Ball Nurses' Sunken Garden and Convalescent Park

Following the construction of the James Whitcomb Riley Children's Hospital in 1921, the Riley Memorial Association convinced the City of Indianapolis to purchase property east of site for a convalescent park.[4] The Riley Memorial Association first discussed buying the land for a convalescent park with the City of Indianapolis as early 1921.[5]

The garden was designed by Percival Gallagher, architect for the Olmstead Brothers, between 1929 and 1934 as a therapeutic greenspace for convalescence care. George A. Ball donated $10,000 to help improve the landscape around the Ball Residence for Nurses.[6] This garden is the only remaining public garden designed by the Olmstead Brothers in Indianapolis and the only Olmstead Brothers therapeutic greenhouse on an urban medical campus in the United States.[7] In 1947, the Nurses’ Alumnae Association donated the Robert Davidson sculpture known as Eve, which would become the centerpiece of the central pool.[8]

Ball Garden was listed on the National Register for Historic Places in 1996 under criterion c for its embodiment of masterful landscape architecture.[8] In 2016, the Ball Garden were rededicated by Indiana University President Michael McRobbie, Chancellor Nasser Paydar, and the Indiana University School of Nursing Dean Robin Newhouse.[9] The garden lies in between the Rotary Building to the north, the Ball Residence Hall and Ball Annex to the south.

In 2023, students engaged in the New Humanities Lab at the Arts and Humanities Institute of Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) undertook a project researching and documenting IUPUI's architecture. This effort was inspired by a 2009 project by Museum Studies students at IUPUI.