Fort Wayne, Indiana Totally Explained

Everything about Ft Wayne Indiana totally explained

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Fort Wayne is a city in northeastern Indiana, United States of America and the county seat of Allen County. As of September 30, 2007, the city had an estimated population of 252,000, making it the 70^th largest city in the United States. In 2007, the combined population of the Fort Wayne Metropolitan Statistical Area was 570,779, making it the third largest metropolitan area in Indiana. Fort Wayne is Indiana's second largest city after Indianapolis.
Fort Wayne is within a radius of 17 percent of the total United States population and within a day's drive of half of the nation's population, along with sitting nearly equidistant from Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus, Detroit, and Indianapolis. Fort Wayne's economy has been primarily based on insurance, manufacturing, and healthcare. The metro area is also a contributor to the nation's agricultural sector. Fort Wayne has received recognition by the National Civic League with the All-America City Award in 1982-1983 and 1998. United States Army general and American Revolutionary War statesman General "Mad" Anthony Wayne is the namesake of Fort Wayne. The United States Army built this last in a series of forts near the community of Kekionga, the largest of all Miami villages, which is located where the St. Joseph River and St. Marys River join to form the Maumee River.

History

The Miami nation first established a settlement at the Maumee, St. Joseph, and St. Mary's Rivers in the mid-17th century called Kekionga. The village was the traditional capital of the Miami nation and related Algonquian tribes. Historians believe that around 1676, French priests and missionaries visited the Miami on their way back from a mission at Lake Michigan. In 1680, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle sent a letter to the Governor-General of Canada stating he'd also stopped there. In the 1680s, French traders established a post at the location because it was the crucial portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. The Maumee River is approximately ten miles (16 kilometers) away from the Little River branch of the Wabash River, which flows, in turn, into the Ohio River.
   In 1696, Comte de Frontenac appointed Jean Baptiste Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes as commander of the French outpost in Miami country. The French built the first fort on the site, Fort Miamis, in 1697 as part of a group of forts built between Quebec, Canada, and St. Louis. In 1721, a few years after Bissot's death, Fort Miamis was replaced by Fort St. Philippe des Miamis.
   Increasing tension between France and the United Kingdom developed over the territory. In 1760, after defeat by British forces in the French and Indian War, the area was ceded to the British Empire. The fort was again renamed, this time to Fort Miami. In 1763, various Native American nations rebelled against British rule and retook the fort as part of Pontiac's Rebellion. The Miami regained control of Kekionga, a rule that lasted for more than thirty years.
Since 1811, after the severe defeat at the Battle of Tippecanoe, Native American tribes on the Northwest frontier had been growing bitter at United States presence there. Encouraged by other British/Native American victories at places such as Fort Dearborn and Detroit, native tribes began to undertake campaigns against other smaller American outposts. By September 1812, Indians from the Potawatomi and Miami tribes, led by Chief Winamac, undertook a campaign against Fort Wayne in northeast Indiana Territory. Captain James Rhea, who was commanding the garrison at Fort Wayne, began to worry about his position once Fort Dearborn and Detroit fell, leading Rhea to begin drinking heavily.
   On September 5, the siege began when Chief Winamac assaulted the fort from the east side and burned the homes of the surrounding village. The Indians constructed two wooden cannons and were able to trick the garrison into thinking they'd artillery besieging the fort as well. When Rhea began to discuss ideas of surrender, two of his lieutenants decided he was unfit to continue his duties and relieved him of command. These two lieutenants then assumed command and continued to hold out in the fort until reinforcements arrived. General William Henry Harrison, the newly appointed commander of the Northwest frontier, led a relief force of 2,200 soldiers to Fort Wayne, arriving on September 12, attacking and defeating the Indian force, lifting the siege. The Potawatami/Miami force retreated into Ohio and Michigan Territory.
   Fort Wayne prospered under the construction of the Wabash and Erie Canal, earning Fort Wayne's nickname, the Summit City, due to the city's placing at the zenith of the locks on the canal. Fort Wayne lost national prominence in the demise of the Wabash and Erie Canal as the railroad system quickly took its place. On February 22, 1840, the Town of Fort Wayne incorporated as the City of Fort Wayne. Most of the population growth occurred in the 19^th century with immigrants mainly arriving from Germany and Ireland, bringing large numbers of Roman Catholics and Lutherans.
In recent history, the focus of the community has been the concern of breathing new life into downtown Fort Wayne. Over the last eight years, the city has improved in this venture however, with the renovated and expanded main library branch, Grand Wayne Convention Center, and in 2006, it was announced that plans for a new $125 million development, containing a new baseball stadium, parking garage, condominiums, shops, and Courtyard by Marriott Hotel were to be built in downtown Fort Wayne between 2008 and 2010. This project has come to be known as the Harrison Square project.

