Lost Indianapolis (IN) (Images of America)

The author also has a webpage called "Lost Indiana" which talks about some of the Lost Indy topics, but also some other neat sites in the rest of the state. You could google this to find it.


Author's Comments   October 19, 2003
John P. Mcdonald (Indianapolis, IN United States)
Thanks to all who have made this book one of the best selling titles on Indianapolis. I had a great time writing it, and am working on a couple of follow-on projects, including one specifically about Burger Chef - so send me mail at webmaster@lostindiana.net if you have stories about Burger Chef to share.

About the editing - there is a major typographical error in the book, in that "Ayres" is spelled incorrectly several times. There are also a couple of other editing errors.

What happened? Very simply the final edited version was not the one printed! Though a mixup with the publisher, one of the pre-edited versions was actually printed.

The good news: the next printing of the book has the errors corrected. This is especially good news for those who buy the book now, because you'll have the "first edition", a real collector's item. :)

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did writing it.


Not a complete history of the city, but an interesting one.   August 7, 2010
DWD (Indianapolis, IN)
"Lost Indianapolis" is part of the very large "Images of America" series of books that feature historical photos of landmarks of a city or group of people and tell part of the history as well. From time to time "then and now" photos are included as well so that the reader can see how things have changed.

"Lost Indianapolis" is a great book for those with an interest in Indianapolis for two reasons:

1) The photographs. They are interesting and very well-chosen to add to the text. I have seen books of this sort that seem to have random pictures tossed in with the text.

2) The text. McDonald has chosen several interesting topics to tell some of the story of the city. This is not a complete history by any means, but he does a thorough job of telling episodes in the city's history.

Topics covered in the book include: the central canal, Union Station, the Interurban system, the Stutz company, Carl Fisher, Riverside Park, Burger Chef and Market Square Arena.

The Interurban system was an electrical train system that ran from Indianapolis and connected with similar systems all over Indiana, Illinois and Ohio. McDonald tells the story in both a thorough and interesting way, including how the electrical plants required to power the trains eventually started to sell their extra energy to nearby customers and morphed into two modern-day utility companies still operating in the state.

The history of the Stutz Company is interesting because it begins to tell the story of Indianapolis and its love affair with the automobile. The Stutz Bearcat was the most famous car to come out of the factories that still stand on Capitol Avenue (they now house offices and a series of art studios).

McDonald also tells the story of Carl Fisher, an automotive pioneer in many ways - he had one of the first car dealerships in the world, he sold parts, including the first working headlights and the electric starter. Most importantly, he was part of the team that created the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and began the tradition of the Indianapolis 500 in 1911. He includes a great action photo of Fisher testing out the track before it was paved with more than 3 million bricks in 1911.

I very much enjoyed the section on Burger Chef as well. I did not realize that one of the warehouses I drive by from time to time on West 16th street was actually the corporate headquarters of Burger Chef! I have fond childhood memories of the Fun Meal at Burger Chef featuring the characters Burger Chef & Jeff - the forerunner to the McDonald's Happy Meal. Lost Indianapolis details the growth of company and the men who founded it. Interestingly, they had made several fast food kitchen devices to make things like soft-serve ice cream, shakes and flame-broiled hamburgers and started the first Burger Chef as a showcase restaurant to demonstrate their products. It was so successful they decided to franchise their system.

"Lost Indianapolis" is marred by several typographical errors, but the good information and interesting stories more than made up for that.