Indianapolis Overview

Famed throughout the world as the site of the Indianapolis 500--a car race so popular it's the largest single-day sporting event in the world--Indianapolis is indeed a sports-crazed town. Besides the Indy 500, the city is also home to three other wildly popular annual car races and a host of NCAA basketball events. But this capital city of nearly 1 million offers much more than sports. It has a growing arts and culture community, evidenced by its six official Cultural Districts and the innovative Cultural Trail (an urban bike and pedestrian path) linking them; is home to one of the world's largest children's museums; and has a booming, revitalized downtown that boasts first-rate hotels, restaurants, shops, and attractions. It's also a great place to visit to learn about history or the state's heritage, and is considered second only to Washington D.C. for the number of monuments located within city limits. Indianapolis welcomes millions of visitors from around the globe each year and has become a favorite tourist destination in the Midwest.

History

Indianapolis was founded in the early 1800s and was a major governmental and industrial hub for much of its early history. It was chosen specifically as the capital of Indiana in 1825, and is unique in that its location is in the exact center of the state. By 1900 it was one of America's leading automobile manufacturing sites, rivaling Detroit. It was also a major regional transportation hub, with roads connecting it to Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, Louisville, and St. Louis. Railroads also passed through Indianapolis, adding to its role as a transportation hub and allowing for rapid expansion of the city. Home to a large population of African-Americans, Indy was considered the only major city to avoid rioting on the night Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated. Like other American cities, Indianapolis' central sector fell into decay in the 1970s and 1980s, but major revitalization efforts over the past 20 years have transformed it into today's cosmopolitan, energetic city topped with a big dollop of Midwestern friendliness and charm.