Indianapolis, Iowa Ghost Town: History, Map and Directions

Overview

A village that waited for a railroad

Indianapolis sits in the northwest corner of Monroe Township, in the rolling farm country between the North Skunk River and Cedar Creek, northeast of Oskaloosa. Willis Baker laid out the village in 1845 and named it for the capital of his native Indiana. James Bridges opened the first store, hauling his goods from Burlington, and became the first postmaster when the post office opened in 1850.

The Mahaska County Historical Society calls it the most important community the township ever had. At its height in the 1880s it had saw and grist mills, dry goods stores, a drug store, coal mining and a hotel called the Waldorf Astoria. What it lacked was a railroad. A line between Clinton and Oskaloosa was talked about and never built, and the 1906 county history dates the decline to the years when business moved to the railroad towns. The post office closed in 1902, and the mail went to Rose Hill.

The name never left the map. In 1906 the county history still found schools and churches there, and the 1965 USGS sheet shows a church, a school and a few buildings at the crossroads. Today the place is a scatter of farmsteads on Yale Avenue, with Indianapolis Cemetery just to the north. We found no dated account of what, if anything, of the old village still stands.

Then and now

Indianapolis from the air, 1938 and 2023

The post office had closed in 1902, and Ottumwa Radio says only a few homes were reported left by the 1930s. On July 29, 1938, a U.S. Department of Agriculture survey plane photographed the crossroads with buildings and trees along Yale Avenue and a loop of short side streets east of it, and the fenced cemetery at the north end. The second photograph comes from the federal farm survey of September 2, 2023.

Yale Avenue, the roads east and west and the cemetery are where they were. The 1965 USGS sheet still showed a church, a school and a handful of buildings here. Today the side streets are gone except for a farm lane, and a few farmsteads, two long farm buildings and fields take up the blocks.

Drag the line across the photo, or use the arrow keys.

2023 aerial photograph: the same roads and cemetery, with a few farmsteads, two long farm buildings and fields where the side streets were

Indianapolis CemeteryA farmsteadYale AvenueA lane, a lawn and fieldsThe crossroads2023

1938 aerial photograph: buildings and trees along Yale Avenue and a loop of side streets east of it, with the fenced cemetery at the top

Indianapolis CemeteryBuildings along the roadYale AvenueBuildings and side streetsThe crossroads1938

1938: U.S. Department of Agriculture; orthomosaic by the Iowa State University GIS Facility, source, Public domain. 2023: U.S. Department of Agriculture NAIP, via USGS The National Map, source, Public domain. Both photographs cover the same 1.6 by 1.2 km and were lined up on 18 road junctions, bends and stretches of road, to within about 1 m. Labels: the cemetery and the crossroads from the 1965 USGS Gibson sheet and the county cemetery list, Yale Avenue from today's USGS topo, the rest from what the photographs show.

Timeline

From Baker's plat to Rose Hill mail

1845Willis Baker lays out the village and names it for the capital of Indiana, his home state, by the 1906 county history. The Mahaska County Historical Society and Wikipedia's text also say 1845; Wikipedia's infobox gives 1849, and its text says settlers from Indianapolis named the place in the late 1840s.
1850The post office opens. The 1906 county history names James Bridges, who ran the first store with goods hauled from Burlington, as the first postmaster.
1880sThe town's high point, by the Mahaska County Historical Society's account: saw mills, grist mills, dry goods stores, a drug store, coal mining and a hotel called the Waldorf Astoria. Talk of a railroad between Clinton and Oskaloosa comes to nothing.
1885A map of Indianapolis "in its hay day" is made. The historical society's copy is held at William Penn University.
1902The post office closes and the mail goes to Rose Hill. The historical society says the community had gone out of existence by then.
1906Past and Present of Mahaska County says Indianapolis was "an attractive country village" until 25 or 30 years before, that the decline came "when business went to the railroads," and that it "still maintains good schools and churches." Monroe Township, it notes, has no railroad.
1965The USGS Gibson sheet still names Indianapolis, with a church, a school and a handful of buildings at the crossroads and a cemetery to the north.
Oct 2026Ottumwa Radio counts Indianapolis among the ghost towns of Mahaska County. It says only a few homes were reported left by the 1930s, with the cemetery marking the place.

What's left

Farmsteads, a cemetery and a name on the map

**Indianapolis on the 1965 USGS Gibson sheet: church, school and houses at the crossroads, cemetery at top** · Map: U.S. Geological Survey, USGS catalog, Public domain

None of our sources describes a surviving building from the village. The 1965 USGS Gibson sheet, in the historic maps below, marks a church north of the crossroads, a school on the corner, several buildings along the road and a cemetery at the top of the map. Cedar Creek runs past to the east. Today's topo map keeps the Indianapolis label at the same bend of Yale Avenue, and the aerial view shows a few farmsteads, two long farm buildings east of the crossroads and fields all around.

