Alexander Ralston (1771 – January 5, 1827) was a Scottish surveyor who was one of two co-architects for the design of the city of

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

. He also helped to design

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Life

Alexander Ralston was born in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

in 1771. In Britain he was an engineer working for the

Baron of Roslin Baron of Roslin or Rosslyn was a Scottish feudal barony held by the St Clair or Sinclair family. History No certain record exists but it is likely that the Sinclairs came from Saint-Clair-sur-Epte in Normandy. According to traditional history ...

on his estate before immigrating to the United States after the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

. An assistant to the French-American architect Pierre (Peter) Charles L'Enfant in 1791, Ralston helped L'Enfant lay out the city plan for

(see

L'Enfant Plan The L'Enfant Plan for the city of Washington is the urban plan developed in 1791 by Major Pierre (Peter) Charles L'Enfant for George Washington, the first president of the United States. History L'Enfant was a French engineer who served in ...

).(1)
(2) Ralston came to

sometime before 1815, leaving the east partly because of his involvement with

Aaron Burr Aaron Burr Jr. (February 6, 1756 – September 14, 1836) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the third vice president of the United States from 1801 to 1805. Burr's legacy is defined by his famous personal conflict with Alexand ...

and the

Burr conspiracy The Burr conspiracy was a plot alleged to have been planned by Aaron Burr in the years during and after his term as Vice President of the United States under US President Thomas Jefferson. According to the accusations against Burr, he attempted to ...

. He settled on a homestead in southern Indiana.* He was first hired in 1820 by Christopher Harrison, the state commissioner overseeing the survey of

, and charged with helping to survey the city. With co-surveyor

Elias Pym Fordham Elias Pym Fordham (1788-1850) was the original surveyor of Indianapolis. He was an English immigrant to the United States and author of an American travel memoir. Elias Pym Fordham was born in Royston, Hertfordshire, one of two sons and seven child ...

, Ralston's was later commissioned by the Indiana General Assembly to make a city plan for Indianapolis, developed in 1821. His original plan called for a city of only , with a Governor's Circle, a large circular commons, the original site of the Governor's mansion, at the very center of the city. The Governor's mansion was demolished in 1857. In its place stands a 284-foot-tall (86.5-meter-tall) neoclassical limestone and bronze monument, the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument. Ralston's design borrows heavily from the city plan of Washington D.C. Construction on Indianapolis began in earnest, with most of his plan being implemented by 1850. The city has subsequently expanded far beyond his original conception, but the downtown area remained nearly unaltered from Ralston's original city plan. Ralston died in his Indianapolis home on January 5, 1827, and was buried at Greenlawn Cemetery. In 1874, his remains were moved and reburied in

Crown Hill Cemetery Crown Hill Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located at 700 West 38th Street in Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana. The privately owned cemetery was established in 1863 at Strawberry Hill, whose summit was renamed "The Crown", a high poi ...

in Indianapolis. His gravestone is engraved with an image of his plat of the city's initial design. image:Indiana governors mansion1825.jpg, The second

Indiana Governor's Residence The Indiana Governor's Residence is the official home of the family of the governor of Indiana and is located in Indianapolis, Indiana. In use since 1973, it is the sixth official residence of Indiana's governors. The current tenant is Governor ...

designed by Ralston image:Plat of Indianapolis by Alexander Ralston.jpg, The plat, or plot design, for the city of Indianapolis as designed by Ralston

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ralston, Alexander Architects from Indianapolis 1771 births 1827 deaths Burials at Crown Hill Cemetery Scottish architects American architects American surveyors Scottish surveyors