Knowing One’s History

Schools Building Communities is planning to locate its first school — what we are calling an internationalized early college high school — within the National Design Factory at the corner of 22nd Street and the Monon Trail in Indianapolis’ Martindale-Brightwood community.

The National Design Factory, which is part of the Martindale on the Monon project headed by Development Concepts, Inc., is the former home of The National Automobile & Electric Company.

DCI — which paid homage to the Factory’s history in both name and logo — plans to fully renovate the massive facility into a community of advanced design business and innovative learning centers, ultimately serving children from kindergarten through high school and beyond. Just five minutes from downtown Indianapolis, the Design Factory is home to The Project School, a K-8 charter which opened in the fall of 2008.

“It is interesting that the National Design Factory is returning as a hub for both innovation and design,” said Will Pritchard, who oversees its transformation for DCI. “National built the state-of-the-art facility to concentrate on electric cars.”

A 1901 National ad gave description to the new facility. “Our factory is entirely new and modern,” it read. “constructed especially for automobile manufacture, and is equipped with the latest designs of accurately working machine tools, thus giving us unequalled facilities for the production of perfect goods at a minimum of cost.”

Run by Arthur C. Newby, one of the investors who created the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the winning vehicle in the 1912 Indianapolis 500 was a National, driven by Joe Dawson (right). The company changed its name to the National Motor & Vehicle Company in 1916, one year after its sales peak. The company closed in 1924, but its memory is preserved today.

If you are interested in exploring opportunities at the National Design Factory, please visit dcdevelopmentindy.com