Kurt Vonnegut Sr. (1884-1956)

The architect Kurt Vonnegut, Sr. — father of author Kurt Vonnegut — was born in Indianapolis and followed in his father Bernard’s footsteps. He was educated at Indianapolis Public School No. 10 and Shortridge High School before finishing high school at the American College in Strasbourg, Germany.

At age 19, he attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and graduated with a degree in architecture. He then joined his mother and sister for two years in Berlin, continuing his architectural studies in Germany. He returned to Indianapolis in 1910 to join his father’s firm, Vonnegut and Bohn, which kept the original name despite Bernard’s death in 1908.