Indianapolis

Basic information

Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County. It is the largest city in Indiana, third largest in the Midwest (behind Chicago and Detroit) and the 14th largest in the U.S. It is interesting to know that Indianapolis is one of the two state capitals that share their names with their states (the other is Oklahoma City).

The city has nearly 800 000 residents, most of them are White (66,4%), while the Black population is presented with 25,7% and Hispanic and Latinos make up 6,6% of city’s population. In smaller amounts here live people form Asia, Pacific Islands and American Indians.

Indianapolis, through its history, has been mostly focused on its government and industry (especially manufacturing), but today the city economy is much more diversified and tourism, health care and finance dominate.

One of the synonyms for the city is, surely, the annual Indianapolis 500 mile race.

City History

19th century

The rising of the city

Indianapolis was selected to be the site for the new state capital in 1820. Strategically, it has had a perfect location, since most of the U.S. capitals has always tended to be located in the central region of the state and Indianapolis is the only state capital to be in the exact center of its state.

The city’s name came from Jeremiah Sullivan, a judge from the Indiana Supreme Court, who was inspired by the Greek word polis-meaning city-so literally, Indianapolis means Indiana City.

The city was founded on the White River, supposing that the river could be usefull for a major transportation. However, the waterway was too sandy for trade and the capital moved in 1825. and the state commissioned Alexander Ralston to design the new capital city. Ralston was an apprentice to the French architect Pierre L’Enfant and was helping him to plan Washington.

Indianapolis is located on the original east-west National Road. The first railroad in the city, the Madison & Indianapolis, began with its work on October the 1st 1847. and subsequent railroad connections made expansive growth possible.

Indianapolis was the home to the first Union Station (common rail passenger terminal) in the U.S.

By the end of the 19th century Indianapolis became large automobile manufacturer and rival of Detroit. The city’s nickname The Crossroads of America came from its roads leading out of the city in all directions, the reason why Indianapolis was a major hub of regional transport, connected with Chicago, Louisville, Cincinnati, Columbus, Detroit, Cleveland and St.Louis.

20th century

Racial tensions, urban decay and revitalisation

In the first half of the century, city population grew rapidly and, with rapid suburbanization, race relations deteriorated. Even so, when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated Indianapolis was the only major city in which rioting did not occur, for what many credit the speech of Robert F. Kennedy, who was in town, during his campaign.

However, racial tensions heightened in 1970. with the passage of Unigov, which further isolated the middle class from Indianapolis’s growing African American community. Another controversial change was court-ordered school desegregation busing by Judge S. Hugh Dillon.

1970s and 1980s were years of the urban decay and white flight. The revitalisation of the city began in the 1990s including city’s blinded areas (Fall Creek Place, downtown) , and led to an acceleration of growth on the fringes of the metropolitan Area.

Indianapolis Economy

The city economy has many sectores, the most important of which are manufacturing, services, agriculture, government, wholesale and retail trade, transportation and public utilities.

Basic manufacturing goods are metals, transportation equipment, motor vehicles, industrial machinery and electronic.

Indianapolis is the headquarter of many international corporations such as: the pharmaceutical corporation Eli Lilly and Company, wireless distribution and logistics provider Brightpoint, health insurance provider Wellpoint, Roche Diagnostics and Thomson SA. Other major metropolitan Indianapolis areas employers are Rolls Royce, General Motors, Clarin Health etc.

Indianapolis International Airport is the largest airport in Indiana, it is home to the second largest FedEx operation in the world (behind Memphis) and the United States Postal Service Eagle Network Hub.

The largest development initiative in the city’s history is the $1,1 billion project, thirty years in planning, the new Indianapolis Airport.

By 2011. another great city project is scheduled to be completed. It is the Indianapolis Cultural Trail-a world class urban bike and pedestrian path that connects the city’s five downtown cultural districts neighborhoods and entertainment amenities.

According to some statistics made in the fourth quarter of last year, Indianapolis is quite good place to live and work in. The National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo ranked Indianapolis the most affordable major housing market in the U.S. and Forbes Magazine ranked it the sixth best city for jobs. This status the city gain for its perceived median household incomes, lack of unemployment, income growth, cost of living and job growth.

Indianapolis Today

Music city

Indianapolis a center of music, so here you may visit different music festivals and event through the year: Drum Corps International , Music for All, Inergy, Indy’s Official Musical Ambassadors, the Percussive Arts Society, the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis , the American Pianists’ Association and Indy Jazz Festival .

Annual Indy Jazz Fest is a three day event (organized every year since 1999) held in Military Park near the canal. Many stars including B. B. King, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Chris Isaak and Kool and the Gang, were performing on this festival.

Symphony on the Praire are summer concert series which holds the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra each summer.

Drink fests

Another outstanding city event is the Indy International Wine Competition, the largest U.S. wine competition outside of California, held in Indianapolis every July at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. There are also several beer festivals, the most notable of which is the annual Indiana Microbrewers Festival held in Optimist Park in Broad Ripple.

Ethnic and cultural heritage

One of the greatest ethnic-cultural festival in the city is the Summer Celebration held by Indiana Black Expo. This national event lasts ten days and is dedicated to the contribution of African Americans to U.S. society and culture. With over 300 000 participants from around the world, this festival provides a lot of educational, entertainment and networking opportunities.

Indianapolis 500-Mile Race

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the site of the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race (also known as the Indy 500). This is an open-wheel automobile race held each Memorial Day weekend on a 2,5 miles oval track. This is the greatest single-day sport event in the world, hosting the audience of more than 257 000 visitors.