History
Indianapolis was founded in 1822 as the state capitol. While it lies on the
old east-west National Road, the portion of that road that crosses Indiana
was not built until a decade after the city's foundation. While it was
founded on the White River, that waterway was too sandy for trade. Through
the mid-1800s, a horse-drawn barge canal by-passed the river bringing goods
into the city.
Later, rail connections enlarged the town, and the automobile, as in most
American cities, caused a suburban explosion. With automobile companies as
Duesenburg, Marmon, National, and Stutz, Indianapolis was a center of
production rivaling Detroit, at least for a few years. 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. Today, four interstate roads intersect in Indianapolis:
routes 65, 69, 70, and 74. The city is a major trucking center.
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 Unigov arrangement, and 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. Currently, Indianapolis is
undergoing serious internal debate over how much, or whether, more of local
taxation, government, and services should be further integrated.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, "the balance" (that part of
Marion County not part of another municipality) has a total area of 953.5
km² (368.2 mi²). 936.2 km² (361.5 mi²) of it is land and 17.3 km² (6.7 mi²)
of it is water. The total area is 1.81% water.
At the center of Indianapolis is the One-Mile Square, bounded by East, West,
North, and South Streets. At the center of the Square is Monument Circle, a
traffic circle at the intersection of Meridian and Market Streets, featuring
the Soldiers and Sailors Monument. (Monument Circle is depicted on the
city’s flag, and is generally considered the city’s symbol.) Four diagonal
streets pass through the corners of the Square. Nearly all of the streets in
the One-Mile Square are named after U.S. states. (The street-numbering
system centers not on the Circle, but rather one block to the south, where
Meridian Street intersects Washington Street — National Road.)
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 781,870 people, 320,107 households, and
192,704 families residing in the city, but the metropolitan population was
nearing 1.5 million. The population density was 835.1/km² (2,163.0/mi²).
There were 352,429 housing units at an average density of 376.4/km² (975.0/mi²).
The racial makeup of the balance was 69.09% European American, 25.50%
African American, 0.25% Native American, 1.43% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander,
2.04% from other races, and 1.64% from two or more races. Not traditionally
known for an ethnically diverse makeup, 3.92% of the population are Hispanic
or Latino of any race. The majority of non-white population lives in the
central and north portions of the inner-city area.
There are 320,107 households out of which 29.8% have children under the age
of 18 living with them, 40.6% are married couples living together, 15.1%
have a female householder with no husband present, and 39.8% are non-families.
32.0% of all households are made up of individuals and 8.5% have someone
living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is
2.39 and the average family size is 3.04.
The age distribution is: 25.7% under the age of 18, 10.2% from 18 to 24,
32.9% from 25 to 44, 20.3% from 45 to 64, and 11.0% who are 65 years of age
or older. The median age is 34 years. For every 100 females there are 93.7
males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 90.2 males.
The median income for a household in the balance is $40,051, and the median
income for a family is $48,755. Males have a median income of $36,302 versus
$27,738 for females. The per capita income is $21,640. 11.9% of the
population and 9.1% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total
people living in poverty, 16.2% are under the age of 18 and 8.1% are 65 or
older.
Sports and Recreation
Indianapolis is the home of the Indianapolis Indians, a minor league
baseball team in the International League, the Indiana Pacers of the
National Basketball Association, the Indiana Fever of the Women's National
Basketball Association, the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football
League, and the Indiana Firebirds of the Arena Football League. In addition,
the headquarters of the NCAA is in Indianapolis. The city has been referred
to as "The Amateur Sports Capital of the World".
In 1987 Indianapolis played host to the Pan American Games.
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, located in Speedway, is the site of the
Indianapolis 500, an automobile race held each Memorial Day weekend on a two
and one half mile oval track. The first 500 mile race was won by Ray Harroun
in the Marmon "Wasp" in 1911. Marmon, incidentally, was an Indianapolis
manufacturer. Currently, open wheel "Indy Cars" race here, sanctioned by the
IRL (Indy Racing League).
The Brickyard, as it is often called, also hosts the NASCAR Brickyard 400
stock car race each August and the Formula 1 U.S. Grand Prix recently moved
from September to June.
As measured by the number of fans in attendance (estimated at close to
300,000), the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400 are the two largest
annual single-day sporting events in the world.
Education
Indianapolis is the home of Butler University, the University of
Indianapolis, and Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis. The
last was originally an urban conglomeration of branch campuses of the two
major state universities, Indiana University in Bloomington and Purdue
University in West Lafayette. A merged campus created downtown in 1969 at
the site of the IU School of Medicine has continuously grown, with a student
body today of about 28,000, the third-largest campus in the state.
Other facts
The most common nickname for Indianapolis is ‘Indy’. Other nicknames include
‘Circle City’ (after Monument Circle) and ‘Naptown’ (presumably shortened
from ‘IndiaNAPolis’, but often taken derogatorily to mean sleepy or boring).
Both of the US navy ships named USS Indianapolis were named for this city.
Indianapolis is the international headquarters of the pharmaceutical
corporation Eli Lilly and Company and the US headquarters of Roche
Diagnostics.
Indianapolis is served by Indianapolis International Airport.
Notable people from Indianapolis
Joyce DeWitt, comedy actress (born in West Virginia, but grew up in the
suburb of Speedway)
Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, R&B music producer and performer
Vivica A. Fox, actress
Michael Graves, architect
Benjamin Harrison, U.S. president (born in North Bend, Ohio)
David Letterman, talk show host
Jane Pauley, television personality
James Whitcomb Riley, writer (born in nearby Greenfield)
Oscar Robertson, Basketball Hall of Famer (born in Tennessee, but grew up in
Indianapolis)
Kurt Vonnegut, novelist