Geography

Fort Wayne is located at in the northeast corner of Indiana. For a regional summit, Fort Wayne is fairly flat. Marshes and wetlands are prevalent in portions of southwest Fort Wayne and Allen County, as well as some gravel pits. Few small hills and depressions are found throughout the region, with the exception of Cedar Creek Canyon near the St. Joseph River, north of the city. West of the city lies the Tipton Till Plain. Land east of the plain is the former Black Swamp.
The St. Mary's River cuts through the southeast section of Allen County, flowing northward, while the St. Joseph River cuts through the northeast section of the county, flowing southward. Both rivers converge roughly in the center of the county to form the Maumee River, which flows northeastward, eventually emptying into Lake Erie. Cedar Creek, one of the St. Joseph River's major tributaries, carves through hills in northern Allen County, east of Huntertown.

Climate

Fort Wayne, like most of the Midwest, has a humid continental climate. Summers are hot and humid, and winters are generally cold with frequent snowfall. Precipitation is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year. Severe weather isn't uncommon with tornadoes rarely occurring, particularly in the spring and summer months, though funnel clouds are observed more frequently. The most severe tornado, an F2 on the Fujita scale, struck portions of northern Fort Wayne on May 26, 2001, causing extensive damage to Northcrest Shopping Center along with other businesses along the Coliseum Boulevard corridor, moving on to a subdivision, but resulting in only three minor injuries.
The National Weather Service, which maintains an observation station in the control tower at Fort Wayne International Airport, reports the record highest temperature in the city was on July 14, 1936, and June 29, 1988, and the record lowest temperature was on January 12, 1918. The wettest month on record July 1986, with of precipitation recorded. The greatest 24-hour rainfall was on August 1, 1926. The average annual precipitation ranges from at the airport to at the Fort Wayne Water Pollution Control Plant. During the winter season, snowfall accumulation averages per year. Lake effect snow isn't rare to the region, but usually appears in the form of light snow flurries. The snowiest month on record was in January 1982 (the 1981-1982 winter season was also the snowiest season on record, with reported). The greatest 24-hour snowfall was on March 10, 1964.

Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Monthly Normal and Record High and Low Temperatures
Rec High °F	69	73	86	90	99	106	103	102	100	91	79	71
Norm High °F	31	35.4	47.4	59.8	71.6	80.6	84.3	81.8	75.4	63	48.5	35.8
Norm Low °F	16.1	19.2	28.8	38.2	49.1	58.8	62.5	60.4	52.8	41.8	32.7	22.3
Rec Low °F	-24	-19	-10	7	27	36	38	38	29	19	-1	-18
Precip (in)	2.05	1.94	2.86	3.54	3.75	4.04	3.58	3.6	2.81	2.63	2.98	2.77
Source 1: US Travel Weather
Source 2: The Weather Channel

Flooding

Fort Wayne has become notorious for frequent devastating floods, due to its proximity to the tributaries of the Wabash River Watershed to the west and south, and the Maumee River Watershed to the north and east.

