At the end of the 19th century, Indianapolis was one of  America’s richest cities. 

  “The late eighties and the nineties, and the early years of the
new century, were the best years, and Indianapolis the best place.
Here were the fine restaurants, the celebrated bars; here were the
brawl and bustle of commerce and industry;
here were the magnificent buildings constructed with little regard to cost;
here were fashionable
ladies and gentlemen some of them famous everywhere, riding around
the circle in handsome carriages; here were literature, music, and art,
and here sin beckoned from a narrow door way; in short, here was a
farm boy’s new and shiny dream world”
Indiana historian, John Barlow Martin,
in “Indiana, an Interpretation” 

 

Industry boomed as Indianapolis took advantage of the burgeoning oil and gas fields nearby, in the northeastern part of the state, Filled with industrialists, philanthropists and many people with large sums of discretionary dollars to spend, it was able to afford the extravagance of world famous landscape developers John Olmsted  and George Kessler.

Toward that end, as far back as 1885  John C. Olmsted, the son of also acclaimed landscape developer, Frederick Law Olmsted, began to plan for parkways along the city’s rivers and streams. None of it broke ground, however, until George Kessler was hired by the city in 1908. He overcame the resistance Olmsted had met by establishing separate taxing districts so that only those people who benefited from park upgrades would pay for them. 

A warrior for city parks and open spaces, Kessler who stayed with Indianapolis for seven years,  transformed population centers all over America. Over the course of his forty-one year career, George E. Kessler completed over 200 projects and prepared plans for 26 communities, 26 park and boulevard systems, 49 parks, 46 estates and residences, and 26 schools. 

In adding to what Olmstead had designed, he commissioned for wide  tree lined boulevards along Indy’s waterways. This, as he also left his imprint on its world class parks such as the mammoth Garfield, and Riverside city parks as well as Benjamin Harrison State Park.

 

It was this that Ray R Irvin capitalized on when he wrote the Indy Greenways plan in the mid 1980s.  In helping Indianapolis move away from a manufacturing economy to a post industrial economy, much of Irvin’s work was inspired by Richard Florida, an author, professor and urban studies theorist. Florida argued that the economic engine needed by American cities that were rebuilding themselves was what he called the Creative Class. 

Florida described the Creative Class as people working in knowledge intensive industries, those usually requiring a high degree of formal education. Examples of such workers are health professionals, business managers and those working in high tech. He felt that by attracting the Creative Class, their industries would stimulate economic growth.

Since Florida felt that the Creative Class chose to locate themselves in cities in favorable quality of life environments with cultural amenities, Irvin felt he could make Indianapolis attractive in such a way with linear art parks. He felt he could combine exercise, nature and art into a network of bike paths that could be built for a fraction of the cost car roads required. It was this understanding that he built into Indy Greenways, the roadmap he devised for the massive transformation that has taken place in Indianapolis.

Being a former politician, Ray was in line to become the Mayor of the City when he chose to build the Greenway plan he felt called to devise instead. Armed with a deep understanding of city bureaucracy, he also knew he had to position the plan he would draw up in such a way that it would take maximum advantage of all of the opportunity in Indy city planning architecture. For example, because of Ray, Greenway alignments are also part of the permitting process in Indianapolis, any future road building has to take  them into account.

To keep it funded, growing and maintained, Irvin also called for the building of the very active nonprofit, the Greenway Foundation of Indianapolis. Soon, infected by the desire to build Greenways for themselves, other parts of the state found themselves needing a way to be able to receive donations. As a result, the name of Irvin’s charitable organization was changed to the Greenway Foundation of Indiana.

 

Because it was one of his markets of users, he also knew he had to tap into the city’s large network of higher education learning centers. To garner their interest for the trails he would build to and through them, he engaged their support by having whole classes study the effect of Greenways in various parts of the city. It was their work, that resulted in quantifiable results he could use to accrue funding for the work he foresaw throughout Indianapolis.

