Rerouting Fall Creek, 1875
Fall Creek, which once entered the White River at three locations near where the Indy Canal emptied into it, was redirected in 1875. When the the State built the Michigan Street bridge (long since replaced) over the White River in 1874, the Indianapolis City Council then required that Fall Creek be re-routed. Instead of building bridges over the creek, they chose to change its alignment. Unthinkably in the modern world, they mandated that the Creek would enter the White River almost a mile north, near 10th St.,
In 1875, for $5,280, the Irwin & Hanna company, left the tinier man-made mill race (a source of power for the mills that used it) in place but moved the creek to its present location. Doing so, made it possible to develop the area between the river and the creek they had eliminated and made it possible for Ohio Street and New York Streets and others to reach the White River and ultimately cross it.