The focus of the city is the circular Monument Place, from which four wide avenues run diagonally to the four corners of the city. The other streets, many of them one hundred feet wide, are laid out at right angles to each other. In the center of this place rises the Soldiers and Sailors’ Monument, two hundred and eighty-five feet high, by Bruno Schmitz of Berlin. Round the monument are statues of General G. R. Clark, Governor Whitcomb, President W. H. Harrison, and Governor Morton. A little to the west is the State Capitol, a large building with a central tower and dome, erected at a cost of two million dollars. At the east entrance to the Capitol is a statue of Governor Morton and near by is that of Governor Hendricks. The Marion County Court House, also an imposing edifice, lies to the east of Monument Place, while to the north of it is the United States Court House and Post Office, erected in 1902-1904. To the southwest of the former is a statue of General H. W. Lawton, by A. O’Connor. In University Park is a statue of Benjamin Harrison, erected in 1908.
The John Herron Art Institute, at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Sixteenth Street, contains a School of Art and a collection of modern paintings. Other large and important buildings are the Blind Asylum; the Propylæum, owned and controlled by a stock company of women for literary purposes; the Deaf and Dumb Asylum; the Union Railway Station; the City Hall; the Public Library; the Masonic Temple; the Oddfellows Building; the Deutsche Haus, a German club-house; the Mænnerchor Building, and several churches. The Winona Technical Institute is installed in buildings erected for the United States Arsenal. The Central Hospital for the Insane lies one and one-half miles to the west of the city, beyond the White River. The Riverside, Broad Ripple, Brookside, Fairview, and Garfield Parks deserve mention.
Indianapolis is one of the chief railroad centers of the United States, fifteen main lines converging here. It is also a great center of electric railways, which radiate hence in all directions, two hundred and fifty cars leaving the terminal station daily. The trade in agricultural produce is very considerable. Pork-packing is the leading industry, but there are also large flour and cotton and woolen mills, numerous foundries, and manufactories of furniture, carriages, tiles, etc.
Indianapolis was first settled in 1819, the city founded in 1821, became the seat of the state government in 1825, was incorporated as a town in 1836, and received its city charter in 1847. In the same year the first railroad in the state was opened.
Los Angeles (los an´je-les, Sp. pron. lōs äng´he-lās), Cal. [Named by the Spaniards Pueblo de la Reina de los Angeles, “The Town of the Queen of the Angels,” hence Los Angeles, “the angels.”]
It is the metropolis of southern California, lies on the Los Angeles River, twenty miles above its mouth and fifteen miles in a direct line from the Pacific Ocean, and four hundred and eighty-three miles southeast of San Francisco by the Southern Pacific Railroad.
It is a splendid city of wide streets and spacious sidewalks, with an extensive residential quarter, one hundred and thirty churches, over sixty public schools, and about one thousand seven hundred manufactories. It publishes newspapers in seven languages.
The city, especially the residential quarters, is embowered in plants, among the characteristic [603] features of which are the swift-growing eucalyptus, the graceful pepper-tree, many palms, Norfolk Island pines, live-oaks, india-rubber trees, orange trees, roses, geraniums, yuccas, century plants, bananas, calla lilies, and pomegranates. A distinguished French traveler pronounces Los Angeles one of the few really beautiful cities in the United States.
Broadway, running parallel to Main Street, is the dividing line for east and west, as First Street is for north and south. Among the many substantial buildings in Main Street are the City Hall, between Second and Third Streets, and the new Chamber of Commerce. The latter contains an interesting collection of California products, the Palmer collection of Indian antiquities, and the Coronel collection, illustrating the Spanish period. Here is also the first cannon brought to California by Padre Junipero Serra in 1769. In Temple Street, near Broadway, stands the County Court House. The Public Library is at the southeast corner of Broadway and Third Street.
Other edifices worthy of mention are the Women’s Club, in the Mission-Renaissance style (940 South Figueroa Street), the State Normal School (corner Grand Avenue and Fifth Street), the Security Savings Bank (corner Spring and Fifth Streets), the Union Trust and Hellman Buildings (opposite corners of Spring and Fourth Streets), the Auditorium (corner Fifth and Olive Streets), the Y. M. C. A. (Hope Street, between Seventh and Eighth Streets), the Y. W. C. A. (corner Hill and Third Streets), the Farmers and Merchants National Bank (corner Fourth and Main Streets), the Grant Building (corner Broadway and Fourth Street), Hamburger’s (corner Broadway and Eighth Street), Merchants Trust (207 Broadway), and the International Bank (corner Temple, Spring and Main Streets). The viaduct of the Electric Railway, in San Fernando Street, spanning the railway tracks on the east side of the city, is an interesting piece of engineering.