Year(s)	Month(s)	Cost	River crest
Top Ten Worst Floods Based on Crests of the Three Rivers
1913	March	$4,802,000	26.1’
1982	March	$56,100,000	25.9’
1985	February	$6,957,000	24.5’
1990-1991	December-January	$5,000,000	24.1'
1943	May	$2,000,000	24.0’
1908	March	(no records on cost of flood)	22.5’
2005	January	$2,000,000	22.3’
1930	January	(no records on cost of flood)	22.2’
1978	April	$50,000,000	21.2’
2003	July	$12,600,000	21.2’
Source: City of Fort Wayne

The worst flood since 1913 walloped Fort Wayne in March of 1982, prompting the detoured stop of then-President Ronald Reagan to the city to survey the damage, thrusting Fort Wayne into the national spotlight. In the days following the flood, 9,000 residents were forced to evacuate their homes, over 2,000 residences and businesses were damaged by floodwaters, and thousands from across the tri-state area had descended on vulnerable spots along the three rivers in a relentless fight to sure-up ailing dikes. One such instance was a brigade of sandbaggers who were credited for saving 1,860 properties in the Lakeside neighborhood as the clay dikes along the Maumee River began to show signs of failure, earning Fort Wayne the distinction of being The City That Saved Itself.
Since the 1982 flood, miles of levees and dikes have been updated and implemented, as well as river-widening by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the addition of Headwaters Park near the confluence of the rivers in downtown Fort Wayne, has contributed to protecting the city against future floods. In commemoration of the 1982 flood's 25^th anniversary, former Mayor Graham Richard proclaimed March 19-23, 2007 as Flood Awareness Week in Fort Wayne, also highlighting the flood mitigation efforts the city has made in the last quarter century.

Cityscape

Rank	Name	Street Address	Height feet / meters	Floors	Year
Top Six Tallest Buildings
1	One Summit Square	101 East Washington Boulevard	442/135	27	1982
2	National City Center	110 West Berry Street	339/103	26	1970
3	Lincoln Bank Tower	116 East Berry Street	312/95	22	1930
4	Allen County Courthouse	Clinton Street	238/73	3	1902
5	Anthony Wayne Bank Building	203 East Berry Street	167/51	14	1964
6	1st Source Center	200 East Main Street	149/46	10	1989
Source: Emporis.com

Architecture

Allen County Courthouse, Clinton Street, government building, by Brentwood S. Tolan, 1897-1902
Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, 4000 Parnell Avenue, sports arena, 1952
Anthony Wayne Bank Building, 203 East Berry Street, commercial highrise, 1964
Blackstone Building, 112 West Washington Boulevard, commercial highrise, 1927
Center School, restored schoolhouse, 1893
Commerce Building, 127 West Berry Street, Beaux-Arts architecture highrise, 1923
Concordia Senior College (now Concordia Theological Seminary), by Eero Saarinen
Crooks House, residence, by postmodernist Michael Graves, 1976
Elektron Building, 215 East Berry Street, commercial highrise, 1895
Embassy Theatre and Indiana Hotel, 121 West Jefferson Boulevard, theater and hotel, 1928
Hanselmann House, residence, by postmodernist architect Michael Graves, 1967
Hugh McCulloch House, 616 West Superior Street, residence, 1853
J.B. Franke House, residence, 1914
J. Ross McCulloch House, 334 East Berry Street, residence, 1883
Lincoln Bank Tower, 116 East Berry Street, Art-Deco highrise, by Alvin M. Strauss, 1930
Old City Hall, government building, 1893
One Summit Square (Chase Bank), commercial highrise, 1981
Pennsylvania Railroad Station, 231 West Baker Street, train station, 1914
Chief Jean Baptiste de Richardville House, 5705 Bluffton Road, residence, 1827
Snyderman House, residence, by postmodernist Michael Graves, 1972
The Canal House, 114 West Superior Street, warehouse, 1852
The Landing, Columbia Street, Italianate, Renaissance, and Romanesque-style commercial lowrises, 1868-1943
Trinity Episcopal Church, 611 West Berry Street, church, 1865
Wermuth House, residence, by Eero Saarinen, 1942

Neighborhoods

Demographics

Fort Wayne Population by year		Rank
1744	300
1850	4,282
1860	10,388
1870	17,718	83
1880	25,880	74
1890	35,393	86
1900	45,115	83
1910	63,933	89
1920	85,540	83
1930	114,946	72
1940	118,410	70
1950	133,607	72
1960	161,144	79
1970	178,269	72
1980	172,196	80
1990	195,680	99
2000	205,727	84
2006	248,637	70

The first census, performed in 1744 on the order by the governor of Louisiana, revealed a population of approximately forty Frenchmen and one thousand Miami.

