Today, I will be covering the following lines, started by the Citizens Street Rail Road Company of Indianapolis: Virginia, Prospect, West Washington, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Brookside, and College. The Citizens Street Rail Road Company of Indianapolis, the first street car company chartered in the city, starting business on 3 October 1864. Through the years, what started as Citizens now is part of IndyGo. It is important to note that when these lines were created, they were operated as mule cars. This limited the distance that some of these lines would extend until the electrification happened.

The third street car line that started service was the Virginia line. The Virginia Line, which ran only on Virginia Avenue with the exception of the connection to the Louisiana Street barn. The mule line was added to the streets of Indianapolis in 1864. The line actually used all of Virginia Avenue from Washington Street to Prospect Street. This route never was extended. Electricity was added along Virginia in 1892.

The closest thing to an extension to the Virginia line was the Prospect line. It was created in 1888, when tracks were laid along Prospect Street to State Street, where it used a turn table to head back to downtown. Four years later, the line was extended to Auburn Avenue, now called Keystone Avenue. Here it used a loop track to turn around. The Virginia line was electrified when the Prospect line was extended to Auburn (Keystone). Electric trolley cars were used on both lines until 4 August 1934. The next day, trackless trolley cars were placed into service.

1865 saw four lines open for service. The first was the West Washington. It ran from the Louisiana barn to Washington Street, turning north on West Street ending at Military Park. The next year, the end was moved to end at a turn table at White River. In 1881, the line was extended to Addison Street. The following year, it was extended to a turn table on the grounds of the Indiana Insane Hospital (later Central State Hospital). When the line was electrified in 1894, the end was moved to a loop track in the suburb of Mount Jackson, which was across the street from the hospital. The last trolley car would run on 3 January 1948, with bus service starting the next day.

The second line placed in service in 1865 ran along Pennsylvania Street. The Pennsylvania line, in the beginning, only ran as far as Ohio Street. In 1870, the line was extended to St. Joseph Street, where it turned west to Illinois Street, then ran south on the Illinois Street line. Three years later, instead of turning west at St. Joseph, the line continued on Pennsylvania Street to Seventh Street (now 16th Street). It then turned east to Alabama Street. (It should be noted that the tracks along Seventh Street didn’t run in the middle of the road, but ran along the south curb line.) The line’s route was changed again in 1891, when it was routed east from Seventh and Pennsylvania to Talbott Avenue, running north to a turn table at 10th Street (now 19th Street). When the line was electrified in 1894, it was also extended to a “Y” track at 14th Street (now 22nd Street). The line was changed over to trackless trolleys on 18 July 1934.

Next came the Massachusetts line. When it was created, The line left the Pennsylvania line track at Ohio Street, following Mass Avenue to New Jersey Street. Here, the sources get a bit confusing. I will put them in logical order, then show them as the source lists them. Extensions, in logical order, were as follows: to Noble Street (now College Avenue) [historic link: Indianapolis, Noble Street and College Avenue]; to Bellefontaine; to Cornell; and finally to Clifford Avenue (Tenth Street). According to sources that I have, the extensions were: Noble to Bellefontaine, 1879; Bellefontaine to Cornell, 1883; New Jersey to Noble, 1885; and Cornell to Clifford, 1888. A quick glance will explain the confusion on my part. How did the line get to Noble Street from New Jersey Street before the line was built between the two. This line was electrified in 1892.

The Massachusetts line would become the Brookside line in 1904, when the tracks would be extended along Brookside Avenue from Tenth Street to 18th. In 1920, the Indianapolis Street Railways purchased some track from the Union Traction Company of Indiana, extending the Brookside line to Olney Avenue. The last trolley using the tracks ran on 6 June 1934, with trackless trolleys starting the next day.

The last line I want to cover today is the College Line. This line diverted from the Massachusetts line at New Jersey, ending at St. Clair Street. Two years later, in 1867, the line was extended. The extension ran from St. Clair Street to Fort Wayne Avenue, northeast on Fort Wayne Avenue to Central Avenue, north to Christian Avenue (now 11th Street), ending just west of College Avenue. Here, it was two blocks south of the North Western Christian University (later to be called Butler University).

In 1873, an extension took the mule cars along Christian Avenue to Ash Street (later Ashland Street, now Carrollton Avenue). That lasted around four years, when the track was backed up to College Avenue, and ran north along College to Lincoln Avenue (now 15th Street). Again, around four years later, in 1883, the tracks were extended again to Ninth Street (now 19th Street). A new barn was built at Tenth (now 20th) Street and College, and the College Line would be connected to the new barn in 1886.

