INDIANAPOLIS

INDIANAPOLIS ranked as the twelfth largest city in the United States in 2000. The Indiana legislature selected the area as the state's capital in 1821 due to its central location, but the city remained a small and commercially insignificant town until the 1840s because of its inaccessibility. In 1847, railroads linked the city to national markets, attracting businesses and residents. From that time through the 1970s, Indianapolis served as a manufacturing and agribusiness hub for the Midwest. The "Rust Belt" phenomenon, and particularly the recession of 1979–1982, effected changes in the national economy that forced many of the city's largest employers to eventually close or move elsewhere, resulting in a blighted and

depressed inner city. Revitalization efforts focusing on sports and attracting high technology and science-related industry slowly reversed the blight and transformed the city into a model for urban renewal. Circle Centre Mall, the Canal Walk, and the placement of several museums and other venues in an education corridor continued the beautification of downtown after 1990.

Since the early 1970s, the city's leaders have endeavored to link the Circle City with sports, creating the Indiana Sports Corporation to coordinate efforts to bring competitive events to the city, spending more than $400 million between 1979 and 2001 for sporting venues and related structures with the help of private organizations, and eagerly seeking to host professional sports teams. Indianapolis remains best known for automobile racing and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with the Indianapolis 500, the Brickyard 400, and the U.S. Grand Prix—the highest attended events for each racing series. Approximately 2 million visitors per year travel to Indianapolis for the various sporting events and conventions, making tourism a major factor in the city's economy.

The revitalization efforts of the 1970s and 1980s may not have been possible without a consolidated city-county government with a strong mayor and city-county council at its center. Most city and county offices were consolidated and placed under the authority of a mayoral appointee in 1969, in what is popularly known as Unigov. The borders of the city of Indianapolis became contiguous with those of Marion County, expanding the size of the city to 361 square miles.

Major employers in Indianapolis in the early twenty-first century include government, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, grocery outlets, universities, and manufacturing. As of 2002, the three largest employers were Clarion Health, Eli Lilly and Company, and Marsh Supermarkets. The 2000 U.S. Census revealed that Indianapolis's population stood at 860,454 (70.2 percent non-Hispanic, white; 24.8 percent African American; 3.9 percent Hispanic; 1.3 percent Asian; and 0.6 percent Native American).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bodenhamer, David J., and Robert G. Barrows, eds. The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1994.

Bodenhamer, David J., Lamont Hulse, and Elizabeth B. Monroe. The Main Stem: The History and Architecture of North Meridian Street. Indianapolis: Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana, 1992.

Taylor, Rich. Indy: Seventy-Five Years of Racing's Greatest Spectacle. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991.

Bradford W.Sample

See alsoCapitals .