Government

Elected officials of Fort Wayne as of 2008
Official	Position	Political Party
Tom Henry	Mayor	Democrat
City Council Members
Marty Bender	At-Large	Republican
Liz Brown	At-Large	Republican
John Shoaff	At-Large	Democrat
Tom Smith	First District	Republican
Karen Goldner	Second District	Democrat
Tom Didier	Third District	Republican
Mitch Harper	Fourth District	Republican
Tim Pape	Fifth District	Democrat
Glynn A. Hines	Sixth District	Democrat

Fort Wayne has a mayor-council government. As of April 2006, the city was exploring a voluntary government restructuring that included the possible consolidation of its government or parts of its government with Allen County. Discussions with the County have been intermittent for several years.
   Fort Wayne's mayor is Democrat Tom Henry, who was sworn into office on January 1, 2008. He succeeded Democrat Graham Richard who had served since 2000. Mayor Richard chose not to run for re-election. Henry had previously served as a five-term city council member representing the Third District. He was defeated for a sixth term in 2003. Mark Becker holds the position of Deputy Mayor, respectively.
   Fort Wayne City Council is a nine-member legislative group that serve four-year terms. Six of the members represent specific districts; three are elected city-wide as at-large council members. The council elected on November 6, 2007 will serve until December 31, 2011. Democrat Sandra Kennedy has been Fort Wayne's city clerk since 1983.
   Under the Unigov provision of Indiana Law, City-County consolidation would have been automatic when Fort Wayne's population exceeded 250,000 and became a first class city in Indiana. Fort Wayne nearly met the state requirements for first class city designation in 2006 when the populous portions of Aboite Township were annexed. However, a 2004 legislative change raised the population requirements from 250,000 to 600,000, which ensured Indianapolis' status as the only first class city in Indiana.

Economy

By the mid-20^th century, Fort Wayne had become a manufacturing center in the Midwest United States. Major employers included General Electric, Westinghouse, International Harvester, and Tokheim gasoline pumps. Also, Phelps Dodge, Rea Wire, and Essex Wire comprised the largest concentration of copper and enamel wire manufacturing in the world at their Fort Wayne plants during World War II, dubbing the city as the Magnet Wire Capital of the World. Besides manufacturing, Fort Wayne was and continues to be today a part of the agricultural sector of the Midwest.
   In the latter half of the 20^th century, shifts in manufacturing patterns led to the reduction of the number of manufacturing plants and jobs, leading many to count Fort Wayne among the many Midwest and Mid-Atlantic cities in the Rust Belt. However, as of 2006 the top employer of full-time employees in Fort Wayne was General Motors, where the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks are assembled by nearly 3,000 employees. Other major employers to the city include ITT Aerospace/Communications Division, Lincoln Financial Group, Verizon, Raytheon Systems, and BF Goodrich Tires, located in nearby Woodburn.
   Fort Wayne is the headquarters for such corporations as Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Company, Centennial Wireless, DeBrand Chocolatier, Do It Best, Home Reserve, LLC., K & K Insurance Group, Medical Protective, North American Van Lines (now known as SIRVA due to merger with Allied Van Lines and Global Van Lines), OmniSource Corporation, Scott's Food & Pharmacy, STAR Financial Group, Sweetwater Sound, Triple Crown Services, Vera Bradley Designs, and WaterFurnace International.
   In 2008, Forbes ranked the Fort Wayne metropolitan area 73^rd on its list of 200 metropolitan areas in the "Best Places For Business And Careers" report, based on factors such as the cost of doing business, cost of living, educational attainment, and crime rate. Fort Wayne was ranked 7^th in cost of living and 11^th in cost of doing business.
   According to the ACPL's website

, in 2001, the main library branch was the eleventh-busiest main library in means of circulation, and sixteenth in number of visits per year in the United States. According to data from 2005, 5,405,090 materials were borrowed by patrons, and around 2,506,718 people visited the library system. The main library branch contains the second largest genealogy department in the United States, the Fred J. Reynolds Historical Genealogy Collection.
Also, the Fort Wayne metropolitan area was acknowledged by Places Rated Almanac in 1998 as holding the highest "reading quotient" of any city in the nation.

