On Jan 13th 2024 at WINC’s monthly board meeting, our newly appointed board unanimously passed a Resolution to create a Blue Lake Vision Plan Committee. The Resolution is as follows: “The Blue Lake Vision Plan Resolution authorizes the creation of a committee to engage community members, businesses, government organizations, and local non-profits to create a vision for the Blue Lake site. The group will meet monthly and work towards completing a vision plan that includes at least 5 proposed uses, outlines current/potential economic incentives, and works to brand/promote the site to the city and corporate partners. The resolution authorizes the creation of the committee, the creation of a website, branding for the vision plan, and the authorization to apply for grants/funding to help with the development and implementation of the Vision Plan.”
Blue Lake Vision Plan Committee
Join us as we look toward the future and meet monthly to:
engage community members, businesses, government organizations, and local non-profits to create a vision for the Blue Lake site.
collaborate on 5 proposed uses
outline current/potential economic incentives
brand and promote the site to the city and corporate partners
Scroll down to see Blue Lake Vision Plan Committee Meeting videos and notes
History: Culture & Crimes
Renowned Historian and Local Professor Paul Mullins writes about Blue Lake, the history of the lake itself, and the community that used and surrounded it.
CLICK HERE-> Community Heritage And Eviction 1950’s – Present
History of Industrial Contamination – 1970’s – 2019
CLICK HERE-> CAUSE n – 238
Visual History
The oldest aerial pictures available from the city of Indianapolis in 1941 show the quarry as it is starting. It is surrounded by large swaths of farmland, homes, and a sizeable forest area.
Once we move into the 1960s we see a boom in residential homes taking place and a large expansion of the quarry going all the way to the edge of housing. You start to notice more industrial activity on the southwest side of the area with no more expansion taking place along Morris beyond housing. It also appears some of the forest area has dwindled slightly and the marshes to the south have grown.
In the 1979 picture, you start to see more industrial expansion on all sides of the site. The quarry appears to be getting smaller as it is filled and polluted by industrial activity and more of the forest and southern marshes disappear.
The 1990s image is relatively the same and a similar ariel view continues going into the 2009 images with the forest area preserved, industrial activity similar, and the southern marsh area intact.
In the 2021 image, we start to see the most dramatic changes. The forest areas are almost completely removed. The southern marshes are decimated by an explosion in industrial activity in the south, and a clean-fill operation fills in the marsh.
Why should you join the Blue Lake Vision Plan Committee?
WINC is looking for Government Organizations, Businesses, Non-Profits, and Local Community Members to help us with the Blue Lake Vision Plan.
We want to come together and share knowledge and resources to help create an inspiring vision for what types of facilities and businesses that could be located at this important property.
Blue Lake sits on 80 acres of open land just over 3 miles from the city center with residential homes and industry around the property. It is located in Oak Park in the West Indianapolis neighborhood and has immense potential to be leveraged positively to heal past trauma and create opportunity and prosperity for the communities that surround it.
The property is adjacent to a vital waterway, Little Eagle Creek, and sits in a zone that already provides some economic incentives for investments.
If you have any interest in helping, suggestions for the committee, or important information you would like to pass along please reach out to us!