Lodge.
There was a business located nearby owned by Doherty Sheerin. He eventually purchased the building, had it torn down and the lumber was brought to the “country” in 1931. There, a house was reconstructed and used as a summer home.
The Sheerin family would often come out to the cottage via the interurban railway from Indianapolis to points north. They got off at 106th near College and walked to this destination. It eventually got a rural route designation of RR 1, Box 623. The property was then part of Clay Township, at the time this was outside of the Carmel city limits.
The original deed dates back to 1834 when 80 acres of land was granted from ‘U.S. to the Power family.’ Eventually, a man by the name of Mr. Hensel, a farmer, became the property owner in 1914. Before Keystone became a road, Hensel brought his cows for grazing on some grassy areas to the west. Hensel’s farm was on the east side of the current Keystone Parkway.
In 1931, The Sheerin family acquired 10 acres from Hensel and eventually sold off 5 acres to the west in 1959. That same year, the property was acquired by a Mr. Kettery and eventually sold to a Mr. Hunt in 1964 and in 1968, they sold it to a Mr. Hecker.
Now, when Sheerin owned the property, the home was used for something unique.
Sheerin was a well-known alcoholic and eventually died of cirrhosis of the liver. Prior to his death, he went to Milwaukee where there was a treatment facility for alcoholics, but the treatment was unsuccessful. Later, in 1940, his family heard about a new concept and invited people from Akron, Ohio, the home base of Alcoholics Anonymous, to come and help him. At this location in Carmel, the first Indianapolis chapter of AA was started.
