History

Indianapolis, Indiana, was founded in 1821 when the mostly uninhabited marshland was selected as the state capital. The city’s name was chosen by the Honorable Jeremiah Sullivan, a justice on the state Supreme Court. He simply joined the name of the state, Indiana, with the Greek word for city, polis. The most common nickname for the city is “Indy.” Indianapolis has five sister cities: Cologne, Germany; Monza, Italy; Toronto, Canada; Piran, Slovenia; and Taipei, Taiwan.

Indianapolis is located in the central part of the state and is the county seat of Marion County. It is part of an area known as the “Nine-County Region,” which is the metropolitan area comprised of some 2 million residents. The population of the city of Indianapolis itself is just under 800,000.

Indianapolis is the twelfth largest city in the United States and the largest in the state of Indiana. It is also the third largest city in the Midwest, behind Chicago and Detroit, and, according to the most recent U.S. census, will be the second-largest in the Midwest, passing Detroit, by 2010. It is also one of the largest cities in the world not accessible by a major waterway. The city was founded on the White River, with founders thinking it would be a major source of industry and trade. But the river was too sandy to be useful for these purposes. This lack of a usable waterway caused Indianapolis to lack major industry in the early 20th century. Still, by 1910, over sixty automobile manufacturers called Indianapolis home. Even without a major waterway, other corporations were glad to inhabit Indianapolis…mostly from the food, pharmaceutical, and paper industries, including the enormous Eli Lilly Corporation. The city is known as “The Crossroads of America” because in 1847 a railroad was constructed there which became the first to have all its lines meet in one union station.

Indianapolis is in prime location as far as travel, being only a day’s drive for half the country’s population. Even at its inception, its location was ideal. Just a few years after the city was founded, construction was completed on the National Road, an east-to-west highway in the Midwest, and it ran right through downtown. It is now known as State Route 40. Today, four major interstates intersect in the metropolis: I-65, I-69, I-70 and I-74. These interstate highways allow easy access from Indianapolis to Chicago, Louisville, Cincinnati, Columbus, and St. Louis, among others. The many highway options have allowed Indianapolis to avoid some of the traffic congestion problems that would usually impact a city of its size.