The entire historic Indianapolis Park and Boulevard  System was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in March, 2003.

In 1909, landscape architect George Kessler developed a Park and Boulevard Plan for the Indianapolis Parks Department that guided development of a network of transportation and recreation corridors.  He refined the plan over the next 14-years.  The plan guided the city's growth, conserved the natural environment, provided flood control, and proposed park and open space development.

This plan was further developed to the Marion County limits by landscape architect Lawrence Sheridan.

The listing is a highly significant because:

• At over 3,474 acres it is the largest single National Register listing to date in Indiana.

• It recognizes the lasting contribution of a  pioneer in the shaping of the profession of landscape architecture during a significant period in American history, and indelibly associates him with Indianapolis.

• And in acknowledging, celebrating and protecting this remarkable resource, it has  heightened local and national awareness of the city's extensive interconnected open space system and its potential to become a defining quality of life image of the city.

• It places over a dozen historic bridges on the National Register, more that any previous single effort in Indiana.