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Article: Indianapolis
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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INDIANAPOLIS
INDIANAPOLIS
ranked as the twelfth largest city in the United States in 2000. The Indiana legislature selected the area as the state's capital in 1821 due to its central location, but the city remained a small and commercially insignificant town until the 1840s because of its inaccessibility. In 1847, railroads linked the city to national markets, attracting businesses and residents. From that time through the 1970s, Indianapolis served as a manufacturing and agribusiness hub for the Midwest. The "Rust Belt" phenomenon, and particularly the recession of 1979
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1982, effected changes in the national economy that forced many of the city's largest employers to eventually ...