Museums, a zoo, an amphitheater, and gardens share the 267 acres of White River State Park, which stretches along both banks of the White River ahead of you in downtown Indianapolis. Around you are the institutions that define this place: the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, the Indiana State Museum, the Indianapolis Zoo, the NCAA Hall of Champions, Victory Field, the Everwise Amphitheater, and White River Gardens. Together with the Downtown Canal, this park and canal form one of the city's official cultural districts, designated Canal and White River State Park.
Its story began with plans conceived by civic leaders in the late 1970s to capitalize on the city's amateur sports economic development strategy. Bipartisan support from state legislators and seed money from corporate partners organized a quasi-governmental commission to oversee planning and operations. Construction began in the 1980s with acquisition and clearing of blighted industrial properties and the realignment of Washington Street for redevelopment.
Restoration continued into the late 1980s as public attention turned to the Indiana Central Canal corridor. Notice that this entire stretch began as blighted industrial land, cleared in the 1980s to make way for the museums and greenspaces here today.