W.C. Madden - Indianapolis

Before 1900, the streets of Indianapolis were ruled by horses, mule cars, and streetcars. The mule streetcars took passengers around the city from the 1860s until the 1890s. Tracks were then laid on the major streets to carry the electric streetcars, which ran until the 1930s. After 1900, an interurban system was set up to take residents to outlying areas, such as Greenwood, Broad Ripple, and Wanamaker. Streetcars were replaced by electric buses for awhile until buses switched over to diesel engines. Today, a maze of expressways has replaced the interurban to carry people from outlying areas to and from Indianapolis. Nowadays, horses are only used by the Indianapolis Police Department and by vendors to carry visitors on a scenic carriage trip around downtown.

When Indianapolis was first formed, there were no roads. The terrain was rough and crowded with stumps. The streets in Indianapolis began as dirt paths for horses and wagons to travel over. The first paving came in 1837 when the federal government used broken stone to pave the National Road, which came through Indianapolis as Washington Street. In the 1850s, cobblestone streets came about in some areas. Paving streets using wooden blocks, bricks, concrete, and other materials began in the late 1800s.

The streets of Indianapolis have undergone some changes since the original plat was made in 1821. Most of the streets in Ralstons Plot ran east/ west or north/south. The four diagonal streets emanating from the center of the square were Indiana Avenue, Massachusetts Avenue, Virginia Avenue, and Kentucky Avenue. Kentucky no longer reaches Washington Street because of the RCA Dome. Massachusetts Avenue and Indiana Avenue end a block shorter than originally platted due to building construction. Two other streets, North Carolina and South Carolina, were replaced by the railroads. Tennessee Avenue was renamed Capitol Avenue and Mississippi Street was changed to Senate Avenue in 1895. When the city began to grow to the north, First Street began at what is now 10th Street. Maple Road later became 38th Street. The State Fairgrounds was located around Delaware and 18th Streets before 1900 and later moved to 38th Street and Fall Creek Parkway. The area around Military Park became the campus of Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis and many of those streets were lost.

Downtown Indianapolis also went through a transformation when the expressways were built around it. The city became much more accessible to people in the outlying area, so more moved to the suburbs to get away from the congestion of Marion County. In recent years, new housing and improvements to the downtown area have brought some of those residents back to inner city living. STREETCARS. Retail establishments lined East Washington Street from Meridian Street in 1900. Now, the Borders Bookstore sits on the southeast corner of Washington and Meridian Streets in the Barnes & Thornburg Building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. On the northeast corner is the One North Meridian Building, which contains such businesses as the King Cole Restaurant, Dooleys Bagels, Bodner Group, and several law offices.

STREETCAR. The electric streetcar, a.k.a. trolley car, ran on the streets of Indianapolis from the late 1800s until the 1930s. The cars usually seated 40 passengers. This postcard shows a summer trolley traveling along Illinois Street to 34th Street. Transfer stations were available in the downtown area for passengers wishing to switch from one trolley to another. The streetcar was replaced by electric bus service in the 1930s. Today, IndyGos diesel powered buses take people around Indianapolis.

WASHINGTON STREET. Historical markers honor Washington Street as part of the old National Road system that was the main east/west highway for the nation in the 1800s and the site where Abraham Lincoln spoke on February 11, 1861 on his way to Washington D.C. to take office. During the 1830s and 1840s, the road was very busy with horses, wagons, and stagecoaches until railroads were built. The street has gone from a two-way thoroughfare to a one-way heading west through the downtown area for better traffic flow. Horses have been replaced by vehicles with hundreds of horsepower.

ARTSGARDEN. Washington Street west from Meridian Street was a bustle of activity lined with retail stores as seen in this early postcard. Many individual stores are now gathered in Circle Center, which is on the south side of the street. A $12 million Artsgarden was built to span the intersection of Washington and Illinois Streets and connect Circle Center to Claypool Court. The Artsgarden hosts dances, theater performances, musicians, and other family programming. The glass-domed rotunda also provides a magnificent view of Washington Street.