Few words are spoken in praise of Indianapolis’ public transit system. But public transport has served the city well, and growth has been closely tied to transit lines. 

Image credit: Bass Photo Co. Collection, Indiana Historical Society

Indianapolis’ first major industrial development was a series of nine mills along the White River. Located in low and swampy land that was ideal for waterwheels but not for homes, the mills took shape in the 1830s. The workers commuted to work from the city however they could. By the 1860s, “the boundaries of the city were effectively limited by the lack of any intra-city transportation system,”¹ and city leaders responded by establishing horse-drawn street cars. They ran as far north as Crown Hill or Mapleton, and as far east as Irvington.

By 1900 the streetcars were electric instead of horse-drawn. By then there were 21 lines radiating out from Union Station and reaching as far as Franklin. Streetcars were not only good for the town at each end of the route, but also for each stop along the way. Stops at Beech Grove and Edgewood, for instance, brought vibrancy to Perry Township while Decatur and Franklin townships remained rural.

In the 1930s, the federal Public Works Administration updated the system with electric trackless trolleys, and it was said that Indianapolis had one of the best public transportation systems in the United States.

The trolleys operated until 1953. By that time, the private automobile had become the dominant form of travel, and it reshaped the retail and commercial face of the city. But it is worth asking: Is the automobile the ultimate form of travel, or is complete reliance on private transportation just a phase that will serve the city for a while and then yield to a new system that will serve the city better?

1 “The Suburbanization of Indianapolis: An Outline of Metropolitan Development in Marion County, 1830-1990,” The Polis Center, www.polis.iupui.edu/tpc/resources/hc.aspx.