Indianapolis History
Indianapolis was founded as the
state capital in 1821. Jeremiah Sullivan, a judge of the Indiana Supreme
Court,
invented
the name Indianapolis by joining Indiana with polis, the Greek word for
city. The city was founded on the White River under the incorrect assumption
that the river would serve as a major transportation artery; however, the
waterway was too sandy for trade. The state commissioned Alexander Ralston
to design the new capital city. Ralston was an apprentice to the French
architect Pierre L'Enfant, and he helped L'Enfant plan Washington, DC.
Ralston's original plan for Indianapolis called for a city of only 1 square
mile, and, at the center of the city, sat the Governor's Circle, a large
circular commons, which was to be the site of the Governor's mansion. The
Governor's mansion was finally demolished in 1857 and in its place stands
the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument.
The Soldiers' and Sailors'
Monument is a 284-feet tall neoclassical oolitic limestone and bronze
monument in the center of Indianapolis, Indiana (and Marion County,
Indiana). It was erected to honor Hoosiers who were veterans of
the American Revolution, territorial conflicts that partially led up to the
War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, and the US Civil War. It was designed
by German architect Bruno Schmitz, and was completed in 1901. In addition to
its external commemorative statuary and fountains, the basement of the
monument is a museum of Indiana history during the American Civil War.
The monument lies within "Monument Circle". The circle did not always host a
monument, originally it was designated Governor's square for the Governor's
residence which stood in the center of the brick circle. The outside of the
circle is today surrounded by small retail shops, including the South Bend
Chocolate Factory, studios for several local radio stations, the Hilbert
Circle Theatre (home of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra), financial
institutions, one of the oldest social clubs of Indianapolis, and an
historic Episcopal Cathedral. The circle is the
standard
symbol of the city of Indianapolis, and the city's flag is an iconic
representation of Monument Circle and the two streets (Meridian and Market)
that feed into and out of it. At one time, it was illegal to build any
building taller than the monument within Indianapolis city limits, although
there are now many skyscrapers exceeding its size.
Several public events are scheduled at or near the monument, and it is
decorated by the city every Christmas season, with the monument becoming
adorned as a gigantic Christmas tree. This city tradition is known as the
Circle of Lights. It also is used as a venue for an annual outdoor art
display with an Indianapolis 500 theme. During June it plays host to the
Chrysler Concourse Grand Prix, a mainstay of the formula one celebrations in
Indianapolis.
The city lies on the original east-west National Road. The first railroad to
service Indianapolis, the Madison & Indianapolis, began operation on October
1, 1847, and subsequent railroad connections made expansive growth possible.
By the turn of the century, Indianapolis had become a heavy automobile
manufacturer, rivaling the likes of Detroit. With roads leading out of the
city at all directions, Indianapolis was on its way to becoming a major
"hub" of regional transport connecting to Chicago, Louisville, Cincinnati,
Columbus and St. Louis, as is befitting the capital of a state whose motto
is "The Crossroads of America." Ironically, this same network of roads would
allow quick and easy access to suburban areas in future years. Natural gas
and oil deposits in the surrounding area in the late 19th century helped the
economy of Indianapolis prosper. City population grew rapidly throughout the
first half of the 20th century. During this period, rapid suburbanization
began to take place, and racial relations deteriorated throughout the 1960s,
although, on the night that the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was
assassinated, Indianapolis was the only major city in which rioting did not
occur. Racial tensions heightened in 1970 with the passage of Unigov, which
further isolated the middle class from Indianapolis' growing African
American community.
In the 1970s and 1980s Indianapolis suffered at the hands of urban decay and
white flight. Major revitalization of the city's blighted areas, such as
Fall Creek Place, and especially the downtown, occurred in the 1990s and led
to an acceleration of growth in and around the Indianapolis Metropolitan
Area.
Early Years
Indianapolis was founded as the state capital in 1821 by an act of the
Indiana General Assembly. Prior to its official founding, Indianapolis was a
swampy area called the Fall Creek Settlement sparsely settled by fur
traders. The first European American settler is generally believed to be
George Pogue, who on March 2, 1819, settled in a double log cabin along the
White River in what is now White River State Park in downtown Indianapolis.
The state commissioned Alexander Ralston to design the new capital city.