The line was electrified in 1891, and the next year, a change was made where instead of following New Jersey Street north from Massachusetts Avenue, it would divert from the Massachusetts line at College Avenue, connecting to the in place College line at Christian Avenue. Also, a northern extension would take the line from ending at Tenth (20th) Street to a loop track at 19th (27th) Street.

A 1906 addition to the line, which only involved every other car, ran along 27th Street to Cornell, where it ended in a “Y” at 30th Street. This Cornell line was abandoned on 10 April 1932.

The College line was extended three times with purchases from the Union Traction Company of Indiana. The first, in 1912, was to Fairgrounds Avenue (Fairfield Avenue). In 1919, the second took the line as far as 46th Street. The last was a lease in 1924 to take the College Line as far as a loop track at Broad Ripple Park. The lease became a purchase by Indianapolis Street Railways in 1926.

The very last tracked trolley car in Indianapolis ran along the College line on 9 January 1953. Busses would start running the next day. Yes, the street car era ended with the last College line running.

In the late 1930’s, the Indiana State Highway Commission decided to create a truck route through the northern part of Marion County. This was not the Indianapolis Bypass, that would be originally designated SR 534, later to become SR 100. This truck route connected Michigan Road (SR 29) to Meridian Street (US 31) along what is now Westlane Road/73rd Street/and Meridian Hills Boulevard. This road would be designated SR 434. It was one of the “Daughters” of SR 34.

While the road became the state’s responsibility, there were some problems that crept up almost immediately.

In Marion County, as reported in the Indianapolis News of 11 December 1940, there was a pecking order when it came to traffic flow in rural Marion County. Most of the county roads heading north and south were given higher traffic priority over east-west routes. This served the county well. However, when the state took over what was then called 71st Street, it changed the priority of Spring Mill Road at the junction with SR 434.

Up to the state take over, the priority of traffic was on Spring Mill Road. There was a time when there was talk about building Spring Mill Road all the way to Kokomo to funnel some traffic off of US 31. It would have connected what is now Dixon Road/Howard CR 200W/Tipton CR 800W to Spring Mill Road between Tipton County’s Division Road and 296th Street.

To that time, there was a stop sign on 71st Street. From the east, 71st Street had been paved. Coming from the west, the street had been a dirt road “carrying little traffic.” That changed in 1939, when the state paved the entire route and created the new truck route SR 434. With that change, traffic density changed directions, increasing on 71st Street. Also, due to the state road designation, the type of traffic flow changed. Now SR 434 was being used more by out of town vehicles, as designed. Spring Mill carried more local traffic.

It all came to a head on 8 December 1940. Three people were killed at the intersection of SR 434 and Spring Mill Road. The number of accidents at the intersection had increased since the change in priority had been made. This accident, however, was made worse, in locals minds, since it involved a young lady and a two year old child.

The answer to the locals was simple – restore Spring Mill to the priority route. Simple enough. The Marion County Sheriff, Al Feeney, with the help of some of his deputies, made an investigation of the intersection. The results of that investigation led to some recommendations released by the Sheriff on 11 December 1940: 1) establishment of flasher signal warnings, 2) use of larger stop signs, and 3) placing the stop signs further from the intersection.

The Sheriff “saw no reason for accidents to to occur at the intersection even as the situation no exists. He said the crossing is marked as well as any other similar one.” The Sheriff’s investigation determined that the major problem was that the intersection was level and had none of the usual distinguishing marks at important crossings, such as gas stations or stores.

Local resident and business man, A. J. Vondersaar, had written a letter to the county commissioners about the situation. The letter had been at the request of several of his neighbors. It argued that Spring Mill, both north and south of this intersection, had been the preferential road. As had this intersection until the state took over. “Since that time there has been a series of accidents, culminating yesterday (8 December 1940) in the fatal accident costing the life of a child and young lady.”

That accident had involved Tipton resident, John B. Mitchell, 43. Mitchell, and a passenger in his vehicle, Miss Grace Rains, 23, also of Tipton, were killed. As was John Schleppey, two, son of Mr. and Mrs. Bloor Schleppey of Zionsville. The young Mr. Schleppey had been a passenger in the car hit by Mr. Mitchell. Mrs. Schleppey was in St. Vincent’s Hospital suffering from serious injuries. Mr. Mitchell had been traveling south on Spring Mill when he hit the Schleppey car.

Vondersaar’s letter continued. “There is every reason for traffic in Seventy-first street, including the trucks, to stop for Spring Mill road. We feel that a change should be made immediately, either making both Spring Mill and Seventy-first street traffic come to a full stop at this intersection or making Spring Mill road traffic slow down to ten or fifteen miles an hour and Seventy-first street traffic come to a complete stop.”