Culture

Festivals and events

BBQ RibFest is a four-day event held in mid-June at Headwaters Park, showcasing barbecue rib cooks and vendors, as well as musical performances, from across the nation.

Germanfest commemorates Fort Wayne's largest ethnic group with such events as the Germanfest Bake Off and National Weiner Dog Finals. German cuisine, dance, and fashion are showcased in the eight-day celebration, held in the first week of June at Headwaters Park.

Johnny Appleseed Festival is a two-day festival held in the third week of September at Johnny Appleseed Park, where John Chapman is buried. Traditionally, the festival features food, crafts, and historical demonstrations recalling the era of Johnny Appleseed.

Taste of Fort Wayne is an event held in late August at Headwaters Park, exhibiting the cuisine of local restaurants.

Three Rivers Festival is the paramount of northeast Indiana festivals, annually attracting over 400,000 event-goers, second in Indiana only to the Indy 500 Festival (held in May) in Indianapolis. The festival's run annually spans nine days in mid-July, featuring over 200 events, including a community parade through downtown, a midway, bed race, arts fair, and fireworks spectacular.

Performing arts

The Fort Wayne performing arts community is clustered in downtown Fort Wayne, with a variety of theaters and auditoriums hosting productions such as Broadway musicals, concert tours, lectures, or local theatrical performances.
   The John and Ruth Rhinehart Music Center, opened in late 2007 to hold community concerts and university events. The auditorium includes 1,600 seats, located next to Williams Theatre and the Visual Arts Building, on the north side of the Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne campus. Located downtown, Cinema Center features independent, foreign, classic and documentary films.
   Arts United Center, located adjacent to the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, houses the Fort Wayne Civic Theater and Fort Wayne Youtheatre, with seating for 663. The Scottish Rite Center contains a 2,086-seat auditorium and a Valencia Ballroom. Foellinger Outdoor Theatre, in Franke Park near the zoo, offers seasonal acts and movies during the warmer months.
   The Historic Embassy Theatre, located across from the Grand Wayne Convention Center, presents shows ranging from concert tours, dance, community events and lectures, serving over 200,000 patrons annually. The Embassy is also home to the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestra. The Grand Wayne Center, though used mainly for exhibitions and conventions, also plays host to dance or choir productions, such as the annual FAME Festival (The Foundation for Art and Music in Elementary Education), which showcases local school choirs and dancers.

Museums

African/African American Historical Museum, opened in 2000, the museum contains two floors and ten exhibits relating to the national and local history of African-Americans.

Corvette Classics Museum, features more than fifty restored classic Corvettes, dating from 1953 to 2007.

Fort Wayne Firefighters Museum, officially opened in 1981 at old Firehouse #3, is located in downtown Fort Wayne where it serves the public in exhibiting a collection of artifacts from the Fort Wayne Fire Department's history, dating back to 1839. The museum also showcases many early fire engines of the era. A café also occupies a section of the museum.

Fort Wayne Museum of Art is located in downtown Fort Wayne, neighboring the Arts United Center, containing of exhibition space, along with an auditorium. It was announced in May 2008 that the FWMoA would add more exhibition space, a bistro, 18,000-volume library, and K-12 learning center, along with a complete refurbishment in a $7.5 million capital campaign, all of which is expected to be completed by spring 2010.

Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society, formed in 1972, the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society preserves, restores, and operates historic railroad equipment from the surrounding area. The Society is home to the steam locomotive Nickel Plate 765, which operates passenger excursion trains throughout the Midwest as an ambassador for the City of Fort Wayne. The Society's museum TrainTown is in New Haven.

Jack D. Diehm Wildlife Museum of Natural History, showcases stuffed and mounted North American wildlife animals in habitat settings.

Science Central is a "hands-on" science center, located in the old City Light & Power Plant in Lawton Park just north of downtown Fort Wayne, offering children hundreds of interactive exhibits.

The Greater Fort Wayne Aviation Museum is located inside the Lt. Paul Baer Terminal at Fort Wayne International Airport, highlighting early aviation history in Fort Wayne, as well as memorabilia relating to historical aviation figures such as Fort Wayne's own Art Smith and World War I Ace, Lt. Paul Baer.

