List Of Indianapolis Neighborhoods
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This list of Indianapolis neighborhoods provides a general overview of
neighborhood A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area, ...
s,
district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
s, and
subdivisions Subdivision may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Subdivision (metre), in music * ''Subdivision'' (film), 2009 * "Subdivision", an episode of ''Prison Break'' (season 2) * ''Subdivisions'' (EP), by Sinch, 2005 * "Subdivisions" (song), by Rush ...
located in the city of
Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...
,
Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
, United States. Nine
townships A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...
form the broadest geographic divisions within Marion County and Indianapolis. For statistical purposes, the consolidated city-county is organized into 99 smaller "neighborhood areas," some of which overlap township boundaries. Most neighborhood areas contain numerous individual districts, subdivisions, and some semi-autonomous towns. In total, some 500 self-identified neighborhood associations are registered in the City’s Registered Community Organization system. Typical of American cities in the Midwest, Indianapolis urbanized in the late-19th and early-20th centuries, resulting in the development of relatively dense, well-defined neighborhoods clustered around streetcar corridors, especially in Center Township. The economic attainability of private automobiles influenced the city's development patterns through the mid-20th century. In 1970, the governments of Indianapolis and Marion County consolidated, expanding the city from to more than overnight. As a result, Indianapolis has a unique urban-to-rural transect, ranging from dense urban neighborhoods, to suburban
tract housing Tract housing is a type of housing development in which multiple similar houses are built on a tract (area) of land that is subdivided into smaller lots. Tract housing developments are found in suburb developments that were modeled on the "Levitt ...
subdivisions, to rural villages.


History


Annexations

Since its founding in 1821, Indianapolis' outward development was measured, with few annexations. By 1891, revisions to the city charter incorporated provisions that strengthened the city's annexation powers. The controversial provision was mired in litigation until 1895 when the
Indiana General Assembly The Indiana General Assembly is the state legislature, or legislative branch, of the state of Indiana. It is a bicameral legislature that consists of a lower house, the Indiana House of Representatives, and an upper house, the Indiana Senate. ...
effectively endorsed the city's position by state statute. In 1897, Indianapolis responded with the annexation of five suburbs: Brightwood, Haughville, Mount Jackson, North Indianapolis, and West Indianapolis. Between 1890 and 1900, the city's land area had more than doubled from to . The expansion of the city's streetcar and interurban systems at the turn of the 20th century allowed workers to live further from the economic center of Indianapolis, establishing
streetcar suburb A streetcar suburb is a residential community whose growth and development was strongly shaped by the use of streetcar lines as a primary means of transportation. Such suburbs developed in the United States in the years before the automobile, when ...
s on the city's periphery. These included towns as far east as Irvington (annexed in 1902) and as far south as University Heights (annexed in 1923). The town of
Broad Ripple Broad(s) or The Broad(s) may refer to: People * A slang term for a woman. * Broad (surname), a surname Places * Broad Peak, on the border between Pakistan and China, the 12th highest mountain on Earth * The Broads, a network of mostly nav ...
, which had itself absorbed neighboring Wellington in 1884, was annexed into the city of Indianapolis in 1922. By the end of the 1950s, the city had appointed an annexation director and completed several major annexations adding 28,000 residents. Woodruff Place was annexed in 1962.


Unigov

On January 1, 1970, the
city-county consolidation In United States local government, a consolidated city-county is formed when one or more cities and their surrounding county ( parish in Louisiana, borough in Alaska) merge into one unified jurisdiction. As such it has the governmental powers ...
of Indianapolis and Marion County (
Unigov Unigov is the colloquial name adopted by the city of Indianapolis, Indiana, to describe its consolidated city–county government. By an act of the Indiana General Assembly, Indianapolis consolidated with the government of Marion County in 197 ...
) resulted in the partial annexation of 16 towns, known as " included towns". Under state statute, included towns retain some limited autonomy; however, they are legally considered part of the Consolidated City of Indianapolis and Marion County, subject to its laws and government. , eleven towns retain their status as "included towns," while five have fully dissolved: Highwoods, Lynhurst (1988), Ravenswood (1989), Shore Acres (1991), and Castleton (1992). Of the dissolved towns, Castleton and Ravenswood have retained some local identity, as evidenced by the continued use of those names for two of Indianapolis' official neighborhood areas. By default, several
unincorporated Unincorporated may refer to: * Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality * Unincorporated entity, a type of organization * Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress ...
communities in outlying townships were absorbed into Indianapolis as a result of Unigov. Most had been established in the 19th century as rural outposts or early railroad stations. These included Valley Mills and West Newton in Decatur Township;
Acton Acton may refer to: Places Antarctica * Mount Acton Australia * Acton, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Acton, Tasmania, a suburb of Burnie * Acton Park, Tasmania, a suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, formerly known as Acton Canada ...
, Five Points, and Wanamaker in Franklin Township; Edgewood in Perry Township; Augusta in Pike Township;
Julietta ''Juliette'' is an opera by Bohuslav Martinů, who also wrote the libretto, in French, based on the play ''Juliette, ou La clé des songes'' (''Juliette, or The Key of Dreams)'' by the French author Georges Neveux. A libretto in Czech was later pre ...
in Warren Township; Allisonville in Washington Township; and Ben Davis,
Bridgeport Bridgeport is the most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the fifth-most populous in New England. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonnoc ...
, and Maywood in Wayne Township. Many of these unincorporated places have retained the appearance of rural villages well into the 21st century and continue to be referenced by their bygone names, as evidenced by several designated neighborhood areas that have appropriated names based on relative geography.


List of neighborhoods


See also

*
Indianapolis Cultural Districts Indianapolis has seven designated neighborhoods as Cultural Districts, first established in 1999: Broad Ripple Village; Mass Ave; Fountain Square; Wholesale District; Canal and White River State Park; Indiana Avenue; and Market East. The purpo ...
*
Unigov Unigov is the colloquial name adopted by the city of Indianapolis, Indiana, to describe its consolidated city–county government. By an act of the Indiana General Assembly, Indianapolis consolidated with the government of Marion County in 197 ...


Notes


References


External links


Geographic Names Information System (GNIS)
developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), a bureau of the
U.S. Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the mana ...
.
Conservation Districts
Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission (IHPC) and the Metropolitan Development Commission (MDC).
Map of Marion County Neighborhoods
{{Indianapolis
Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...