Stone tablets above the bronze entrance doors on the obelisk's north and south sides bear inscriptions commemorating Indiana's soldiers.

Originally the plot of land at the center of Indianapolis was used as a public gathering place, the site of the Indiana governor's residence, and a city park.

[8] As Indianapolis grew and developed during and after the Civil War, the area became a popular meeting place for mass gatherings, public rallies, and celebrations of wartime victories.

[10] The park remained vacant until 1884, when a bronze statue of Oliver P. Morton, Indiana's Civil War-era governor, was erected at its center.

The first proposal was made on April 1, 1862, when an anonymous editorial in the Indianapolis Daily Journal suggested a monument be erected in Circle Park; however, no action was taken.

[13] In 1872 William H. English addressed a group of Civil War veterans and expressed his support for a monument at Crown Hill, but a bill introduced in the state legislature failed to pass.

[13] No progress was made on the monument until August 1875, when George J. Langsdale, a newspaper editor of the Greencastle Banner, presented a plan for a memorial during the first reunion of Civil War veterans, which was held in Indianapolis.

[14] Further action was taken on March 3, 1887, when the Indiana General Assembly passed a bill to form a monument commission, whose original members included Samuel B. Voyles, D. C. McCollum, Daniel M. Ransdell, George J. Johnson, James, G. Gookins, and Langsdale, who was elected the committee's president at its first meeting on June 28, 1887.

[16][17] To select a design for the new monument, the commission established an international contest and solicited ten architects to submit sketches.

Notices were also placed in leading newspapers in the United States, Canada, England, France, Germany, and Italy, to encourage others to submit their ideas.

Bruno Schmitz, an architect from Berlin, Prussia, who submitted a design called Symbol of Indiana was the commissioners' unanimous choice as the winner.

[19] Schmitz, an architect knowledgeable in the field of monument design, was also a friend and fellow artist of the commission's secretary, James F. Gookins, when the two lived in Munich, Germany.

Enos Hege, of Indianapolis, received the contract to erect the monument's foundation, which was completed in 1888, and Thomas McIntosh, of Greencastle, Indiana, and an expert in stonework, became the project's superintendent.

The Terre Haute Stone Works Company was awarded the contract to construct the monument's terraces, approaches, and superstructure.

[22] The project's stone and bronze sculptors included Rudolph Schwarz, Nikolaus (or Nicolaus) Geiger, George Brewster, and John Mahoney.

Inside, a copper box contained, among other items, an official list of all Indiana soldiers who had served in the Civil War, newspapers, copies of Indiana's two constitutions, a thirty-eight-star American flag, a photograph of Schmitz, the ceremony's program, and other related paraphernalia from the Grand Army of the Republic, the Women's Relief Corps, the Sons of the Republic, and other groups.

[19][26] Ceremonies held on the northeast corner of the monument included a speech by President Benjamin Harrison, an artillery salute, and a parade.

[31] Thousands came to the public event, which began at 8 a.m. with a parade of flags and veterans of the Mexican-American, Civil, and Spanish–American Wars, and ended with an evening fireworks display.

A male chorus sang and poet James Whitcomb Riley read his poem "The Soldier", which was written especially for the occasion.

[32][33] Following a second parade in the afternoon and an evening vesper service, the bells of Christ Church sounded and its choir sang "My Country, 'Tis of Thee".

The neoclassical-style obelisk is built of oolitic limestone from the Romona Stone Company quarries in Owen County, Indiana.

[19][40] Broad stone steps on the north and south sides, each 70 feet (21 m) in length, lead to two terraces at the base of the monument.

"[27] Bruno Schmitz hired Rudolph Schwarz, an Austrian-born sculptor, to create War and Peace, two massive limestone groupings for the monument.

Schwarz adapted Schmitz's original design and added two smaller scenes, The Dying Soldier and The Return Home, below the main groupings.

Schwarz also carved four heroic military figures representing the artillery, cavalry, infantry, and navy for the monument's base and executed its bronze entrance doors.

Brewster, an American sculptor from Cleveland, Ohio, created the second astragal with a naval theme that includes a portrait relief of Admiral David Farragut.

[44] Atop of the monument, Schmitz imagined a classical sculpture featuring a winged Nike, the Greek goddess of war, to symbolize victory in battle.

[61] The Circle is lined with retail shops, studios for several local radio stations, the Hilbert Circle Theatre (home of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra), financial institutions, the Columbia Club (one of the oldest social clubs of Indiana), Christ Church Cathedral, and the AES Indiana corporate headquarters.

[62] Monument Circle is a prominent public gathering place in Indianapolis to commemorate notable events, including concerts, political demonstrations, and photo opportunities.

The flag of Indianapolis includes a graphic representation of Monument Circle and the two streets (Meridian and Market) that intersect it.