Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the balance (the part of Marion County not part of another municipality) has a total area of 368.2 square miles (954 km2) – 361.5 square miles (936 km2) of it is land and 6.7 square miles (17 km2) of it is water. The total area is 1.81% water. These figures do not, however, represent the entire Consolidated City of Indianapolis (all of Marion County, except the four excluded communities). The total area of the Consolidated City of Indianapolis, not including the four excluded communities, covers approximately 373.1 square miles (966 km2).
At the center of Indianapolis is the Mile Square, bounded by four appropriately named streets: East, West, North, and South Streets. Nearly all of the streets in the Mile Square are named after U.S. states. The exceptions are Meridian Street, which numerically divides west from east; Market Street, which intersects Meridian Street at Monument Circle; Capitol and Senate Avenues, where many of the Indiana state government buildings are located; and Washington Street, which was named after President George Washington. The street-numbering system centers not on the Circle, but rather one block to the south, where Meridian Street intersects Washington Street (part of the historic National Road).
Indianapolis is situated in the Central Till Plains region of the United States. Two natural waterways dissect the city: the White River and Fall Creek.
Physically, Indianapolis is similar to many other Midwestern cities. A mix of deciduous forests and prairie covered much of what is considered Indianapolis prior to the 19th century. Land within the city limits varies from flat to gently sloping; most of the changes in elevation are so gradual that they go unnoticed and appear to be flat at close range. The mean elevation for Indianapolis is 717 feet (219 m). The highest point in Indianapolis lies on the northeast side of the city. It was previously assumed that the highest point was Crown Hill Cemetery (the tomb of famed Hoosier writer James Whitcomb Riley) with an elevation of 842 feet (257 m). The lowest point in Indianapolis lies at the Marion County/Johnson County line, with an elevation of about 680 feet (207 m). The highest hill in Indianapolis is Mann Hill, a bluff located along the White River in Southwestway Park that rises about 150 feet (46 m) above the surrounding land. Variations in elevation from 700–900 feet occur throughout the city limits. There are a few moderately sized bluffs and valleys in the city, particularly along the shores of the White River, Fall Creek, Geist Reservoir, and Eagle Creek Reservoir, and especially on the city's northeast and northwest sides.
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Famous quotes containing the word geography:
“The totality of our so-called knowledge or beliefs, from the most casual matters of geography and history to the profoundest laws of atomic physics or even of pure mathematics and logic, is a man-made fabric which impinges on experience only along the edges. Or, to change the figure, total science is like a field of force whose boundary conditions are experience.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)
“Where the heart is, there the muses, there the gods sojourn, and not in any geography of fame. Massachusetts, Connecticut River, and Boston Bay, you think paltry places, and the ear loves names of foreign and classic topography. But here we are; and, if we tarry a little, we may come to learn that here is best. See to it, only, that thyself is here;—and art and nature, hope and fate, friends, angels, and the Supreme Being, shall not absent from the chamber where thou sittest.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Ktaadn, near which we were to pass the next day, is said to mean “Highest Land.” So much geography is there in their names.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)