Geist, Indiana is more of a region than a city. Named for the beautiful Geist Reservoir that defines it, the Geist area occupies most of the northeastern quadrant of Greater Indianapolis.
The Geist Reservoir is a man-made body of water created in 1943 as the result of damming its source, Fall Creek, in order to provide a practical water supply for the burgeoning state capital. It’s an interesting story. In the early 1900s, one Clarence Geist was a multi-millionaire who owned the Indianapolis Water Company. The idea to build the Reservoir was a result of his conviction that, without such a project, Indianapolis would find itself in a water deficit.
Over a period of two decades, Clarence Geist bought up around 5,000 acres of contiguous property in the area, then known as Fall Creek Valley. The land was at that time the home of Germantown, a long-gone historic community which now resides on the sandy bottom of Geist Reservoir.
Photo of a home in Windermere Pointe in Geist, IndianaCompleted in 1943, the Geist Reservoir and its immediate surrounding neighborhoods, though lovely, have been fraught with political and developmental controversy since the inception. Nevertheless, the area has come to be recognized as one of the nicest in Central Indiana, having attracted some of the best Indianapolis real estate constructors and designers to create dream residences near the lake’s graceful shores.
Approximately 2,200 homes huddle around the Geist Reservoir, which contains about seven billion gallons of water. The Geist community is an upscale and active one, though loose-knit.
