The IU Board of Trustees approved renaming the university-owned stretch of Jordan Avenue to Eagleson Avenue, according to an IU press release Friday.
IU owns the section of Jordan Avenue from Law Lane to 17th Street. The trustees decided in an October 2020 meeting to remove the name of the university’s seventh president, David Starr Jordan, from Jordan River, Jordan Hall and the Jordan Avenue Parking Garage because his views on eugenics conflicted with the university’s values, according to the release.
The IU Renaming Committee and the IU Board of Trustees initially planned to rename the university-owned section “Fuller Lane” in honor of Mattie Jacobs Fuller who was a successful businesswoman and suffragist within Bloomington.
In April, the City of Bloomington moved to rename the city-owned section of Jordan Avenue to Eagleson Avenue. IU has since decided to follow the city in renaming its section the same name.
The Eagleson family holds a distinguished position both in IU and Bloomington’s history. The family included IU’s first Black athlete and first Black female graduate, the Monroe County Woman of the Century and a member of the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II.
