10 Fun Facts about Indianapolis, Indiana

With the eyes of the country on Indianapolis, Indiana during March Madness, there's no better time to learn about the Hoosier state (and our love of basketball)!

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It's not just basketball

...it is *mostly* basketball. Indianapolis is the "amateur sports capital," of the country; very proudly home to the workings of the modern NCAA and its museum, the NCAA Hall of Champions. They call it "Hoosier Hysteria" for a reason. The Circle City frequently hosts major sporting events, including The Big 10 Tournament and portions of March Madness, though we're fortunate enough to be hosting the entire event in 2021.

"We're on the Canal to nowhere..."

 In the mid-19th century, the state of Indiana went *big* into state-funded construction of canals for transportation: the wave of the future! Unfortunately for Indiana, the future was actually powered by the new-fangled steam engine...and the canals flopped. The state went bankrupt and we wrote ourselves a new constitution, which included a provision attempting to restrict the state taking on too much debt. In the 20th century, we figured out a way to get around that...pesky...impediment!

Indianapolis is in the Eastern Time Zone

 "I know there's a time change between the East Coast and Indiana. Is it 1 hour or 2?"

It's 0! With the exception of a few counties closer to large CST cities (i.e. Chicago), Indiana is on Eastern time. Part of the confusion is presumably because Indiana didn't recognize daylight savings time until 2005, becoming the second-to-last state to give in (Arizona has held out).

500 miles is a long way

Pagoda at The Indianapolis Motor Speedway

The Indianapolis 500, the largest single-day sporting event *in the world* is NOT a NASCAR race. IndyCar is proudly its own thing - higher speeds, more risk, and a more international crowd. Every Memorial Day Weekend, Hoosiers of all stripes head out the "the Track" to watch the field of 33 take 200 laps around the 1.5 mile track.

Indianapolis looks a lot like Washington, D.C.

If you've spent much time in Washington, D.C., the lay-out of Indianapolis might feel familiar to you! That's because the city was designed by Alexander Ralston, a Scottish immigrant who helped Pierre L'Enfant with that original design of D.C. Indianapolis's major streets are named for our fellow states, and the city, like D.C., boasts several major diagonal streets: Virginia, Massachusetts, Indiana, & Kentucky Avenues. Stop by my favorite bar in town, Ralston's, to honor our favorite city planner.

Original plot of Indianapolis, by Alexander Ralston

It's all Greek to me!

Photo: Kappa Alpha Theta

The first social sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta, was founded at Depauw University, outside of Indianapolis, in 1870. With this history and its central location, Indianapolis is home to 21 Greek organization headquarters.

Crown Hill Cemetery

Indianapolis is home to the third-largest non-government cemetery in the United States, Crown Hill. It's the final resting place of a number of famous Hoosiers, including President Benjamin Harrison, poet James Whitcomb Riley, and bank robber John Dillinger.

100 years of biotech

Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly (the person *and* the company), brought a number of pharmaceutical innovations to the world, including insulin, gelatin capsules, and 19th-century drug fruit flavoring. Today, Lilly continues to be an innovator in the pharmaceutical world, the largest corporation in Indiana, and, through it and the family's funding, a large funder of all things Indianapolis.

What accent?

Indianapolis residents are often identified as a national example of a "typical" American accent without regional differentiation. Check out Jane Pauley (a proud Hoosier!) on CBS Sunday Morning for one of my favorite examples.

The Circle City, in more ways than one

​One of Indianapolis's northern suburbs, Carmel, is home to 125 roundabouts - the most of any city in the United States!

Thanks for stopping by!

I hope you learned something about Indianapolis that you didn't know, and that you'll come visit us soon in the Hoosier state! I've written quite a few posts about Indy over the years, so I hope you'll consider:

A Weekend in Indianapolis
Where to Stay in Indianapolis
Best Downtown Indianapolis Breweries
Visiting Newfields, Indianapolis
10 Fun Things for Couples to Do in Indianapolis
Best Mass Ave Restaurants