Indianapolis Long Has Led the Way

Published on

This is how my chapter about Indianapolis as being home to the NBG ends. 
——
In sum, with a transportation legacy that opened the frontier where there were no roads, with its National Road Wood Covered Bridge over the White River of 1834, Indianapolis set in place the momentum that would civilize all of America. As gold seekers streamed over the White River, it was also on its way to becoming known as the Railroad City of the West (in the early 19th century, anything west of Appalachia was considered the West). From its Union Station, the first in the world to act as one terminal for all the different railroads, it then made transcontinental trains to San Francisco accessible to the East.

For those wanting to stay closer to home, one of its companies, Diamond Chain, by making chain affordable, made the bicycle affordable for the masses. One of the principal leaders of the Industrial Revolution, Diamond Chain also made most motor vehicles, the assembly line and the Wright Brothers flight possible.

Before the automobile, Indianapolis also led America with the largest inter-urban train system in the world. Then when cars did come around, before Detroit made its first automobile in 1899, there are records of one, the De Freet, being made Indianapolis in 1895. In fact, Indianapolis was once home to 97 different car manufacturers, more so than any other American city.

It led America again when it built the first test track for automobiles, the Indy 500 Motor Speedway. Before the IMS, car makers did not have a way to test their products under extreme conditions.

Through Presto-O-Lite, Indianapolis also made car headlights affordable and widely available. This allowed the public to drive to recreation and errands when the sun went down. It also meant they could work longer hours. As a result, the productivity of factories all over America increased dramatically.

Indianapolis also led the way by creating the movement for the first coast to coast car highway in the world, the road that built America, the Lincoln Highway.

Here now over a century later, Indianapolis is still on the leading edge. As the Greenway Capital of the World, cities all over the globe come here to learn how to replicate such success in their own locales. This is also true for the world’s first and only downtown Greenway, the Indianapolis Cultural Trail that has made Indianapolis the most bikeable downtown on Planet Earth!