Abraham Crum Shortridge Memorial

Abraham Crum Shortridge was born on October 22, 1833, in New Lisbon, Indiana. After graduating from Fairview Academy and Green Mount Boarding School, he taught at Whitewater College in Centerville, Indiana. He moved to Indianapolis in 1861, to teach at North Western Christian University (now Butler University). In 1862, the 29-year-old college professor was chosen to be the first superintendent of the Indianapolis Public Schools. In 1864, he founded Indianapolis High School. The secondary school was later renamed Shortridge High School in his honor. Mr. Shortridge also helped found the Indiana State Teachers Association (ISTA) and the Indianapolis Public Library (IPL). He was the second President of Purdue University. Later in life, he served as Justice of the Peace in Warren Township. Abraham was nearly blind for most of his life. He also endured the amputation of his left leg after being run over by an Interurban car. Nonetheless, Mr. Shortridge lived a long and productive life. He died on October 8, 1919, just two weeks shy of his 86th birthday.

Unfortunately, the person who provided the information that would later be carved on his cemetery headstone misspelled his name. The existing marker at Crown Hill Cemetery cannot be revised. This GoFundMe campaign aspires to raise the means to replace the existing stone with as similar as possible new stone on which Abraham Shortridge's name is spelled correctly. If you agree that the name on the headstone of a man who spent his life promoting the value of education should be spelled correctly, please consider making a small donation to correct this grave error. If only a fraction of the living alumnae of Shortridge High School, as well as the alumni of any Indianapolis Public School, contributed, the goal can quickly be met. If you donate, you will be acknowledged on my Facebook page, as well as at the unveiling of the new headstone at Crown Hill Cemetery. However, the amount of your donation will not appear anywhere else but on the GoFundMe site. Any amount whatsoever will be received with sincere appreciation. Please help correct this 104-year-old mistake.