It’s mid-week and so far the weather has been more than I could ask for. Perfect cool mornings for my runs. 66º and sunny at 8AM and I enjoy a nice 4-mile run through town and around the canal. The canal is approximately 3 miles if you run around it and has three museums and IMAX located around it plus a few cafes, parks, and government buildings. I used to live in a townhouse right on the canal and this was my usual running path.
The history of the canal is interesting. Years ago my father-in-law showed me a photo he took of the central canal back in the 70’s. It was dismal. There was nothing surrounding it and it was mostly filled with trash and tires. Today it has lovely high rise apartments, fountains, artwork, statues, paddle boat rentals, bike rentals, and bridges. Many events are held here as well, like mid-week jazz concerts and lots of run/walks. It’s a little gem in the heart of downtown.
The central canal was built on the White River in 1836 to provide a transportation link and water power to nearby businesses. I’ve heard many stories on this canal and other canals around Indiana and bordering states. One is that is was very costly and could not be sustained and pretty much bankrupted this endeavor. Another big problem was that White River’s muddy shores were too “fluid” to maintain the canal and without a water supply many of the mills and factories left.
You can still find portions of the central canal around the state. One such place Board Ripple (another favorite place of mine). The Central Canal Towpath, which begins at the Broad Ripple portion of the Monon Trail, follows the canal for 5.23 miles, connecting Broad Ripple to landmarks such as Butler University and the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Ending at 30th Street, the trail connects with the White River Greenway.
Another portion of a canal is located south of Indianapolis in a quaint historic town of Metamora (est. 1838). Metamora is a now a restored canal town and celebrates “Canal Days” with an annual festival with replica horse-drawn canal boat. (This town is very isolated so forget about your iPhone or any other device as this town is disconnected from the World Wide Web).
Another major industry in Indiana was the automobile. (Of course, we are all about the history that started in 1911 with the running of the first Indianapolis 500 races. More on this later.) One landmark we have joy in visiting is the STUTZ building. The Stutz Motorcar Company, built and headquartered it’s car company here from 1911 to 1919. Stutz is remembered for many things, including the Bearcat which raced in the first Indianapolis 500 and was built at this factory. Today this facility holds many offices and art studios. I even came across the the offices of “2 Chicks and a Hammer” from HGTV’s Good Bones show. There is a dedicated room on the second floor that holds a wonderful car collection. Cars from 1914 – 1970’s. Today Mark and I collect some nice suite tickets for this weekend Vintage Races from Turner Woodard who owns and operates the businesses at the Stutz building.
A fine day, indeed. We finish up with a walk to Mass Ave to our favorite pub, McNivens and order dinner and some beers.
Cheers!
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