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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
a 284-foot-tall (86.5-meter-tall) neoclassical limestone and
bronze monument, the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument.
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. |