The History Center, located in Fort Wayne's Old City Hall, manages a collection of more than 23,000 artifacts, photographs, and documents recalling the history of Fort Wayne and Allen County; the center is overseen by the Allen County-Fort Wayne Historical Society, which also maintains the Chief Jean Baptiste de Richardville House.

The Lincoln Museum, founded in 1931, is currently the world’s second largest private collection dedicated to Abraham Lincoln's life before and during his presidency. The museum includes signed copies of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th amendment, 5,000 original 19th century photographs, approximately 200,000 newspapers and magazine clippings, 7,000 19th century prints, engravings, and 19th century newspapers, among many other pieces of memorabilia of the era on display. The museum is scheduled for permanent closure June 30, 2008.

Veterans National Shrine and Museum, located west of Fort Wayne near Arcola, the shrine serves as the sole United States war veterans monument in the country, honoring all veterans and servicemen in the past 200 years.

Sports

Fort Wayne is the current home of seven minor league sports franchises. These include the Fort Wayne Fever of soccer's Premier Development League, the Fort Wayne Flash of the National Women's Football Association, the Fort Wayne Flyers of the Minor League Football Association, the Fort Wayne Freedom of the Continental Indoor Football League, the Fort Wayne Komets of the International Hockey League, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA Development League, and the Fort Wayne Wizards of baseball's Midwest League. There is also a presence of intercollegiate sports in Fort Wayne. IPFW joined the NCAA's Division I Summit League in 2007.
   Fort Wayne has also been home to three former professional sports franchises. These include the NBA's Fort Wayne Pistons (now in Detroit), the Fort Wayne Daisies of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, and the Fort Wayne Kekiongas of the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (an early predecessor to the current MLB).
   Fort Wayne has also been home to a few sports firsts; the first major league baseball game was played May 4, 1871, between the Fort Wayne Kekiongas and the Cleveland Forest Citys. It was rained-out in the top of the ninth inning, with the Kekiongas ahead 2-0, though the Kekiongas franchise in the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players was sold midway through the first season. Another first, on June 2, 1883, Fort Wayne hosted the Quincy Professionals for one of the first lighted baseball games ever recorded. Also, Fort Wayne has been credited for being the birthplace of the NBA when Fort Wayne Pistons owner Fred Zollner brokered the merger of the BAA and the NBL in 1949 from his kitchen table.
   Fort Wayne hosted two NBA Finals Games in 1955 and 1956, as well as the third city to host the NBA All-Star Game in 1953. The Allen County War Memorial Coliseum was also venue to the 2000 NCAA Men's Division I Volleyball Championship matches, in addition to hosting the 2000, 2001, and 2002 Mid-Continent Conference Men's Basketball Tournaments. Fort Wayne also annually hosts the U.S.S.S.A. National and Boys State Championships, held at Spiece Fieldhouse.
   Recently, Fort Wayne was rated the "Best Place in the Country for Minor League Sports" in a 2007 issue of Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal.

Team	Sport	League	Established	Venue	Championships
Fort Wayne Fever	Soccer	Premier Development League	2003	Hefner Soccer Complex	0
Fort Wayne Flash	Football	National Women's Football Association	2007	Bishop John M. D'Arcy Stadium	0
Fort Wayne Flyers	Football	Minor League Football Association	2005	Dave S. Walter Memorial Stadium	0
Fort Wayne Freedom	Indoor football	Continental Indoor Football League	2008	Allen County War Memorial Coliseum	0
Fort Wayne Komets	Hockey	International Hockey League	1952	Allen County War Memorial Coliseum	5 (IHL), 1 (UHL)
Fort Wayne Mad Ants	Basketball	NBA Development League	2007	Allen County War Memorial Coliseum	0
Fort Wayne Wizards	Baseball	Midwest League	1993	Memorial Stadium (1993-2008) Harrison Square (2009-)	0

