Indianapolis Audio Walking Tour

Highlights

• Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis

  From 1969 to 2024 this downtown campus was Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, IUPUI, the joint campus you are walking through along the White River and Fall Creek. For decades it was administered primarily through Indiana University as a core campus and secondarily through Purdue University as a regional campus.

• 
  Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument

  Notice the 284-foot neoclassical monument rising where Meridian and Market streets cross Monument Circle in the heart of downtown Indianapolis. Designed by German architect Bruno Schmitz and built over a thirteen-year period between 1888 and 1901, it received its public dedication on May 15, 1902 and in the years since has become an iconic symbol of Indianapolis.

• 
  Circle Centre

  September 8, 1995 was opening day for Circle Centre Mall, the indoor shopping mall whose former block you are looking at now in Indianapolis. It was built for $307.5 million and incorporated existing downtown structures such as the former L. S. Ayres flagship store.

• 
  Union Station

  Railroads have used this Indianapolis address since the world's first union station was created here in 1848. This spot has been a railroad address since the city created the world's first union station in 1848.

• 
  Indiana Statehouse

  Four statehouses have housed Indiana's government, and the fourth, completed in 1888, faces you at 200 West Washington Street in Indianapolis. This grand stone building, completed in 1888, is the fourth home of Indiana’s government.

All 29 stops

• Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument (Monument Circle)

  Notice the 284-foot neoclassical monument rising where Meridian and Market streets cross Monument Circle in the heart of downtown Indianapolis.

• Columbia Club (Monument Circle)

  Here on Monument Circle, the Columbia Club's limestone clubhouse of 1925 rises in front of you.

• Indiana Theatre (Washington Street-Monument Circle Historic District)

  White terra cotta gleams across the front of the Indiana Theatre, the six-story movie palace and ballroom built in 1927 on Washington Street in Indianapolis…

• Indianapolis Artsgarden (Downtown Indianapolis)

  Overhead, the glass vaults of the Indianapolis Artsgarden arch across the crossing of Washington and Illinois streets in downtown Indianapolis.

• Circle Centre (downtown Indianapolis)

  September 8, 1995 was opening day for Circle Centre Mall, the indoor shopping mall whose former block you are looking at now in Indianapolis.

• Indianapolis City Market (Indianapolis)

  Founded in 1821, the Indianapolis City Market still fills this brick and limestone hall in front of you, its front gable flanked by square towers.

• Omni Severin Hotel (Indianapolis Union Station Wholesale District)

  Across Jackson Place from the Union Station head house, the Omni Severin Hotel has welcomed guests since 1913, when Henry Severin Jr. built it on…

• Union Station (Wholesale District)

  Railroads have used this Indianapolis address since the world's first union station was created here in 1848.

• Old National Centre (Indianapolis)

  Where North and New Jersey streets meet, the Old National Centre keeps the oldest extant stage house in downtown Indianapolis.

• Slippery Noodle Inn (downtown Indianapolis)

  Blues drifts out of the Slippery Noodle Inn, an Indianapolis bar and restaurant with two performance stages, in business since 1850.

• St. Elmo Steak House (Wholesale District)

  Since 1902, St. Elmo Steak House has served Indianapolis from the Braden Building in the Wholesale District, right where you are now.

• Massachusetts Avenue (Mass Ave)

  Alexander Ralston drew this diagonal in his 1821 plan, and today Massachusetts Avenue runs 0.86 miles as the Mass Ave Cultural Arts District, right under…

• Athenæum (Massachusetts Avenue)

  Das Deutsche Haus was the original name of the Athenæum you are facing, the most ornate and best-preserved building of German American Indianapolis.

• Lockerbie Square Historic District (Lockerbie Square)

  Lockerbie Square Historic District spreads out ahead of you, a national historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 23, 1973…

• Old Northside Historic District (Old Northside)

  Victorian mansions line the Old Northside Historic District, the residential neighborhood near downtown Indianapolis that you are entering.

• Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site (Old Northside Historic District)

  Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd president of the United States, lived in this 16-room house in front of you, built from 1874 to 1875.

• Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (downtown Indianapolis)

  From 1969 to 2024 this downtown campus was Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, IUPUI, the joint campus you are walking through along the White River and…

• White River State Park (Canal and White River State Park)

  Museums, a zoo, an amphitheater, and gardens share the 267 acres of White River State Park, which stretches along both banks of the White River…

• Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art (White River State Park)

  Harrison Eiteljorg's collection became the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, the downtown Indianapolis museum you are facing.

• Indiana State Museum (downtown Indianapolis)

  Picture a cabinet of curiosities assembled in 1862, the seed of this museum's collection.

• Indianapolis Zoo (White River State Park)

  Some 93 acres of zoo, public aquarium, and botanical garden open in front of you at the Indianapolis Zoo, here in White River State Park.

• White River Gardens (White River State Park)

  Fountains, a conservatory, and 1.5 miles of paths fill White River Gardens, the botanical garden you reach inside White River State Park.

• Indiana Historical Society (The Canal and White River State Park Cultural District)

  At 450 West Ohio Street, the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center houses the Indiana Historical Society, and you are facing it now.

• Indiana Central Canal (Indianapolis)

  Only eight miles of the Indiana Central Canal were ever completed along this planned route.

• Indiana World War Memorial Plaza (downtown Indianapolis)

  Five blocks of stone memorials make up the Indiana World War Memorial Plaza, the downtown Indianapolis war memorial laid out in front of you.

• Benjamin Harrison (University Park)

  Bronze Benjamin Harrison, one hand upraised and the other holding gloves, greets you here in University Park in downtown Indianapolis.

• Depew Memorial Fountain (Indiana World War Memorial Plaza)

  Eight bronze children dance around the lower tiers of the Depew Memorial Fountain in front of you, completed here in University Park in 1919.

• Indiana Statehouse (Indianapolis)

  Four statehouses have housed Indiana's government, and the fourth, completed in 1888, faces you at 200 West Washington Street in Indianapolis.

• Thomas A. Hendricks Monument (Indiana Statehouse grounds)

  Look at the bronze portrait of Thomas A. Hendricks, who led the campaign to build this Statehouse in Indianapolis.

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