Director of Safety for the State Highway Commission, Hallie Myers, reported that upon his investigation, the crossing “is marked better than many others of its kind, not only with stop signs but with warning signs indicating that there is an intersection ahead.” Stop signs were also installed a normal distance from the intersection, as per MUTCD.

Another local resident recommended that the traffic control devices, and traffic priority, be left alone, but be augmented by “an electric flasher sign to be hung over the intersection.” Today, the intersection is control by stop lights. It is unknown to me whether the state put those in or the county did after SR 434 was decommissioned in 1963. Stop lights were first installed at US 31 and SR 434 in 1956.

When the Indiana State Highway Commission was created in (the first time) in 1917, it was tasked with creating a state road system to connect the cities, and larger towns, of Indiana to each other. An important distinction here is that those roads would only connect the towns…not go through them. It seems counterproductive today, since state roads do go through towns and cities (except Indianapolis…but that’s a different story).

In 1925, the State Highway Commission expressed concern that while the state highway system was well marked, it found itself trying to figure out how to help many lost travelers in the cities and towns of the state. The ISHC was calling for a more extensive marking of state roads. Director of the State Highway Commission, John D. Williams, “called attention that this fact is particularly true in some cities where the commission has been unable to secure permits to erect signs routing the public through the corporations on State roads.”

The state roads, as mentioned above, connected towns. Indiana has always been a state where government, generally, works from the bottom up. As such, streets in cities and towns belong to those towns…not the state. Any map showing state roads through towns prior to 1935 show recommended state routes through towns, not the actual route.

“The citizens of a few places seem to regard it an imposition for the highway department to erect signs through the business and residential sections, while on the other hand the through traveler who reaches a city devoid of signs and must inquire many times before he can depart on the desired route, often censures the department for what appears to be a flagrant neglect of duty.” (Greenfield Daily Reporter, 10 January 1925)

The only place that the ISHC could mark state roads in cities without the permission of the local government was on the back of signs showing where the road crossed the city limit. According to the Daily Reporter, one of the most popular signs with travelers were the city limit signs. “The name of the city one approaches is given, while on the reverse side is the route number together with the name of, and distance to, the next important town.”

The situation would come to a head in 1935 when the ISHC recommended a few changes in the way the ISHC was financed and what they should be responsible for. “At present the law makes the abutting property owners pay for the replacement of streets worn out by tourists, and this is not fair,” Mr. John W. Wheeler, Commissioner of the ISHC, stated, as reported in the Indianapolis Star of 22 January 1935. The idea was that counties would get a reduced amount of the auto license fees, and in exchange, the ISHC would become responsible for maintaining city streets that were part of the state highway system.

In 1935, this would have transferred 450 miles of city streets to the possession of the State Highway Commission.

Mr. Wheeler went on to add that “city streets are integral parts of the highway system an should be treated in the same manner as parts outside urban areas.”

ISHC Chairman James D. Adams, in testimony to the Indiana General Assembly, said that “the commission has been besieged by delegations asking the state to take over city streets. This is impossible under present laws.”

While no legislation had been written for the ISHC’s plans, it was the belief of many members of the General Assembly would approve such a plan. Ultimately, the city streets that were part of the state highway system would be taken over by the state on 1 January 1938, almost two decades after the 1919 creation of the state highway system.

“State Road 21 Now U. S. Route” read the headline on page 11 in the 18 February 1935 edition of the Muncie Star Press. The story was published to let people know that the Indiana State Highway Commission had made several changes in the numbering of roads in the Hoosier State. The headline made reference to the new US 35 that had been extended to Indiana.

“Seven changes in route numbers on Indiana state highways, one affecting this city, were announced yesterday by the state highway commission at Indianapolis.” As had been mentioned before in this blog, state highways and US highways, according to the state agency that controls such things (Indiana State Highway Commission, Department of Highways, Department of Transportation) are actually the same things. Really, a US highway is only a state highway that uses the same number when it crosses a state line. As such, in Indiana, when a US route is extended into Indiana, any state road that has that number has to be changed.

“This city will be affected by the establishment of U. S. 35, a new route entering Indiana east of Richmond and extending through Richmond, Muncie, Jonesboro, Kokomo and Burlington to Logansport over former state roads 21 and 22, and from Logansport to Michigan City over state road 29. U. S. 35 extends from Charleston, W. Va., to Michigan City.”

