
In Neighborhoods North of Speedway, Diversity Among Highest in Indy
Though they developed as all-white suburbs between 1940 and 1970, the neighborhoods near the Indianapolis Motor Speedway are some of the densest and most diverse in Indianapolis.
Though they developed as all-white suburbs between 1940 and 1970, the neighborhoods near the Indianapolis Motor Speedway are some of the densest and most diverse in Indianapolis.
Mortgage activity in St. Clair Place shows a dramatic increase in home purchases and home value since 2007. The area is more diverse than ever and poverty is falling for people of color. But home buyers are still 76 percent white.
In the area where wealthy Golden Hills converges with the working-class neighborhoods of Northwest Indianapolis, income inequality is high and increasing. The area is also experiencing a growth of white households above the median income.
In the 1970s, 4,000 residents left this nearly all-black neighborhood. Why? An increasingly desegregated housing market and closure of one of the country’s first public housing projects.
In 1970, half of the region’s Black population lived in 12 square miles north of downtown Indianapolis. As Black residents moved into ’60s suburban communities, 120,000 White residents left the city’s core for newer suburbs.