Indianapolis Cemetery is the clearest trace. Mahaska County lists it at 1721 Yale Avenue as a township cemetery with a named sexton. The county calls a burial ground a pioneer cemetery when it has had 12 or fewer burials in 50 years, and it doesn't put Indianapolis in that group. An undated listing gives the remains as farmland and one sign; we haven't seen the sign.

Farm homes at the old crossroads
Indianapolis Cemetery (township cemetery, 1721 Yale Ave)
The Indianapolis name on USGS maps
A sign, per an undated listing (not confirmed)

USGS topographic map of Indianapolis: Yale Avenue running north and south, a crossroads with an east-west road, 177th Street to the east and Cedar Creek — **USGS The National Map, topo.** The Indianapolis label sits at the crossroads on Yale Avenue; 177th Street runs east toward Cedar Creek.

Aerial view of the Indianapolis crossroads: farm fields, a road bending through the center, a few farmsteads with trees and two long farm buildings to the right — **Aerial imagery, same area.** Farmsteads line the road through the crossroads; the two long buildings at right are farm buildings.

Historic maps

Indianapolis on USGS maps, 1954–1982

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

USGS topographic map around Indianapolis, 1954 — **Des Moines sheet, 1954, 1:250,000** · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Map & directions

Getting there

Oskaloosa, the county seat, is the closest city, about 33 minutes away by IA 92 and county roads. From Des Moines the routed drive follows IA 163 to Oskaloosa and then takes the same roads. Both end on Yale Avenue at the old crossroads. The routes are computed from OpenStreetMap and haven't been driven by us. The land around the crossroads is farmland; stay on the road.

USGS topographic map between Oskaloosa and Indianapolis with the route drawn on it

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

From downtown Oskaloosa18.7 miabout 33 min

Turn left onto A Avenue East (IA 92) and head east out of Oskaloosa.1.5 mi
Continue east on IA 92.7.9 mi
Turn left onto Urbana Avenue and follow it north.6.1 mi
Turn right onto 170th Street, then right onto Yale Avenue to the crossroads.3.3 mi

Google Maps directions Apple Maps OpenStreetMap

Road and safety notes

We haven't driven these routes and have no dated source on the road surfaces.
The crossroads is lined with farm homes. Don't park in driveways or field entrances, and stay off private land.
Farm machinery uses these roads, especially at planting and harvest. Pull well over to let it pass.

Photos

Have photos of Indianapolis?

We haven’t added more photographs of Indianapolis yet. If you’ve visited, share your photos and a field report below.

Visitor reports

Been to Indianapolis?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

Other sites near Indianapolis

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Iowa index.

Dudley22.9 mi S · Wapello
Hinkletown25.3 mi E · Iowa
Red Rock35.3 mi W · Marion
Iowaville38.2 mi S · Van Buren
Van Cleve47.7 mi NW · Marshall
Midway53.7 mi E · Johnson
New York57.2 mi SW · Wayne
Ivanhoe60.4 mi NE · Linn

Sources

Sources and credits

ghosttowns.com, "Indianapolis": fact sheet fields (climate, best time, remains). The entry is undated.
Wikipedia, "Indianapolis, Iowa", retrieved October 2026: location in Monroe Township, founding in 1845 (1849 in the infobox), the name (settlers from Indianapolis, late 1840s), the 1880s peak, the failed Clinton–Oskaloosa railroad, post office 1850–1902, coordinates and GNIS elevation.
Past and Present of Mahaska County, Iowa (S. J. Clarke, 1906), chapter 22, transcribed by IAGenWeb Mahaska County: Willis Baker and 1845, the name, James Bridges's store and post office, schools and churches, the decline, no railroad in the township.
Mahaska County Historical Society, "Indianapolis; Monroe Township", 1885 map with description, William Penn University digital collection (digitized 2008): 1845, the 1880s mills, stores, coal mining and Waldorf Astoria hotel, the railroad talk, the end by 1902 and mail to Rose Hill. Its Monroe Township entry instead lists Indianapolis as still existing.
Donna Savits, "The Ghost Towns of Mahaska County," Ottumwa Radio, October 15, 2026: post office 1850–1902, the railroad hopes, the 1880s, a few homes reported left by the 1930s, and the cemetery.
Mahaska County, "Cemeteries", read October 20, 2026: Indianapolis Cemetery, 1721 Yale Ave., T76N R14W section 11 NE, a township cemetery with a sexton, coordinates, and the pioneer-cemetery definition.
IAGenWeb Mahaska County, cemetery list: the cemetery in section 11 of Monroe Township, not marked as a pioneer cemetery.
Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Not field-checked.

Photo and map credits

Indianapolis on the 1965 USGS Gibson sheet: church, school and houses at the crossroads, cemetery at top: U.S. Geological Survey, USGS catalog, Public domain
1938 aerial photograph: U.S. Department of Agriculture; orthomosaic by the Iowa State University GIS Facility, source, Public domain
2023 aerial photograph: U.S. Department of Agriculture NAIP, via USGS The National Map, source, Public domain
Area base map, topo and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Des Moines 1954, 1:250,000; Gibson 1965, 1:24,000; Oskaloosa 1982, 1:100,000.