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Fort Wayne joined several other cities reeling economically within the Rust Belt. At the same time, General Electric also downsized much of its more than 10,000-person workforce. Amid other area plant closures and downsizing, coupled with the early 1980s recession, the city lost 30,000 jobs and reached a 12.1 percent unemployment rate.
This natural crossroads attracted the Native Americans for thousands of years. It later attracted the European explorers and traders and the American pioneer settlers who continued to develop the area as a transportation and communications center. Chief Little Turtle of the Miami Nation expressed its importance eloquently at the treaty of Greenville in 1795 when he called it "that glorious gate...through which all the words of our chiefs had to pass through from north to south and from east to west". Based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, MHVillage Inc. is the nation’s premier online marketplace for buying and selling manufactured homes with more than 25 million unique visitors annually. Last year, more than 80,000 homes were sold on MHVillage with a combined transaction value exceeding $3 billion.
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Starting in the 1970s, the city developed a system of recreational trails along the riverbanks, known as the Rivergreenway, with the aim of beautifying the riverfronts and promoting active lifestyles for residents. As of 2018, the Rivergreenway had expanded with additional trails to encompass nearly 180 miles throughout the city and county, with about 550,000 annual users. With the expansion of trails in recent years, cycling has become an emerging mode of transportation for residents.
Louis Kahn's design for the Arts United Center was inspired by a violin and its case. Other notable buildings include Indiana Michigan Power Center , the tallest building in the city and tallest building in Indiana outside of Indianapolis, at 442 feet . Pennsylvania Railroad Station has stood as a landmark to the city's railroad heritage since 1914. The I-469 beltway around the southern and eastern fringes of Fort Wayne and New Haven was constructed between 1988 and 1995 as the largest public works project in Allen County history, at $207 million. Major broadcasting network affiliates include WANE-TV , WPTA-TV (ABC/NBC), WISE-TV , WFFT-TV , and WFWA-TV , Northeast Indiana's PBS member station.
History
Access Fort Wayne maintains Fort Wayne and Allen County's Public Access capabilities serving from the Allen County Public Library. One National Public Radio station is based in the city, WBOI, with the new WELT Community Radio Station transmitting from the Allen County Public Library. Composed of 14 branches, the Allen County Public Library is among the 20 largest public libraries in the U.S., and ranks 89th factoring in academic libraries, with 3.4 million volumes. The library's foundation is also among the nation's largest, with $14 million in assets. The entire library system underwent an $84.1 million overhaul from 2002 to 2007.
Freight service is provided by a class I railroad and two class III railroads. Fort Wayne is headquarters and main operations hub of Norfolk Southern's Triple Crown Services subsidiary, the largest truckload shipper in the U.S. Fort Wayne Community Schools is the largest public school district in Indiana, enrolling 30,981 students as of the 2013–2014 academic year. FWCS operate 51 facilities, including 31 elementary schools, ten middle schools, and five high schools. East Allen County Schools operate 14 schools, with a total enrollment of 10,010.
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The city is a center for the defense industry, employing thousands at such companies as BAE Systems , Harris Corporation , Raytheon Technologies , and the Fort Wayne Air National Guard Station . Magnet wire production became an especially vital component to the city's economy. Manufacturing is deeply rooted in Fort Wayne's economic history, dating to the earliest days of the city's growth as an important trade stop along the Wabash and Erie Canal. Railroads, introduced shortly after the canal's arrival, eased travel from Fort Wayne to other booming industrial centers along the Great Lakes, such as Chicago, Detroit, Toledo, and Cleveland. Throughout the early and mid-20th century, manufacturing dominated the city's economic landscape. From 1900 to 1930, Fort Wayne's industrial output expanded by 747 percent, with total production valued at $95 million in 1929, up from $11 million in 1899.
The population topped 2,000 when the town was incorporated as the City of Fort Wayne on February 22, 1840. Fort Wayne's "Summit City" nickname dates from this period, referring to the city's position at the highest elevation along the canal's route. As influential as the canal was to the city's earliest development, it quickly became obsolete after briefly competing with the city's first railroad, the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway, completed in 1854.
