Prominent among early citizens are the families of Churchman, MacGregor, Bolton, and Cottman. In 1930, one of those descendants, George S. Cottman, wrote about the origin of the city and its name. He wrote, in part, "Because of the Beech Grove farm industry, a railway installation was at the nearest point on the Cincinnati road and this, at first called Ingallstown, afterwards took the name of Beech Grove Station. Still later the embryo town took the name of the station, and here we have the origin of the name, the first cause being the beech trees on the piece of woodland adjoining the cattle farm."

According to Cottman, the pioneer educational institution of the community was the old "Poplar Grove" one-room school, also designated as "District 9". It was built about 1868, one mile east of First Avenue on the New Bethel Pike, and served as a social center for the community. However, the first school in the town of Beech Grove was opened in 1907 on the second floor of William Wheat's Store. Beech Grove High School, now at its third site, is on land that was once the MacGregor farm, which adjoined the Churchman estate.

Wesley Chapel, believed to be the earliest church, was built in 1837 about two blocks east of First Avenue, and its foundation still can be traced just south of the present AMTRAK complex.

It was located on the corner of the Cottman farm, and four-acres for the adjoining cemetery was donated by the Arnold's.

Most of the early Beech Grove area was platted in 1906 by the Beech Grove Improvement Company, a firm engaged in the buying, holding, and selling of real estate. Beech Grove became an incorporated town that year with a town board form of government. As the city grew, it became a fifth class city in 1935 with a mayor-city council form of government. Then, it became a fourth class city 1961. Since 1935, the city mayors have been Charles Adams, Allen Hunter, Richard Byland, David Finney, Elton Geshwiler, Warner Wiley, and currently Donald "Joe" Wright.

Probably the best known early Beech Grove residents was Mrs. Sarah T. Bolton, famed writer of "Paddle Your Own Canoe" and many other poems. She came to Beech Grove some 100 years ago and wrote many of her poems in her home on South Seventeenth Avenue, which was known as Beech Bank. The city purchased the Bolton Farm and developed a city park there which is now enjoyed by many area residents.

Beech Grove residents enjoy the benefits of both a small town and a large city. They have their own school system, police and fire departments, parks, library, sanitation, and other services. Their mayor and city council are local and responsive. At the same time, they are next door to the services, shopping areas, recreational facilities, factories, and offices of metropolitan Indianapolis. They have in their midst one of the major hospitals in the state, and a medical arts building housing more than one hundred physicians practicing nearly every medical specialty.

The crime rate in Beech Grove is low, with serious crime a rarity. The city also enjoys one of the finest traffic safety records in the state. Neighborhoods are generally neat and well-maintained, and there are few extremes of either wealth or poverty. All in all, Beech Grove is a pleasant city in which to reside and enjoy the best of middle class living.