Send Off Indy to Cols Ride

 

In May 2022 (exact date tba), Martin Krieg will ride his 1891 HiWheel bicycle with World Class unicyclist Eddie Moffatt and a select few others on a ride from Indianapolis to a proposed reception with Columbus Mayor, Andrew Ginther. They will be using the same alignment that dates back to 1829 when the National Road reached Indiana from Washington DC. Their ride will begin with a send off from Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett on the old Washington Street bridge that is now an Esplanade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was from 150 feet away that the 1834 built wood covered National Road bridge became the first crossing of the White River into the frontier of the old West. The importance of this bridge that was dismantled in 1902 can be underscored by the fact that there are reports of 90 wagons an hour using this water crossing from sun up to sun down. The NBG group will also be calling attention to Martin Krieg’s book “How Indianapolis Built America”. In it, Krieg maintains, and many historians agree, that the industry that also grew up along the riverfront  here establishes this as the original Gateway to the West.

 

 

 

 

The route this group will be taking will be US 40, an old American highway that subsumed the National Road of which very little remains. Unpaved, the National Road was signed into law by Thomas Jefferson in 1806 and had the purpose of connecting the Nation’s Capital with the Mississippi River. While it fell 70 miles short of its destination, the countless numbers of wagons that used it, played a huge part in settling the West.

 

 

 

 

 

Proposed

Opening Remarks by Mayor Joe Hogsett

Info Table Prospects
National Road
Indiana historical society
White River
Cultural Trail
Pennsy Trail
Greenway foundation
NBG 

Speakers
Brigette Cook Jones about Nat Road Br
Jim Grey – National Rd/US 40
Ray Irvin or Greenway Rep – Pennsy Trail
Martin Krieg – Why riverfront was first Gateway to the West

Posterboard pic of Nat Road Bridge on easel
Gateway to the West chapter printouts (sponsored by ____)

Send off recorded for a Documentary