page_title: Indianapolis
section_title: Cityscape
hierarchical_section_title: Indianapolis / Geography / Cityscape
caption_attribution_description: English: This photo was shot looking southeast across Monument Circle from the Sheraton Indianapolis City Centre.
context_page_description: Indianapolis, often shortened to Indy, is the state capital and most-populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to 2019 estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion County was 886,220. The "balance" population, which excludes semi-autonomous municipalities in Marion County, was 876,384. It is the 17th most populous city in the U.S., the third-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, Illinois and Columbus, Ohio, and the fourth-most populous state capitol after Phoenix, Arizona, Austin, Texas, and Columbus. The Indianapolis metropolitan area is the 33rd most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S., with 2,048,703 residents. Its combined statistical area ranks 28th, with a population of 2,431,361. Indianapolis covers 368 square miles, making it the 16th largest city by land area in the U.S.
  Indigenous peoples inhabited the area dating to as early as 10000 BC. In 1818, the Delaware relinquished their tribal lands in the Treaty of St. Mary's. In 1821, Indianapolis was founded as a planned city for the new seat of Indiana's state government.
context_section_description: Indianapolis is a planned city. On January 11, 1820, the Indiana General Assembly authorized a committee to select a site in central Indiana for the new state capital, appointing Alexander Ralston and Elias Pym Fordham to survey and design a town plan for Indianapolis. Ralston had been a surveyor for the French architect Pierre L'Enfant, assisting him with the plan for Washington, D.C. Ralston's original plan for Indianapolis called for a town of 1 square mile (2.6 km²), near the confluence of the White River and Fall Creek.
  The plan, known as the Mile Square, is bounded by East, West, North, and South streets, centered on a traffic circle, called Monument Circle (originally Governor's Circle), from which Indianapolis's "Circle City" nickname originated. Four diagonal streets radiated a block from Monument Circle: Massachusetts, Virginia, Kentucky, and Indiana avenues. The city's address numbering system begins at the intersection of Washington and Meridian streets. Before its submersion into a sanitary tunnel, Pogue's Run was included into the plan, disrupting the rectilinear street grid to the southeast.
  Noted as one of the finest examples of the City Beautiful movement design in the United States, the Indiana World War Memorial Plaza Historic District began construction in 1921 in downtown Indianapolis. The district, a National Historic Landmark, encompasses several examples of neoclassical architecture, including the American Legion, Central Library, and Birch Bayh Federal Building and United States Courthouse. The district is also home to several sculptures and memorials, Depew Memorial Fountain, and open space, hosting many annual civic events.
  After completion of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, an ordinance was passed in 1905 restricting building heights on the traffic circle to 86 ft (26 m) to protect views of the 284 ft (87 m) monument. The ordinance was revised in 1922, permitting buildings to rise to 108 ft (33 m), with an additional 42 ft (13 m) allowable with a series of setbacks. A citywide height restriction ordinance was instituted in 1912, barring structures over 200 ft (61 m). Completed in 1962, the City-County Building was the first skyscraper in the city, surpassing the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument in height by nearly 100 ft (30 m). A building boom, lasting from 1982 to 1990, saw the construction of six of the city's ten tallest buildings. The tallest is Salesforce Tower, completed in 1990 at 811 ft (247 m). Indiana limestone is the signature building material in Indianapolis, widely included in the city's many monuments, churches, academic, government, and civic buildings.
  Compared with similar-sized American cities, Indianapolis is unique in that it contains some 200 farms covering thousands of acres of agricultural land within its municipal boundaries. Equestrian farms and corn and soybean fields interspersed with suburban development are commonplace on the city's periphery, especially in Franklin Township. The stark contrast between Indianapolis's urban neighborhoods and rural villages is a result of the 1970 city-county consolidation, which expanded the city's incorporated boundary to be coterminous with Marion County.
caption: The Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument was dedicated in 1902.
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