Indianapolis Auto Parade - 1907

Today let's go further back to the era of the nascent automobile industry in Indianapolis. It's 1907 and future Indianapolis Motor Speedway Founder Carl Fisher was in the thick of things as usual.

The downtown concentration of automobile dealerships and garages that became known as "automobile row" was forming. Indianapolis had more such businesses than any other city of its size in America.

Along with Fisher, other prominent leaders in the local auto industry such as Frank Staley, Cecil Gibson and S.W. Elston led efforts to stimulate interest in the new products. They discussed an industry association but more immediately they staged what was then a massive parade of 200 cars through the Hoosier capital. Never before had so many automobiles gathered in one formation in Indiana.

This was an exciting time as the industrial age was in full swing and Indianapolis - not unlike Silicon Valley decades later - was a hotbed of entrepreneurs networking and establishing new companies founded on emerging technology. Consumers, many born during or before the Civil War marveled at the rapid pace of change. All adults were products of the 19th century and even the first generation of people born during the automobile were impressed with the promise of defeating distance.

This image is of cars leaving Indianapolis' iconic monument circle to tour the wondrous Hoosier capital. Click thru and better understand the events leading up to the creation of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the story of an astonishing age that promised so much - and never failed to deliver.