People pose on the Central Avenue bridge over the State Ditch, Indianapolis, Indiana, circa 1900

Description:	People pose at the Central Avenue bridge over the State Ditch for amateur photographer Bruce Maxwell. Based on the lighting, this view looks west toward Central at about 19th Street. The old Indiana State Fairgrounds, then being developed for housing now known as Herron-Morton Place neighborhood, would have been beyond the bridge to the right.With two large ravines or bayous near downtown and wetlands in northeast part of the city (one near Brookside Park known as Fletchers Swamp), Indianapolis tended to flood. To help solve the problem, the State Ditch was commissioned by the Indiana State Legislature in 1837 to drain the swamps and lowlands and channel it into rivers. There are well-known photos of it winding through Camp Morton, the Civil War camp on the old Indiana State Fair site. Confederate prisoners nicknamed the ditch the Potomac. Eventually the ravines were filled in as residential development spread beyond the mile square. In around 1910, the State Ditch near the fairgrounds was rerouted into storm sewers and no longer exists.
Origin:	1900, circa
Created By:	Maxwell, Bruce, Indianapolis, Indiana
Source:	http://indianaalbum.pastperfectonline.com/photo/3DC14749-76F1-441A-B251-924821013387
Collection:	Indiana Album
Rights:	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/
Geography:	Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana, United States
Subjects:	Deedee Davis / Indianapolis Photo Album Ditches Bridges Indianapolis (Ind.) Marion County (Ind.)

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