It was an honor to finish the work Olmsted and Kessler started, and even though I saw the unfinished opportunity, it took Indy to realize the unfinished need of their work, I worked to take my vision and instill it in so many others, so they might join the effort and insure its future for another 100 years for Indy’s residents and nature lovers.
Thanks to everyone that joined the vision.
Ray R Irvin

Being at the leading edge of transportation is not new to Indianapolis. It seems to be a part of its DNA. In fact before it started interconnecting to its parks, open spaces and play areas, the call to go West, the Manifest Destiny that we talk about in ‘Manifest Destiny and Taming the Western Frontier’, had been heard loud and clear from as far back as 1834 by its citizenry. It was then that the Nation’s first Federal Highway, the National Road from Washington DC. successfully crossed the White River into the frontier where the forests were so thick a horse could not haul a wagon through them. 

Soon, once roads were cleared, the National Road wood covered bridge was busy bringing riches to and from the new lands it had accessed. A heavily traveled structure as we will show you in the words ahead, it was also busy building an Indianapolis that sprung up around the riverfront we talk about in ‘The Gateway to the West, Indianapolis Riverfront at National Road’. Because it was dismantled in 1902, it was easy for St. Louis to get credit for opening up the West. And yet, as we will show you in the words ahead, along with it also sending most of the East Coast to California from its cutting edge train station, Indianapolis was the true Portal to the West

In fact, before 1834, once one left Indianapolis, civilization ceased to exist. There was nothing but thickly forested lands for the next 250 or so miles until one crossed the Mississippi River. There, on the other side, early explorers encountered  the tiny island like village of St. Louis where Americans were not welcome and the 1,000 or so  inhabitants only spoke Spanish.

When you read the chapter ‘Why Indianapolis is the True Gateway to the West, not St. Louis’, you will understand why we are making this claim. You will also see why this knowledge will cause interest in Indianapolis to skyrocket, thereby enabling it to show its bicycle infrastructure and the attitude it induces to a larger percentage of the nation. This is especially so because, as the Crossroads of America, Indianapolis is the most centrally located big city in the USA.

 

In terms of how Greenway building changes the way people think about its users, do consider the following. In Indianapolis, greenway building is taken seriously. As new trails are added almost regularly, and others are upgraded and maintained, It has been and continues to be the source of a livelihood for many people.  From landscape designers to construction crews, to pavers, to sign makers, to heavy equipment operators, to landscape maintenance, etc., a lot of money changes hands to build and maintain Greenways. 

Seen as a product of their nonstop greenway building and maintenance efforts, all levels of cyclists are taken seriously here. They are not seen as engaging in frivolous play. It is their efforts that justify the work that has gone into building and maintaining the infrastructure they use.

Nor are Greenways the only consideration here. The city’s public works department gives great attention to its surface streets as they relate to their access to Greenways. 

And when merchants and dining establishments benefit from those customers who arrive by bike, they join employers who receive growing numbers of workers who pedal their way in, to make the circle complete. And being interwoven into the local economy in such a way, this is one more way cyclists are seen as a welcome part of the Indianapolis landscape. 

Add to this the fact that everyone has a friend or a friend of a friend who rides a bike here. And whether or not they ride themselves, they know to be mindful of those who do. 

As circumstances, the planet’s health and energy disruptions, continue to push people towards the bicycle, it will be the Indianapolis mindset that will have infected their neighbors and neighboring states all the way across the rest of America. As Indianapolis shows that everyone wins by making it easier to ride a bike, the National Bicycle Greenway renaissance will be soon at hand!!

You will find parts of this foreword repeated in other parts of this book as a way to keep bringing you, the reader, back to the theme of this publication. The reason I have written this book is to show that Indy’s deep history with Greenways has set a precedent and a momentum for the charge that will connect the coasts with a network of Greenways, the National Bicycle Greenway.