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Pictured: Denver Ferguson, ca. 1953
Credit: Indianapolis Recorder Collection, Indiana Historical SocietyView Source

Ferguson Brothers

Entertainment entrepreneurs

Denver Darious (Feb.19, 1895-May 11, 1957) and Sea Harious (Dec. 22, 1899-Mar. 3. 1974). Denver Darious and Sea Harious Ferguson were African American leaders within the jazz and entertainment scene along Indiana Avenue. The brothers were born to Samuel H. and Mattie Whitney Ferguson in Brownsville, Kentucky (Edmonson County). In Brownsville, Denver Ferguson, a journalist, founded the Edmonson Star News in 1916. In 1919, following his service in World War I, Denver Ferguson moved to Indianapolis and started a printing company that soon handled the printing of lottery and sports tickets. Sea Ferguson followed him to work at his printing company in 1924.

Six men stand in a semi-circle in a large room. — *Sea Ferguson (far left) and others at the newly opened Sea Ferguson’s Fun Bowl, 1942* **Credit:** Indiana Historical Society View Source

In the 1930s, the Ferguson Brothers began opening a string of jazz and entertainment clubs. Their clubs included the Trianon Ballroom, at 244 West Vermont Street, which opened in 1931, and the four-story Cotton Club, at Senate and Vermont, which opened in 1933. They opened two clubs along Indiana Avenue in 1937: the Royal Palm Gardens and Sunset Terrace Ballroom.

They also founded the Ferguson Brothers’ Booking Agency (also known as F. Brothers Booking Agency), which brought nationally recognized musicians to their clubs and Indianapolis, including Freddie Hubbard, Duke Ellington, and J. J. Johnson. The booking agency quickly grew to become one of the largest African-American-owned entertainment agencies in the country.

A large number of people stand on either side of a street. An empty convertible is parked in front of two entrances, one with the sign "The Sunset Cafe" over the door and the other with "Sunset Terrace" over its door. — *The Sunset Terrace on Indiana Avenue owned by brothers Denver and Sea Ferguson, ca. 1953* **Credit:** Indiana Historical Society View Source

The brothers also opened and operated the Ferguson Hotel located at 11^th and Capitol. In 1941, Sea, an officer of the National Negro Bowling Association, opened the Fun Bowl, a bowling alley, on West Street. Sea reportedly was the third African American to build a bowling center.

Following the decline of Indiana Avenue in the 1950s, the Ferguson brothers slowly closed their clubs. The Ferguson brothers impacted the community and entertainment scene in Indianapolis for decades. Their work made Indianapolis a premier location for entertainment for white and Black citizens and helped to established it as a regional jazz center.

MEAGHAN JARNECKE (2021)

Revised March 2021

KEY WORDS

African AmericansEconomy/BusinessPerforming ArtsPopular CultureSports

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