Indianapolis: The Hoosier City
Among the things I’ll be writing about here are those aspects of Indianapolis that are unique, that set it apart from all or most cities. Going back to my early days of writing about the city I always included a regional perspective, including looks at the other large cities of the Midwest region. Over time I expanded to cover cities nationally and even internationally (though I have always been Midwest-focused), which gives me a perspective on what’s true not just in Indianapolis but in other places as well. So I can see the things that are common between Indy and other cities, as well as things that are different.
It will come as no surprise to you that there are often urban-rural divides within states. One of the things that often fuels this is the sense that cities are culturally distinct from their state, or at a minimum, actively trying to convince people they are different.
I lived in Chicago after graduating from college, and it is the poster child for this. You hardly ever meet people there talking about being from Illinois. Their identity was purely as a Chicagoan. Some people go so far as to deny that Chicago is even part of the Midwest. (Listen to this segment from Chicago Public Radio for a sample).
You know what? There’s some truth in that. Chicago is a very different place culturally. It even has its own accent parodied on Saturday Night Live. Similarly there’s a massive difference between New York City and Upstate New York.
Closer of home, Louisville gets quite a bit of hostility from the rest of the state, perhaps in part because they insist on rooting for their hometown Louisville Cardinals basketball team instead of the UK Wildcats. Cincinnati brands itself as “Cincinnati USA,” not Ohio. And Cincinnati actually does have one of the most unique local cultures in America, very different from the rest of the state.
With Indianapolis, however, one of its distinguishing local character traits is low cultural differentiation compared to the state of Indiana. If someone from Chicago is a Chicagoan and someone from Boston is a Bostonian, what do you call someone from Indianapolis? I can’t think of anything other than Hoosier.
Indianapolis is a Hoosier city. Since I am a Hoosier and happen to think that being a Hoosier is a great thing; I see this as a positive.
This is not to say that there’s nothing about Indianapolis that’s different from the rest of the state. The various parts of Indiana all have their regional distinctives. Southern Indiana (where I am from) is different from Northwest Indiana. Fort Wayne is not Evansville. But Indy has a lot in common with a whole lot of the state. It’s not a strange, alien place.
Let’s be real. There will always be different regional tensions in every state. Indiana is no exception. But the fact that the rest of the state and its largest city share a ton in common culturally is a key advantage. It can help build unity instead of division. And there are great parts of the Hoosier brand that are great for the city too.
I’ll give just one example. Indiana is known for agriculture. So it’s no surprise that Indianapolis is so well connected to many of the farms around the state. Local food, farm to table, etc. isn’t just some trend here, but something where there’s a real cultural connection. A lot of us who live in Indy today worked on farms or had gardens when we were kids, for example. Unlike Brooklynites adopting pickling and such as a pose or fashion idea, farming and food in Indianapolis is authentic to the brand people already have in mind for us as an agricultural region.
That’s but one example of why Indianapolis is the Hoosier City. And that’s a source of strength, not weakness.