Recreation

Fort Wayne's first park (and smallest), the 0.2 acre (800 m²) Old Fort Park, was established in 1863. The newest developed park includes Buckner Park, established in 2004. Franke Park is the largest city park, at 316.4 acres (1.3 km²), also the home of the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo (ranked as the ninth best zoo in the nation by Child Magazine in 2004). Lindenwood Nature Preserve is the only park in the city to have nature preserve status from the Department of Natural Resources. Fort Wayne also boasts the Foellinger-Freimann Botanical Conservatory downtown, which contains a seasonal showcase garden, a tropical oasis display, with waterfall, and Sonoran Desert display. Also downtown, the Lawton Skatepark. As of 2007, Fort Wayne Parks and Recreation maintained 84 parks and dozens of smaller community parks and playgrounds, covering 2,805 acres (8.9 km²).
Allen County Parks also include Cook's Landing County Park, Fox Island County Park, Metea County Park and Payton County Park, all four of which cover nearly 900 acres (3.6 km²). Fox Island contains the largest contiguous forest in Allen County. Northeast of Fort Wayne, near Grabill, is the Hurshtown Reservoir, the largest body of water in Allen County.
Fort Wayne is also making efforts in restoring natural wetlands to the region. In southwest Allen County, the Little River Wetlands Project's Eagle Marsh contains 683 acres (2.8 km²) of protected wetlands, making it the third largest wetland restoration in the state of Indiana. Nearby Arrowhead Marsh is also in the process of restoration. Many species of turtles, herons, and cranes have been reported of making a resurgence in the wetlands.

Trails

In recent decades, Fort Wayne has been developing the riverbanks with new paths and paved walking trails, known as the Rivergreenway Trail System, not only to beautify the riverfronts, but to also promote healthier living habits for residents around the community. The Rivergreenway Trail System currently encompasses around throughout Allen County.
It was announced November of 2007, that the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) awarded the City of Fort Wayne nearly one-million dollars to aid in construction that will soon begin on a new extension of the Rivergreenway, called the Pufferbelly Trail, that will eventually link the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo in Franke Park and the northern suburbs of Fort Wayne with the rest of the trail system. The final plan includes joining Pokagon State Park near Angola, Indiana in the north, and Ouabache State Park in the south near Bluffton, Indiana.
In the spring of 2008, ABC affiliate WPTA-TV received $10,000 in seed money from the reality television series Oprah's Big Give which was then received by Aboite New Trails, Fort Wayne Trails, Greenway Consortium, and Northwest Allen Trails, four organizations in Fort Wayne. The donations topped $1 million April 12, 2008 at a community celebration named Oprah's Big Give: Fort Wayne Trails in Headwaters Park with Indianapolis Colts Coach Tony Dungy and players in attendance. On April 21, 2008, Fort Wayne was featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show in recognition for raising the most money of the ninety participating cities in the country. The final total rounded-out to $1.2 million.

Religion

Besides its Summit City nickname, Fort Wayne also is informally called the City of Churches by some of its residents; a nickname that stretches back to the late 1800s when the city was the hub of regional Catholic and Lutheran faiths. Until the building of the Lincoln Bank Tower in 1929, church and cathedral spires dominated the city's skyline.
   The Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church was constituted in Saint Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church, then known as Saint Pauls Evangelisch-Lutheranische Gemeinde, once founded in 1837 as Fort Wayne's first Lutheran church.
   Fort Wayne is the principle city of the Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend whose region includes northeastern and north central Indiana. The principle cathedral of the diocese is the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, located in downtown Fort Wayne.
   As of May 2006, three national Christian denominations were headquartered in Fort Wayne; the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship Association, Missionary Church, Inc. and the Fellowship of Evangelical Churches (formerly Evangelical Mennonite Church). While the headquarters of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ is in nearby Huntington, Indiana, the denomination's second largest church body, Emmanuel Community Church is in Fort Wayne.
   Fort Wayne's Jewish population is served by Congregation Achduth Vesholom, the oldest Jewish congregation in Indiana and second oldest Reform congregation west of the Allegheny Mountains, founded in 1848.

