With the Colts' win over the Bears in Super Bowl XLI (pronounced, "41"—you figure it out!), it's just like old times in The Circle City. All of us at my party—yours too, I'm sure—harkened back to the building of the National Road through Indy back in 1834 or so.

After the U.S. obtained the vast Louisiana Territory, Americans were hot to build transportation lines to the West. There were many ideas, including roads, canals and the newfangled railroad. Congress authorized a road in 1811 from Cumberland, Md., to the Missouri River in Jefferson City, Mo., but it got as far as western Illinois before the whole thing was dropped. Indianapolis was on the National Road, but it had been the State Capitol since 1821. The point is, Indy was happening, and the Road wanted a piece of the action.

Chicago, meanwhile, was trying to figure out how to establish itself. The site was an important geographic point but was a boggy piece of real estate (in other words, a great idea, but does anyone have a squeegee?). By the time the National Road got to Indianapolis, Illinoisans were hard at work building the Illinois and Michigan Canal to connect Great Lakes and Mississippi River traffic—and maybe beat some of the National Road business. It was finished in 1848, the same year the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad (G&CU) reached the Mississippi at Clinton, Iowa. In a short time, Chicago became a major transportation point for the world.

A year earlier, the Madison and Indianapolis Railroad had connected Indianapolis with Ohio River logistics. River boats and railroads had become the main transportation for commercial traffic. They connected established Eastern cities with those growing quickly in today's Midwestern region.

Indianapolis was established, grew quickly and flourished, before and after the National Road. Chicago got started, found its way, burned to the ground and rebuilt as the premier city in the region—and soon, a world-class place (an "alpha city," if you like). Indianapolis got good fast and has kept itself in the middle of things. Hey, they just won the Super Bowl!

There will be other Big Games, and a few will likely involve Indy. For the next few days, Chicago will have to content itself with being, well—Chicago. My Kind of Town.