The founding of the Indianapolis Business Journal

Tom Harton, the editor of the Indianapolis Business Journal, writes in the latest issue about the founding of the paper back in 1980 by Mark Vittert with funding from a former insurance company CEO.

Harton writes, “Vittert had another idea up his sleeve. Crain’s Chicago Business, a weekly newspaper meant to appeal to the local business community there, had just started and seemed to be doing well. Vittert was intrigued. Why not try the same thing in Indianapolis?

“Vittert and Burkhart pictured a simple, little, four-pager—a newsletter really—that would be for and about the people who conducted business here. What they got on May 19, 1980, was a 24-page tabloid that has evolved into something much more significant in the city’s media universe—thanks to the support of longtime owners Mickey Maurer and Bob Schloss, who bought the paper in 1990.

“The lead story in Volume I, Issue I, was about the late businessman R.V. Welch’s dream of building a stadium and attracting a National Football League team.

“Vittert and I looked at that front page before he left. He remembered it fondly, almost wistfully. He talked about speaking at Burkhart’s funeral in 1999. He thanked me for reminiscing with him and for being a part of the IBJ success story and walked out the door.”

Read more here.