Fort Wayne's industrial growth began with the building of the Wabash and Erie Canal in the 1830s and was stimulated in the 1850s when the railway came. The city's easy access to raw materials and markets has encouraged the manufacture of a wide range of vehicles; metal, plastic, and rubber products; machinery, including automotive and electrical equipment and parts; and tools and dies. Fort Wayne is noted as a centre of higher learning; its institutions include Concordia Theological Seminary (1846), Indiana Institute of Technology (1930), Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne (1917), and the University of St. Francis (1890). The Lincoln Library and Museum houses a large collection of Abraham Lincoln memorabilia. The Embassy Theatre (1928), a vaudeville and movie palace of mixed Spanish and Italianate design, hosts the city's philharmonic orchestra, touring acts, and a film revival series; the theatre (including a rare Page theatre organ) and part of the adjacent Indiana Hotel (1928) were restored during the 1980s and '90s. The Foellinger-Freimann Botanical Conservatory (1983) houses seasonal displays as well as desert and tropical plant collections in a passive-solar greenhouse.

John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed), the pioneer orchard planter, is buried near the War Memorial Coliseum. Notable Fort Wayne natives include newspaper publisher William Rockhill Nelson, pathologist George Frederick Dick, editor and drama critic George Jean Nathan, actress Carole Lombard, and clothing designer Bill Blass. Inc. town, 1829; city, 1840. Pop. (2000) 205,727; Fort Wayne MSA, 390,156; (2005 est.) city, 223,341; (2004 est.) Fort Wayne MSA, 402,086.