Ralston was an apprentice to the French architect Pierre L'Enfant, and he
helped L'Enfant plan Washington, DC. Ralston's original plan for
Indianapolis called for a city of only 1 square mile. Under Ralston's plan,
at the center of the city was placed the Governor's Circle, a large circular
commons, which was to be the site of the Governor's mansion. It was used as
a market commons for over six years. Although an expensive Governor's
mansion was finally constructed in 1827, no Governor ever lived in the house
at Governor's Circle, as the site in the city center lacked any privacy. The
Governor's mansion was finally demolished in 1857. (See History of
Indianapolis and Marion County Indiana by B.R. Sulgrove, 1884). Later,
Governor's Circle became Monument Circle after the impressive 284-foot-tall
(86.5-meter-tall) neoclassical limestone and bronze State Soldiers' and
Sailors' Monument, designed by German architect Bruno Schmitz, was completed
on the site in 1901.
The Industrial Era
While the city lies on the old east-west National Road, the portion of that
road that crosses Indiana was not completed until a decade after the city's
founding. Indianapolis was founded on the White River under the incorrect
assumption that the river would serve as a major transportation artery;
however, the waterway was too sandy for trade. Through the mid-1800s, a
horse-drawn barge canal by-passed the river bringing goods into the city.
The Central Canal was one of eight major infrastructure projects authorized
by the state's Mammoth Improvement Bill of 1835. The Central Canal was
intended to run 296 miles (476 km) from near Logansport, through
Indianapolis, and to Evansville. The Central Canal was planned to connect
the Wabash and Erie Canal to the Ohio River, completing a link between Lake
Erie in the State of Ohio with the portion of the Ohio River flowing through
southern Indiana in order to promote trade and commerce along its length.
Construction of the Central Canal commenced in 1836, but Indiana went
bankrupt in 1839 from the loans taken out under the aforementioned bill and
all work on the project ceased. At the time, the 24 mile (39 km) portion of
the Indianapolis section of the canal was dug and filled, but only an 8.29
mile (13 km) portion connecting downtown Indianapolis with the village of
Broad Ripple to the north was ever operational. The portion of the completed
Central Canal and adjoining White River have been turned into the White
River State Park.
The first railroad to service Indianapolis, the Madison & Indianapolis,
began operation on October 1, 1847, and subsequent railroad connections
enlarged the town. The population soared from just over 8,000 in 1850 to
more than 169,000 by 1900. Later, the automobile, as in most American
cities, caused a suburban explosion. With automobile companies as Duesenberg,
Marmon, National, and Stutz, Indianapolis was a center of production
rivaling Detroit, at least for a few years. The internationally renowned
automobile races that take place at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway every
year are a notable residual from that booming industry at the beginning of
the 20th century. With roads as the spokes of a wheel, Indianapolis was on
its way to becoming a major "hub" of regional transport connecting to
Chicago, Louisville, Cincinnati, Columbus and St. Louis, as is befitting the
capital of a state whose motto is "The Crossroads of America." Today, four
interstate roads intersect in Indianapolis: routes 65, 69, 70, and 74. The
city is a major trucking center, and the extensive network of highways has
allowed Indianapolis to enjoy a relatively low amount of traffic congestion
for a city its size.
Economic and Political Development
Indianapolis entered a period of great prosperity at the beginning of the
20th century, and during this time the city witnessed great economic,
social, and cultural progress. Much of this was due to the discovery in 1886
of a huge natural gas deposit in east-central Indiana, the celebrated
Trenton Field. A few years later, the discovery of oil in the area would
follow. The Trenton Field formed the western portion of what was at the time
the world's largest oil field and natural gas deposit, the Lima-Indiana
Field (stretching from northwestern Ohio to east-central Indiana). The state
government offered a free supply of natural gas to factories that were built
there. This led to a sharp increase in industries such as glass and
automobile manufacturing. However, the natural gas deposits were largely
depleted by 1912 and completely gone by 1920, and the end of the gas boom
along with the coinciding rapid decline of oil production (which continued
on a greatly diminished scale until 1930) contributed to an abrupt end of
the golden era.
Racial Relations
A darker period of Indianapolis history began with the rise of the second Ku
Klux Klan movement in the United States. The Indiana chapter of the Klan was
founded in 1920 and quickly became the most powerful Klan organization in
the United States. In 1922, D. C. Stephenson was appointed the Klan Grand
Dragon of Indiana and 22 other states; he promptly moved the Indiana Klan's
headquarters to Indianapolis, which was already coming under the Klan's
influence. The Klan became the most powerful political and social
organization in the city during the period from 1921 through 1928. The Klan
continued to solidify its stronghold on the state, taking over the Indiana
Republican Party and using its new political might to establish a
Klan-backed slate of candidates which swept state elections in 1924. The
elections allowed the Klan to seize control of the Indiana General Assembly
and place the corrupt Governor Edward Jackson in office. By then, more than
40% of the native-born white males in Indianapolis claimed membership in the
Klan. Klan-backed candidates took over the City Council, the Board of School
Commissioners, and the Board of County Commissioners. Through the Klan,
Stephenson ruled over the State of Indiana, leading a powerful national
movement set on gaining control of the United States Congress and the White
House. However, the power of the Klan would quickly begin to crumble after
Stephenson was convicted at the end of 1925 for the rape and murder of a
young Indianapolis woman, Madge Oberholtzer. Following Stephenson's
conviction, the Klan suffered a tremendous blow and quickly lost influence.
