main index Narrative
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Ah, Indy... the city everyone forgets except for a certain Sunday in May, during which the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race occurs. This is virtually the only time it will be mentioned in fiction, despite the fact that it is the second-most populous state capital in the US (behind Phoenix) and the second largest city in the Midwest behind Chicago (though other cities in the region have bigger metro areas). And the Indianapolis Motor Speedway isn't technically in Indianapolis, it's in the suburb of Speedway
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Also known as the "Circle City" and the "Crossroads of America" (from its central location in the US Interstate Highway system) Indianapolis was founded in 1826 to serve as the capital of the newly recognized State of Indiana. Indy was an economic powerhouse by the early 20th century, especially in the automotive industry (one of the factors leading local entrepreneur Carl Fisher to create its famous Speedway) but came under the influence of the Ku Klux Klan during The Roaring Twenties. Though the Klan effectively took over the whole State of Indiana in the 1924 elections their power was thoroughly broken by 1931 after their leader was jailed and documents from his files resulted in the resignation of the mayor and five of the six city council members. Indy spent The Thirties as a center of American Isolationism and the city has done its best to forget about these periods ever since.
Urban decay took over in the years after World War II as the economy gradually shifted from manufacturing to warehousing and logistics and downtown Indianapolis has only recently lost the last few decrepit, abandoned factories from its early days as an industrial center. Recently the downtown has undergone something of a renaissance as buildings that formerly housed companies like L.S. Ayres and Madame C.J. Walker's headquarters have been converted into stores, lofts, restaurants and clubs. Two whole blocks of mostly derelict buildings were converted into a large shopping mall and arts districts have grown up in Fountain Square and along Massachusetts Avenue. The Indianapolis Repertory Theatre is one of the best regional theatres in the Midwest, The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra has achieved an international reputation, and the Children's Museum of Indianapolis is among the best in the world. The annual Indiana Black Expo (the first and largest of its kind) draws record crowds as does GenCon, an enormous gaming convention that annually attracts more than 28,000 participants.
In recent years the city has become known in the sports world for something besides auto racing; the Indianapolis Colts have become a well known football team after their win in Super Bowl XLI in 2007, and the city is scheduled to host Super Bowl XLVI in 2012. The city also favors its NBA franchise, the Indiana Pacers, in keeping with the state's rich basketball tradition. The Colts impressive (and consistent) record-breaking doesn't hurt. It doesn't hurt either that the "face of the team", quarterback Peyton Manning, is a mortal lock as a Hall-of-Famer who has proven himself to be a genial, able, and self-deprecating advertising pitchman, a dedicated and generous philanthropist, and an all-around nice guy. Indy is also home to minor league baseball and hockey teams (the Indians and the Ice, respectively.)
Indianapolis is also a center of amateur athletics, styling itself as the "Amateur Sports Capital of the World" ever since the 1987 Pan American Games. As a result most of the significant U.S. amateur sports federations (including the National Collegiate Athletic Association and its High School equivalent) are headquartered in Indianapolis. The city retains all of the facilities necessary to hold an Olympics in miniature and the annual 500 Festival Mini-Marathon, while one of the largest foot races in the U.S with over 35,000 participants, is just one of four full and five half marathons run in Indianapolis every year. Even such peripheral sports as marching band, drum & bugle corps, and soap box derby were enticed into relocating to Indianapolis, along with their national associations and associated championships. Indy hosts the Circle City Classic college football invitational every year and with the opening of the new football stadium (which is also designed to become a large basketball arena) the city is guaranteed to host the NCAA "Final Four" Basketball Tournament every four years for the foreseeable future.
Indianapolis' relatively low population density and relatively large geographical area (one-tenth the population of New York over a much larger area) makes for a very green and leafy city, and one can still find rural features like cornfields and horse farms within city limits. (There aren't many other major metropolitan areas that actually have horse farms within four miles of downtown.) The downtown area along the Canal hosts several museums and is quite attractive to pedestrians, with lovely walkways and rentable paddle-boats. Indy also stays close to its agricultural roots by hosting the annual Indiana State Fair, a huge 21 day agricultural and industrial expedition - this fair is a Big Deal, being not only the biggest show of the year for 4-H and a gathering place for Future Farmers of America but also host to several Country Music luminaries including Carrie Underwood and Rascal Flatts. It also has the standard Midway attractions, including deliciously fatty fried things and fun if fairly ordinary rides. The State Fairgrounds and the newly expanded Indiana Convention Center are also home to numerous conventions, trade shows and exhibitions taking advantage of Indy's central location and position at the hub of the interstate highway system. (Incidentally, Indy is also a hub of train transport, as though few people take trains any more, cargo travels just fine. This makes Indianapolis one of a very few places where the sentence "We got stuck behind a train" - i.e. got stuck at a railroad crossing while an obscenely long freight train rumbled past - is a legitimate excuse for being late to school.)
Oh, and if anyone from Indy says "Raceday" without qualifiers they are invariably referring to the last Sunday in May and the Indianapolis 500. Indianapolis Motor Speedway ( AKA "The Brickyard") may hold other races, but there is only one Raceday, thanks in part to the annual influx of nearly half a million spectators and the partying that results, in part because it's the culmination of a month-long festival and in part because the race has more than a century of history. Think of it as a Hoosier Mardi Gras — with automotive fuel. Though automobile manufacturing has gradually vanished from Indy since the days of Stutz and Duesenburg auto racing is still a vital part of the local economy. Do not, under pain of rioting, take any side whatsoever in the CART vs IRL debate. You will lose, just as CART finally did.
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