Transportation was the major reason Indianapolis was founded. Little did the city’s founding fathers know that their tiny settlement would one day grow up to become a transportation giant known as the “Racing Capital of the World” and the “Crossroads of America.”
Back then, folks were just looking for a place to settle along a river. Indy certainly can boast of the White River but, then as now, the White River is too shallow and sandy most of the year for big boats to navigate. From the beginning, Indianapolis was landlocked. In fact, famed writer Kurt Vonnegut once noted that his Indianapolis birthplace is the world’s largest city not located on a navigable waterway. However, that didn’t stop Indy from becoming a gem of the Midwest.
Although it didn’t have a river for transportation, Indianapolis did have a big advantage—it was located in the heart of the nation. When roads and highways, railways, and air routes were laid out, Indianapolis became an important meeting place for east-west, north-south traffic.
But that is getting ahead of our story. Here is how it all began.