Indianapolis

Indianapolis (/ˌɪndiəˈnæpəlɪs/) is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County. With an estimated population of 848,788 in 2014, Indianapolis is the largest city in Indiana, second largest in the American Midwest, and 14th largest in the U.S.Indianapolis–Carmel–Anderson is the 33rd largest metropolitan area in the U.S., with nearly 2 million inhabitants. Residents of the city are occasionally referred to as "Indianapolitans," although this archaic term is rarely used.

Indianapolis was founded in 1821 near the confluence of the White River and Fall Creek as a planned city for the new seat of Indiana's state government. The city's economy is diverse, including health care, life sciences, manufacturing, motorsports, and transportation and logistics, contributing to a gross domestic product (GDP) of $125.8 billion in 2014. Three Fortune 500 companies are based in the city: Anthem Inc., Eli Lilly and Company, and Calumet Specialty Products Partners. Nicknamed the Crossroads of America, Indianapolis is the junction for four Interstate highways and six U.S. highways. Indianapolis International Airport is a major international cargo hub, ranking as the 23rd busiest airport in the world by cargo traffic in 2014. Indianapolis is considered a "high sufficiency" global city.

The Indianapolis Star

The Indianapolis Star is a morning daily newspaper that began publishing on June 6, 1903. It has won the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting twice, in 1975 and 1991. It is currently owned by the Gannett Company.

History

The Indianapolis Star was founded on June 6, 1903, by Muncie industrialist George F. McCulloch as competition to two other Indianapolis dailies, the Indianapolis Journal and the Indianapolis Sentinel. It acquired the Journal a year and two days later, and bought the Sentinel in 1906. Daniel G. Reid purchased the Star in 1904 and hired John Shaffer as publisher, later replacing him. In the ensuing court proceedings, Saffer emerged as the majority owner of the paper in 1911 and served as publisher and editor until his death in 1943.

Central Newspapers, Inc. and its owner, Eugene C. Pulliam--maternal grandfather of future Vice President Dan Quayle--purchased the Star from Shaffer's estate on April 25, 1944 and adopted initiatives to increase the paper's circulation. In 1944, the Star had trailed the evening Indianapolis News but by 1948 had become Indiana's largest newspaper.