Fort Wayne tourist information

Fort Wayne International Airport (formerly known as Fort Wayne Municipal Airport from 1946-1991 and Baer Field during World War II) is the only Midwest commercial airport, other than Chicago's O'Hare, with a 12,000-foot runway. As of April 2006, a construction project was underway to strengthen the runway to make it usable by heavier airplanes that need a longer runway. As of 2006, Passenger service was provided by Air Wisconsin (United Express). American Eagle (American Eagle), CommutAir (Continental Connection affiliate), Atlantic Southeast (Delta Connection), Comair (Delta Connection, Mesaba (Northwest Airlink), Pinnacle (Northwest Airlink), and Sky West (United Express).

Amtrak does not offer service to Fort Wayne directly. Instead it offers a shuttle bus service to daily passenger trains with a station in Waterloo, Indiana, 24 miles north of downtown Fort Wayne.

Going on a trip? Why not browse some of the luggage at eBags.com ^{(external source)}

Fort Wayne Public Transportation Corporation Citilink provides bus service between downtown, urban shopping centers and area employment locations.

Major automobile highways and freeways in Fort Wayne include Interstate 69, Interstate 469, U.S. Route 24, U.S. Route 27, U.S. Route 30 (the Lincoln Highway), and U.S. Route 33.

Light rail systems started being built in Fort Wayne in 1872 with horse-drawn cars on Calhoun Street. By 1900, a number of lines had been built, the companies building them consolidated into one, and the lines electrified. The next step was the interurban, with a line to Huntington in 1901. Many interurban routes were built between 1900 and 1908, and no place was more enthused than Fort Wayne, which had the only full cloverleaf for the interurban in the entire country. A few well-publicized wrecks and the 1910 introduction of the Model T led to a decline of passengers, but even at peak traffic in 1915, most interurban systems were unprofitable, and many filed for bankruptcy in the 1920s.

Author Mabel Thomas, writing under the pen name Harriet Housewife, wrote that in the early 1920s, she was sent as a 4-year-old across Fort Wayne to play with a friend. I boarded by myself, and told the man where I was to go on 4th Street. When we got downtown, the man told me which car to transfer to. Several hours later, my friend's mother told me that my mother had called, that she wanted me to come home, that she had a surprise for me. I again boarded by myself, went back to Hughes Street, and found a new baby brother waiting for me."

Between 1940 and 1947, the trolleys were replaced with trolleybuses, and in 1948, the system sold to the city. By 1960, the trolleybuses had all been converted to motor buses. The same electric power plan used to power the trolley system by day was one of two electric systems lighting businesses and houses by night. After years of neglect, the system was in need of major capital expenditures that the city could not afford, and Fort Wayne leased their municipal power system to rival I&M in 1975. Science Central has occupied the old City Light power plant since 1991.

Your vacation. A time to lose yourself. And sometimes your luggage, too. Need Travel Insurance? Why not try Travel Guard ^{(external source)}

Historically the site was known as Kekionga, the traditional capital of the Miami nation. Around 1676, French priests and missionaries are thought to have stopped in Miami's tribes on their way back from a mission at Lake Michigan. In the year 1680, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle sent a letter to the Governor-General of Canada stating his stopping there. Afterwards, the 1680s saw French traders established a trading post at the location because it was the main portage between the Great Lakes via the Maumee River and the Mississippi River via the nearby Little River branch of the Wabash 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. After François-Marie Bissot, the Sieur de Vincennes' death, Forts Miamis was replaced by Fort St. Philippe des Miamis in 1721.

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 renamed "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 30 years.

Starting in 1790 under President George Washington, three battles where fought in Kekionga against Little Turtle's tribes, leader of the Miami Confederacy, led his army to defeat twice in a row the American army. The tribe returned to their destroyed village to be attacked by General Anthony Wayne's army knowing that they would win Little Turtle decided to negotiate peace. After General Wayne refused it, the tribe was drawn back to Fallen Timbers where they were defeated on August 20, 1794. On October 22, 1794, the United States army captured the Wabash-Erie portage from the Miami Confederacy and built a new fort near the three rivers. Fort Wayne acquired its name after the general.

Eventually, the portage was replaced by the Wabash and Erie Canal in 1833. Fort Wayne's significance as a waterway portage lost national prominence as the railroad system developed in the United States. For nearly a century it was an important railroad center between New York and Chicago.

On February 22, 1840, the growing city incorporated as the City of Fort Wayne.

Most of the population growth occurred in the 19th century with immigration from Germany and Ireland. The large numbers of Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches reflect this. German-language newspapers were published into the 20th century.