When Governor Jackson refused to pardon Stephenson, he retaliated by going
public with information of corruption which brought down several politicians
throughout Indiana. The Mayor of Indianapolis and several local officials
were convicted of bribery and jailed. Governor Jackson was indicted on
charges of bribery, but he was acquitted in 1928 because the statute of
limitations had run out; he completed his term in disgrace. The Klan
continued to dwindle in popularity in Indiana and nationwide, and the
national organization officially disbanded in 1944.
Years later, Indianapolis would witness an historic moment in the Civil
Rights Movement. On April 4, 1968, while on route to a presidential campaign
rally in Indianapolis, Robert F. Kennedy would learn of the assassination of
Martin Luther King Jr. which occurred earlier that day. Kennedy would later
deliver an impromptu speech on race reconciliation to a mostly
African-American crowd in a poor inner-city Indianapolis neighborhood. While
rioting broke out in cities across the United States following the news of
King's assassination, Indianapolis was the only major city where rioting did
not occur.
Unigov
As the result of a 1970 consolidation between city and county government
(known as "Unigov"), the city of Indianapolis merged most government
services with those of the county. For the most part, this resulted in a
unification
of Indianapolis with its immediate suburbs. Four communities within Marion
County (Beech Grove, Lawrence, Southport and Speedway) are partially outside
of the Unigov arrangement. Also, 11 other communities (called "included
towns") are legally included in the Consolidated City of Indianapolis under
Unigov, per Indiana Code 36-3-1-4 sec. 4(a)(2), which states that the
Consolidated City of Indianapolis includes the entire area of Marion County,
except the four previously mentioned "excluded" communities. The 11
"included towns" elected to retain their "town status" under Unigov as
defined according to the Indiana Constitution (there were originally 14, but
3 later dissolved), but the Indiana Constitution does not define "town
status."
These "included towns" are fully subject to the laws and control of the
Consolidated City of Indianapolis, but some still impose a separate property
tax and provide police and other services under contract with township or
county government or the City of Indianapolis. Additionally, throughout
Marion County certain local services such as schools, fire and police remain
unconsolidated. However, the mayor of Indianapolis is also the mayor of all
of Marion County, and the City-County Council sits as the legislative body
for all of Marion County. Currently, Indianapolis is undergoing serious
internal debate over how much, or whether, more of local taxation,
government, and services should be further integrated. Further consolidation
of city and county services and functions would require passage of new
legislation by the Indiana General Assembly.
A bill, dubbed Indianapolis Works, was proposed by the current mayor, Bart
Peterson, and introduced in the 2005 legislative session of the state
General Assembly, which would have further consolidated local government in
the City of Indianapolis and Marion County. After a very contentious and
partisan debate, the Assembly passed an extremely watered-down version of
the original bill; the final enacted legislation consolidates budgetary
functions of the City and County, permits the Indianapolis City-County
Council to vote to consolidate the Indianapolis Police Department and the
Marion County Sheriff's Department, and also permits consolidation of the
Indianapolis Fire Department with township fire departments based upon
approval of all affected parties. On June 14, 2006, it was announced by city
leaders that the Washington Township Fire Department would be the first
township to merge with the Indianapolis Fire Department, effective January
1, 2007.
Police consolidation was defeated at the Council level in November 2005, but
the bill was revived and passed by the City-County Council on December 19,
2005 after slight revision. Indianapolis will now have a combined
metropolitan police force starting January 1, 2007. However, this
"metropolitan" police force will still not be the sole police agency within
Marion county or even pre-Unigov Indianapolis. The four excluded cities of
Beech Grove, Lawrence, Southport, and Speedway will still maintain separate
police forces, as will eight metropolitan school districts. In addition to
these well-defined exceptions, no less than seven "legacy" police
organizations, pre-dating Unigov, will still be maintained by various
"included towns" or townships within Marion County.
