With nine blocks of red, white, and blue waving overhead, Wabash Avenue of Flags is one of the city’s most distinct streetscapes and a notable gateway to the West Side. A 1982 City Council resolution added “of Flags” to the street name at the request of the West Side Improvement Association and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1114, which sits at Wabash’s intersection with Indiana Street.
Formal dedication ceremonies occurred on Nov. 11, 1986 — Veterans Day — where donors’ names were added to a sign at Wabash and West Franklin Street. WSIA handles landscaping and maintenance. A major refresh came this spring when the city, using a grant from the Evansville Forest Alliance, removed 43 invasive callery pear trees in the grassy median and replaced them with 29 native shade trees.
The median’s flags, flying atop 27 poles from Lloyd Expressway to Maryland Street, are ordered annually by the VFW. Although he calls the flags’ annual cost substantial, Commander Jerry Blake wouldn’t have it another way: “We are very proud of it,” he says.