Media

The major newspaper in the city is the independent Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, a daily that has more than twice the circulation of the city's second daily, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Fort Wayne News-Sentinel. The two dailies have separate editorial departments, but under a joint operating agreement, printing, advertising, and circulation are handled by Fort Wayne Newspapers, Inc., which is 75 percent owned by the News-Sentinel, 25 percent owned by the Journal Gazette. The city also is served by several free weekly and monthly alternative and neighborhood newspapers, including two that serve the African American community, Ink and Frost Illustrated. Another independently owned free entertainment weekly, Whatzup Magazine, includes an average weekly readership of around 50,000. Northern Indiana LAKES Magazine debuted in 2005, exceeding a circulation of 100,000. Nationally, Fort Wayne is the home of the Macedonian Tribune, the oldest and largest Macedonian language publication produced outside of the Balkans.
The Fort Wayne radio market is the 105th-largest in the nation, according to Arbitron. WGL, Fort Wayne's first radio station, began broadcasting in 1924. WOWO, the city's second radio station, began broadcasting in 1925, and is now an independent news/talk radio station, featuring local and network news talkshows. Two National Public Radio stations, WBNI and WBOI, are based in the city. Fort Wayne's first television station, WKJG-TV (now WISE-TV), began broadcasting on channel 33 in 1953. Today the city is served by a handful of UHF television stations as the 106th-largest media market in the nation. Broadcast network affiliates include WANE-TV (CBS), WFFT-TV (FOX), WISE-TV (NBC), and WPTA (ABC). Fort Wayne's PBS Member station is WFWA. Religious broadcasters include WINM and W07CL. UPN and The WB were primarily local cable television channels, also broadcast as digital television sub-channels on WANE-TV and WPTA-TV, respectively. The CW Network and My Network TV also are cable-only for many Fort Wayne market viewers as they're broadcast by digital sub-channels of WPTA-TV and WISE-TV, respectively, and not broadcast on an NTSC channel.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Fort Wayne International Airport (formerly known as Baer Field during World War II and Fort Wayne Municipal Airport from 1946-1991) is the state's third busiest airport behind Indianapolis International Airport and South Bend Regional Airport, serving approximately 650,000 passengers annually. It is the only Midwest commercial airport, other than Chicago's O'Hare, with a runway. Smith Field, just north of Fort Wayne, is used primarily for small aircraft and pilot education and training.
Fort Wayne contains two Interstates, Interstate 69 runs south to Indianapolis and north to Port Huron, Michigan. I-69 straddles the west and north fringes of Fort Wayne, while Interstate 469 (Ronald Reagan Expressway) runs as a beltway around Fort Wayne and New Haven's southern and eastern outskirts. Fort Wayne contains four U.S. highways, U.S. Route 24, U.S. Route 27, the main north-south thoroughfare through the heart of the city, U.S. Route 30 (Lincoln Highway), U.S. Route 33. Also Fort Wayne contains five Indiana State Routes, Route 1, Route 3, Route 14, Route 37, Route 930 is a thirteen-mile (19 km)-long bypass around north-central Fort Wayne, better known as Coliseum Boulevard, a congested thoroughfare lined with retail development. Airport Expressway, a four-lane divided highway, provides direct access to Fort Wayne International Airport from I-69 at an interchange located between I-469 to the south and the U.S. 24 interchange to the north.
Fort Wayne Public Transportation Corporation, Citilink, provides bus service via twelve routes through the city, some of which being Glenbrook Square, IPFW, the city of New Haven, and Parkview and Lutheran Hospitals, along with CitiLoop, a trolley service offered downtown in the summer season. In 2007, Citilink served over two million passenger trips.

Healthcare

Fort Wayne is served by six hospitals; Parkview Hospital, Lutheran Hospital of Indiana, Saint Joseph Hospital, Dupont Hospital, Rehabilitation Hospital of Fort Wayne, and Parkview North Hospital, encompassing over 1,300 patient beds. These six hospitals belong to either of the two health networks serving the region; Parkview Health Systems or Luthern Health Network. The City of Fort Wayne provides residents with 72 million gallons of water per day via the Three Rivers Water Filtration Plant and Saint Joseph River. Hurshtown Reservoir, in northeast Allen County, contains 1.8 billion gallons of water to be rationed in the event of a major drought or disaster at the three rivers.

Sister cities

Fort Wayne has three sister cities as designated by Sister Cities International (SCI) and Fort Wayne Sister Cities International (FWSCI)

Gera, Germany

Płock, Poland

Takaoka, JapanFurther Information

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