indianapolis became the capital of indiana in 1878.
when did indianapolis become the capital of indiana?
1878
at the beginning of the 1800s, the land that would become known as indianapolis was generally a densely forested wilderness. indiana was granted statehood in 1816 and four years later the indiana general assembly actively sought a site to re-establish a new state capital. in 1821 the indiana state legislature had approved both the site and the name indianapolis. on january 1, 1825 the state capital was moved from corydon (the territorial and first state capital), to indianapolis. indianapolis was incorporated in 1835. by 1830, indianapolis had grown to a town of approximately 1,000 people. in 1850 the population of indianapolis had grown to over 8,000 people. it was then ranked as the 87th largest urban area in the united states. generally, indianapolis area roads in 1850 were dirt, dusty in the summer and muddy in the winter and spring. the surface of the national road was cobblestone as it ran through the city. within the "mile square" known as indianapolis, mcadamized road surfaces and wooden plank road surfaces diverged north and south of the great national road. indianapolis was just beginning to be seen as a chief railroad center by 1850. railroads facilitated trade and brought merchandise and settlers into the area. by 1850 "mechanics of every handicraft" had found their way to indianapolis and by 1855 the population of indianapolis had doubled to 16,000 people.
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following the model of the downtown indianapolis permanent extension center established by indiana university in 1916, purdue university founded the purdue indianapolis extension center downtown in the fall of 1946 to provide a site in indianapolis for students to begin their undergraduate studies prior to transferring to the west lafayette main campus to complete their degree. the indiana university school of medicine was established at indianapolis in phases between 1911 and 1919. in 1944, indiana university acquired the indiana law school, which is now the indiana university robert h. mckinney school of law. in 1969, the purdue university indianapolis extension center merged into the indiana university indianapolis campus to form iupui. iupui awarded its first four-year undergraduate degree in 1970, having previously awarded graduate degrees in law and medicine for decades through the indiana university indianapolis campus. in 1974 indiana university was reorganized to make the bloomington and indianapolis campuses the two core campuses of the indiana university system.
purdue university system