Broad Ripple History

Liam Leary

Broad Ripple was established in 1836 after Jacob Coil bought the land of Broad Ripple from Jesse McKay and John Colip according to broadripplehistory.org. Coil bought it with the intention of building a canal. Yet, he had to urbanize to do this, and after years and years, BR has turned into so much more than just a small canal village. Mrs. Melton says, “BR is very walkable and has lots of diversity.”

According to broadrippleindy.org, today, it’s population is about 17,000. But if we keep following that path of Coil’s dream, how did we get here? 

After Coil bought this land, he urbanized it to make it suitable for a canal. Jacob eventually died of (???) in 1837, but he had been so quick with the project that it had started about a month after his death. Coil’s dream was finally coming true… until they ran out of money, so now they couldn’t fund the project.

Even though Coil’s dream didn’t create much, his project had attracted many settlers to the area. Plus, the nearby city of Indianapolis was now the state capital! Coil’s dreams caused an even bigger population rush to Central Indiana than there already was, and fast forward to today, and BR is one of the 7 cultural districts in Indianapolis, and thanks to Jacob Coil, BR is more urbanized than ever! Thanks to Jacob Coil, BR is one of the biggest hubs in Indianapolis! And finally, Thanks to Jacob Coil, Broad Ripple is Broad Ripple.