Indianapolis Guides
Indianapolis (Marion County)
Downtown Indianapolis
Surveyor Alexander Ralston's 1821 one-square-mile grid, still the literal shape of downtown today -- now the fastest-growing part of the city, with three bus-rapid-transit lines converging on Monument Circle and a resident population that broke 30,000 in 2025.
MarionBroad Ripple
Platted in 1837 on the banks of Indiana's old Central Canal, later an amusement-park summer retreat, and now Indianapolis's best-known nightlife and entertainment district -- built along the Monon Trail rather than a highway.
MarionMeridian-Kessler
A 1920s-30s boom neighborhood along the Meridian Street corridor George Kessler redesigned in 1905 -- more than 250 individually historic-designated homes, the Indiana Governor's Residence, and Indianapolis's largest neighborhood association.
MarionFountain Square
A streetcar-suburb commercial district that emptied out when I-65/I-70 displaced 6,000 residents in 1968-71, then came back as one of Indianapolis's most walkable arts and entertainment districts, anchored by a 1928 theater building and a still-running 1930s duckpin bowling alley.
MarionLockerbie Square
A roughly 11-acre pocket of cobblestone streets and 1860s-1930s homes half a mile from Monument Circle -- Indianapolis's first officially designated historic district, and where poet James Whitcomb Riley lived out his last 23 years.
Cities across the metro
Lawrence
One of four Marion County "excluded cities" that kept its own government under Indianapolis's 1970 Unigov consolidation -- built around a former Army post turned state park and the reservoir that supplies much of the city's drinking water.
MarionSpeedway
Platted in 1912 by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's own founders as a 'horseless city' of auto-industry factories and workers' housing -- still an independent town today, with its own police, fire, water utility, and A+-rated school district.
HamiltonCarmel
A Quaker farm town platted in 1837 that's now Indiana's largest suburb by most rankings -- more than 150 roundabouts, a top-1%-nationally school district, and back-to-back national 'best place to live' honors in 2025.
HamiltonFishers
A rail-side settlement founded in 1852 that became Indiana's first "second-class city" in 2015 -- now a tech- and business-hub suburb ranked #2 nationally on U.S. News's 2026-27 Best Places to Live list.
HamiltonNoblesville
The Hamilton County seat since 1824, built around a Victorian courthouse square from Indiana's 1880s natural-gas boom -- and the site of a White River crest that broke an 113-year-old flood record in August 2026.
HamiltonWestfield
Platted in 1834 by Quaker abolitionists as a deliberate Underground Railroad station -- now one of Indiana's fastest-growing suburbs, built around a 400-acre youth sports campus that draws millions of visitors a year.
BooneZionsville
A railroad town platted in 1852 whose brick Main Street wasn't actually laid until 1910-11 -- now one of Indiana's wealthiest suburbs, with a school district Niche ranks #3 in the state and #107 nationally out of over 10,000.
JohnsonGreenwood
Settled in 1823 as "Smocktown," renamed Greenwood in 1833 -- now the commercial hub of the US-31 corridor south of Indianapolis, anchored by Indiana's 4th-largest shopping mall and one of the region's few suburban transit agencies.
HendricksBrownsburg
Named for an 1836 postal mix-up rather than its 1824 founder's own choice -- now home to more than a dozen NHRA and motorsports teams along a corridor local racing media dubbed 'Nitro Alley' in 2007.
HendricksAvon
A town that went through four names -- Hampton, White Lick, Smootsdell, New Philadelphia -- before a railroad depot sign settled on 'Avon,' now a fast-growing suburb built around its proximity to Indianapolis International Airport.
Coming soon
Beech Grove
Guide in progress.
Plainfield
Guide in progress.
Whitestown
Guide in progress.
Cumberland
Guide in progress.
Bargersville
Guide in progress.
McCordsville
Guide in progress.
New Palestine
Guide in progress.
Danville
Guide in progress.