IN'DIANAP'OLIS. The capital of Indiana and its largest eity, and the county-seat of Marion County: on White 11iver, in the centre of the State, 183 miles southeast of Chicago and III miles northwest of Cincinnati (Map: Indiana. C 3). It lies 7110 feet. abo%e sea-level, in a broad, rolling plain. The suri44unding region is rich in agri cultural and mineral and in forest trees of exceptional beauty, Large natural-gas and oil fields are tributary to it. and near by 711110 milts ill eX11.111. lie sides tilt•I'l• arc found in the vicinity of the capital bilibling-stone, marl, iron. and other min erals. Wholly inland city, Indianapolis relies tat railways for its commerce. Within 50 miles of the centre of population of the United States for the past No (let:ides. its location has made it a great railway centre. here terminate seven divisions of the Big Four system, six divisions of the Pennsylvania 'Railroad, two divisions of (lie and Western Rail way, the Lake Erie and Western, and the Monon, besides ten interurban electric sysnmis. The rail ways bring their passenger trains into a 111111d•• some union depot, and the interurban lines have contracted to erect a large union terminal sta tion to cost over $1,00(1.000. FreimItt passing Indianapolis is carried over a belt railway. miles long. It encircles the city. The street railway system represents all outlay of about S9,000.000, with 125 miles of tracks, and a park I Fairview ) containing 200 acres.
The city is noted for the Leanly of its streets, miming frem 40 to 120 feet in width, and shaded mainly by hard maples and elms. and eros,..ing nt right angles, In the heart of the city is a cir cular plaza, once known as 'the Governor's Circle,' and now (-ailed :Monument Piave, from which radiate four a
to the four corners of the city. The park system comprises 1250 acres. and
Inverside, l•Xtpritiing for live miles along both sides of White Iliv•r: the 'Indiana C'entral Ca mi I and Fall ('trek: 1:arfield, Brookside, Mill tal'V, Saint Clair, and l niversity parks. and Woodruff Place. The most notable
in Indianapolis is the Soldiers and Sailors' Nlonn inent, designed by Bruno s•hinitz. of Berlin. It was erected by I he State to commemorate the part Indiana bore in the wars of the Union. The monument is a shaft of stone and bronze 285 feet in height. surmounted by a figure of Indiana 'Iriumpliant. About the base are alh• gorical groups in stone representing war and peace, and beneath these are two great fountains. Near the monument are four subsidiary bronze statues of Gen. George l4mer.: ('lark, ( NVil Dam Ilene
(:ov.
Whitcomb. and (diver Perry Morton, There is also a statue of Selmyler Colfax iu University Park, and in the Capitol grounds one of Thounas A. Hendricks. A large fund has been raised for a memorial to Benjamin Harrison. The buildings most worthy of note are the Capitol, t92 by 185 feet, built of Indiana limestone at a cost of $2,000,000: the courthouse, city hall. Federal arsenal, new pa
city's bridges possess more than ordinary beauty; they span Fall Creek at Illinois and Meridian streets and at Central Avenue, and are of stone.
Indianapolis is the seat of the University of Indianapolis, with an academic department known as Butler College, and departments of law, medicine, and dentistry. Here are also a Roman Catholic theological seminary, a negro Baptist college, a college under the control of the United Brethren Church, the Heron Art Museum and Art School, the State institutions for the educa tion of the deaf and dumb and for the blind, a number of medical, dental, and law schools, etc. Public philanthropic institutions are numerous— a State reformatory for women, a State hospital for the insane, and many smaller hospitals, homes, and refuges for the sick and unfortunate. The public-school system includes, besides com mon schools, an academic high school and a manual-training high school, and a normal train ing-school. Its inventory of assets amounts to $2,398,766'; its indebtedness (.July 1. 1902), $868,000; its annual budget (1901), $934,337. Although far inland, Indianapolis is a port of entry and a point for the receipt and distribution of foreign as well as domestic commerce. Its chief articles of trade are grain and its products, live stock, meats, and the output of its exten sive manufactories—milling machinery. engines, drugs, vehicles, furniture, bags, woolens, starch, and terra-cotta.
The government of the city is vested in a mayor, a council of twenty-one members (fifteen elected by wards and six at large), and a police judge, all chosen biennially. Appointments to the subordinate administrative departments are made by the Mayor. A school board of five, elected by popular vote and serving four years, governs an independent school corporation through an educational executive, the superin tendent and a business executive (termed busi ness director) each serving four years. The municipal budget (1901), including school ex pense, balances at about $2,700.000, the main items being: For fire department, $194.000; for police. $160.000; for parks, $100,947; for light, $113,273; for public health, $54,154; for water, $90,000. The tax valuation of all property, at perhaps three-fourths actual value, is $129.000, 000. and the total debt of the city, exclusive of school debts, is about $2,300,000. Popula tion, in 1S50, S091 ; 1860, 18,611; 1870, 48,244; 1880, 75,056; 1890, 105,436; 1900, 169,164. The population in 1900 included 17,100 foreign born and 15,900 negroes.
Settled in 1819, Indianapolis received its name in 1821, and became the capital on January 1, 1825, the seat of government being removed from Corydon. The opening of the first railroad in the State from Madison, on the Ohio River. oc curred on October 1, 1847, and gave the little town its first impetus. The growth since 1889, when the introduction of natural gas revolution ized manufacture in Indiana, has been remark able. Here Henry W'ard Beecher served as pas tor of the Second Presbyterian Church (1839 to 1847) ; Benjamin Harrison made Indianapolis his home from 1856 until his death, in 1901. Consult: Indiana Gazetteer (Indianapolis. 1819) ; Early Reminiscences of Indianapolis (Indianapolis, 1870) ; Sulgrove, History of In dianapolis and Marion County (Philadelphia, 1884).