Festivals and events
In 2009, the city's first bicycle lanes were established with the installation of 250 bike parking places. In 2016, Fort Wayne was designated a Bronze Level bicycle friendly community by the League of American Bicyclists. The History Center, located in Fort Wayne's Old City Hall, manages a collection of more than 23,000 artifacts recalling the region's history.
In 1950, Fort Wayne's first bypass, Coliseum Boulevard, opened on the north side of the city, followed by the city's first arena, War Memorial Coliseum, bringing new opportunities for suburban expansion. The Coliseum was home to the NBA's Fort Wayne Pistons from 1952 to 1957. The opening of enclosed shopping malls and the construction of Interstate 69 through rural areas north and west of the city proper further drove the exodus of retail from downtown through the 1960s. According to the Fort Wayne Home Builders Association estimates, more than 80 percent of new home construction occurred outside the city proper in the 1970s. Fort Wayne was hit by the Great Depression beginning in 1929, with most factories cutting their workforce.
In 1790, President George Washington ordered the United States Army to conquer and pacify the tribes. The first expedition, led by General Josiah Harmar reached Kekionga and burned it, but was then driven off by confederacy warriors led by the Miami war chief Little Turtle. The confederacy attacked the second invading force, led in 1791 by General Arthur St. Clair, before it could get that far and wiped it out, in a massacre known as St. Clair's Defeat at modern-day Fort Recovery, Ohio. General Anthony Wayne led a third expedition, defeating the confederacy's warriors at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, near modern-day Toledo, Ohio on August 20, 1794.
In 1946, planners proposed a $27 million federally funded freeway, crossing east–west and north–south through downtown. Opponents successfully campaigned against the proposal, objecting to the demolition of nearly 1,500 homes at the time of the post-World War II housing shortage, while playing on fears that the project would force displaced minorities into white neighborhoods. In 1947, Fort Wayne residents voted down the referendum that would have allowed for its construction, dubbed the 'Anthony Wayne Parkway.' Beginning in 1962, construction commenced for I-69 in suburban Fort Wayne.
All tier 1 networks and several additional telecommunication service providers cover the Fort Wayne rate area. Five Indiana State Roads also meet in the city, including State Road 1, State Road 3, State Road 14, State Road 37, and State Road 930. Airport Expressway, a four-lane divided highway, links Fort Wayne International Airport directly to I-69. About 85 percent of residents commute alone by personal vehicle, while another eight percent carpool. As of 2010, the Fort Wayne Fire Department included 375 uniformed firefighters and 18 fire stations.
The center is overseen by the Allen County–Fort Wayne Historical Society, which maintains the Richardville House, one of two National Historic Landmarks in the city. Historic Fort Wayne, a replica of the 1815 fortification, hosts scheduled tours and historical reenactments throughout the year. Other cultural museums include the African/African–American Historical Museum, Fort Wayne Firefighters Museum, Greater Fort Wayne Aviation Museum, and Baer Field Heritage Air Park. Through the 1990s and into the 2000s, the city diversified its economy; manufacturing now employs 16.9 percent of Allen County's workforce. Other sectors include distribution, transportation, and logistics (23.1 percent), health care (17.9 percent), professional and business services (12.1 percent), leisure and hospitality (11.1 percent), and financial services (6.3 percent). The leisure and hospitality sector has especially grown, with 5.8 million visitors spending $545 million in 2013, a 4.3 percent increase over the previous year.
Fort Wayne includes two municipal airports, both managed by the Fort Wayne–Allen County Airport Authority. Fort Wayne International Airport is the city's primary commercial airport, with five airlines offering direct service to 13 domestic connections. The airport is Indiana's second busiest, with over 350,000 passenger enplanements in 2015. Fort Wayne International is also home to the 122d Fighter Wing's Fort Wayne Air National Guard Station. Smith Field, in northern Fort Wayne, is used primarily for general aviation. Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana also contains two campuses in the city.
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