Mortland Mausoleum

Alexander Mortland (1826-1878) was a wealthy land proprietor and one of the pioneer settlers in Indianapolis. He rose to prominence through subversive and sometimes illegal means. He gained his fortune through owning and operating “The Iron Door,” a gambling den and saloon located on North Illinois Street in downtown Indianapolis.

He owned a variety of properties throughout Indianapolis, most notably “The Iron Door” and a pre-Civil War estate he built on North Illinois Street. “The Iron Door” was a well-known gaming house that operated in the heart of Indianapolis, an area colloquially known to locals at the time as the Levee. When he died, he left his wife $75,000, quite a sum in 1878. When his wife Amelda died in 1923, their daughters had the family mausoleum constructed. In 2024, the mausoleum received exterior cleaning and caulking of the interior joints by Head Construction.