Slippery Noodle Inn

The Slippery Noodle Inn opened in 1850 as the Tremont House, a roadhouse and inn at the southern edge of what was then a young Indianapolis. The two-story brick building survived the Civil War, four name changes, Prohibition, and a 20th-century brothel operation in its upper rooms (which the Yeagy family, who bought the bar in December 1963, closed in 1953 according to bar history). The original 'Tremont House' inscription is still visible on the exterior.

The building's basement is one of the most-cited Underground Railroad stops in Indianapolis. Local historians and the bar's own history describe the basement and an adjacent tunnel system as a hiding place for freedom seekers traveling north toward Canada in the 1850s and early 1860s. While the precise routes and individuals cannot be documented with the same rigor as named stations on the railroad, the building's age, basement layout, and location near rail and river corridors are consistent with documented Indianapolis-area Underground Railroad activity.

In the 1930s the building drew a darker clientele. The Brady and Dillinger gangs used the rear stable (originally built to house guests' horses) for target practice during Prohibition, and slugs from those sessions remain embedded in the building's lower east wall — a feature staff still point out today. Harold and Lorean Yeagy purchased the bar on Friday, December 13, 1963, and renamed it the Slippery Noodle Inn after a family debate.

Under the Yeagy family, the venue evolved into one of the Midwest's signature blues clubs, hosting nightly live music for decades. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has become a destination for visitors interested in Indianapolis's 19th-century commercial history, its African American history, and its bootleg and gangster lore.