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INDIANAPOLIS began life in 1821, when a tract of barely inhabited marshes was designated the state capital. Its location in the middle of Indiana's rich farmland bore terrific commercial advantages, but the absence of a navigable river prohibited the transportation of bulky materials such as coal and iron to sustain heavy industry. Though home to more than sixty car manufacturers by 1910, the city never seriously threatened Detroit's supremacy. Nevertheless, it has become one of the biggest cities in the world not accessible by water, attracting food, paper and pharmaceutical industries, including the giant Eli Lilly Corporation.

Today the city has shaken off such nicknames as Naptown, India-no-place and Brickhouse in the Cornfield in favor of its chosen designation as the country's unofficial amateur sports capital - "amateur" events like the Pan-American Games and national Olympic trials being worth big money these days. (Major league pro teams include the basketball Pacers and the football Colts.) In recent years, it has constructed several world-class sports stadia (including the retro-styled Conseco Fieldhouse downtown) along with new hotels, a gaggle of top-class museums and a zoo - and its old downtown landmarks have become cultural, shopping and dining complexes. No longer is it (quite) true that nothing happens here except for the glamorous Indianapolis 500 car race each May - "the most televised annual event in the world".