In 1969 there was a consolidation of Indianapolis and Marion County governments.. This consolidation, which was named Unigov, was essential for Indianapolis to revitalize its downtown, foster regional thinking, and contributed to the economic growth of the entire metropolitan statistical area.. Here are some great guides to show you just how far Indianapolis has come and also how far it has to go.
PBS documentary Naptown to Super City shows how Indianapolis leaders gambled on an unprecedented strategy, civic development through sports. It shows how the sports strategy, with its attendant risks, back-room deals, dissent and no small amount of serendipity, transcended sports and helped build a world class city.
http://video.wfyi.org/video/2282207842/
Encyclopedia of Indianapolis Is a great place to start for anyone interested in local Indianapolis History. It was published in 1994 so the information is a little dated but many of the people, places, and topics discussed do not have their own Wikipedia page.. Part of the encyclopedia is available though Google Books.
https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Encyclopedia_of_Indianapolis.html?id=nIl5AAAAMAAJ
IUPUI--the Making of an Urban University gives a great history lesson on the merger of Indiana and Purdue Universities in Indianapolis. Created in 1969, IUPUI combined Indiana University’s professional schools and its undergraduate downtown Indianapolis campus with Purdue’s science, engineering, and technology programs in the city. The growth of the city has mirrored the growth of IUPUI. A preview of this book is available on Google Books.
Two Articles of note on Indianapolis and Unigov are:
Blomquist, William and Robert B. Parks. “Fiscal Service and Political Impacts of IndianapolisMarion County’s Unigov.” Publius: The Journal of Federalism, 25. 4 (1995), 37-54.
Abstract: This article describes how city and county governments were, and were not, consolidated under Unigov in 1969, a measure tharfell substantially short of a complete consolidation. The article then reviews the available evidence concerning Unigov's effects on service delivery and performance, public finance, economic development, and voter participation. The available record suggests that Unigov has enhanced (1) the stability of Indianapolis `political leadership by establishing one-party control of local government; (2) the effectiveness of its economic development strategy of public subsidization of private developments; and (3) the ability of Indianapolis to shift a greater share of the burden for its expenditures to the state and federal governments. There is little evidence that Unigov has (1) reduced the number of service provision, production, or taxing units in the county; (2) improved central-city residents' satisfaction with their local public services; or (3) effected a substantial redistribution of the financial base for those local services. Instead, there is some evidence to the contrary.
Segedy, James A. and Lyons, Thomas S. “Planning the Indianapolis Region: Urban Resurgence, de facto Regionalism and UniGov.” Planning Practice & Research, 16.3/4 (Aug. 2001), 293-305.
Here is the first page preview: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02697450120107907#
The best places to try locating a copy of these articles would be your local public library or a local college library. Most college libraries allow some sort of public access to their computers. Be sure to check ahead as their are often very specific rules for public use of computers.
Political Warrior: The Life And Times of L. Keith Bulen by Stanley A. Huseland is a great book about how Keith Bulen led a change in the Republican Party that would change Indianapolis and Indiana forever. No preview is available on Google Books but they do have the cover of the book.
http://books.google.com/books/about/Political_Warrior.html?id=7N2nPQAACAAJ
Unigov has not changed everyone's fortune. The city's good fortune has not been shared equally among its residents.. Richard B. Pierce in his book Polite Protest: The Political Economy of Race in Indianapolis, 1920-1970 tells the history of the black community of Indianapolis in the 20th century. Pierce looks at how the black community worked to alter the political and social culture of Indianapolis. A preview of this book is available on Google Books.
http://books.google.com/books/about/Polite_Protest.html?id=H3-z55__320C
Aaron Renn has a number of blog posts that give a great overview to Indianapolis and Indiana culture and how it affects the way in which the city and state is governed.
http://www.urbanophile.com/category/cities/indianapolis/
The Effects of City-County Consolidation: A Review of the Recent Academic Literature is a report prepared by the Indiana Policy Review Foundation. It was published on November 16, 2005 and in the appendix contains a great list of articles about Indianapolis and City-County Consolidation.
http://www.state.in.us/legislative/interim/committee/2005/committees/prelim/MCCC02.pdf
In 1995 Klu Klux Klan records were discovered in Noblesville, IN located just north of Indianapolis in Hamilton County. An article was written about this discovery and was published in 2004. It was titled,"You Can't Burn History": Getting Right with the Klan in Noblesville, Indiana and you can read it here: http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/imh/article/view/12050/17807