The news story about this extension of US 35 was almost accurate. SR 22 would not be replaced by US 35…only multiplex with it. SR 21, for some time, would have the same treatment, as covered here. The routing of US 35 along SR 22 from Kokomo to Burlington, and SR 29 from Burlington to Logansport, would only last until a planned highway connecting Kokomo directly to Logansport would be built. It was put on maps in 1936 as an extension of SR 17 that entered Logansport from the north. It appeared on maps as pending not only in 1936, but also in 1937. SR 17 returned in 1941 to Official Highway Maps. When the road was opened, it was a replacement for US 35 from Kokomo and Logansport. The SR 17 designation just went away.

The news article then goes on to describe other changes in route numbers made at that time. The first one mentioned after US 35 was State Road 135. “Formerly state road 35, the change being made to avoid conflict with the new U. S. 35. No change is made in the route, however, which extends from Mauckport to Indianapolis.” I have covered this change several times over the little more than a year this blog has existed.

A typo appeared in the next route mentioned: “U. S. 151.” This route, which was actually US 152, was designated as a new relief route from Indianapolis to Chicago. The old route, US 52, and the new one, shared the same road until it reached Montmorenci, northwest of Lafayette. Here, US 52 headed off to end at US 41 (until the next paragraph), while US 152 took off north along SR 53, to end at US 41 at Crown Point after going through Remington and Hebron. This road would be covered in a blog entry on 28 January 2020. Indiana eliminated US 152 within four years, being that the US route was 2/3 a multiplex and entirely in the state.

As mentioned in the above paragraph about US 152, US 52 also ended at US 41. In US 52’s case, it ended at the junction of US 41, US 24 and US 52. US 52 followed US 41 from its junction northwest of Fowler. US 52, at the time of this article, was extended along US 24 into Illinois. “It now extended from Indiana to the Canadian border.” This does not take into consideration the eastern section of the road leaving Indianapolis for Cincinnati and points beyond.

An extension of US 150 also happened at this time. US 150 ended at its junction, at Shoals, with US 50. The extension would carry US 150 along US 50 to Vincennes, then along US 41 to Terre Haute. At Terre Haute, instead of multiplexing with another road to enter Illinois, the State Highway Commission changed SR 46 to US 150 northwest of Terre Haute. From the Illinois border, the road would continue on to Davenport, Iowa.

Another state road number created to avoid confusion with a new US highway was SR 352. At the Great Renumbering, a road connecting Boswell on US 41 to Templeton had two different route numbers…SR 22 and temporary US 52. By 1932, this route would lose its SR 22 designation in favor of SR 152. In early 1935, due to the coming of US 152, the old SR 152 was changed to SR 352. Even though US 152 went away, the SR 352 designation would remain to this day. Of course, there is a SR 152 in Lake County today, as well.

The last route number change that would occur in early 1935 would be a change to what was the original State Road 1…US 31. Near both New Albany and Jeffersonville, there were two US 31’s…both coming from Kentucky. Through New Albany was US 31W, the original SR 1. The route through Jeffersonville was marked as US 31E. The change made by the State Highway Commission took the old US 31W, changing it to US 31. The old US 31E would be changed to a business route, marked US 31B. This would not be the last change in US 31 in the area, as mentioned in “The Many US 31s of Floyd and Clark Counties.”

Today, I am starting a new Saturday series called “Indianapolis Street Car Saturday.” My plan is to cover the Indianapolis Street Railways, a line or two at a time, every Saturday until I run out of street car lines to cover.

There was a time, not really all that long ago, really, that the city of Indianapolis was served by a street railway system that covered quite a bit of the city. What most people think of is the electric trolley cars, and the wires hanging across the streets to supply their power. This wasn’t always the case. The street railways started being put into place in 1864. Electrification had full stride in the 1890s. Today, I want to cover four different street car lines that all started as part of the Illinois Street line, as well as the original Fairgrounds line, since it was the first built.

It should also be noted that when I describe the street car lines, I am using the ORIGINAL street names as they appeared at the time. The current street name will be contained in parentheses after the original street name. I wanted to say this because it gets a bit confusing, especially after the 1894 numbered street name changes.

The earliest city directory listing of street car lines appears in 1879. At that time, the Citizens’ Street Railway Company was the operator of the street car service. Their offices, and main barn, was at the northeast corner of Louisiana and Tennessee Streets (now Capitol Avenue). The first street car line built, called the Illinois-Fairgrounds line, ran east on Louisiana to Illinois, north to Washington Street, west to West Street, then north to Military Park, which at one time had been the Indiana State Fairgrounds. That line would not be listed in the City Directory of 1879…but the name would come back into use when the state fairgrounds moved to the Maple Road (38th Street) location. This line would also be called the Blake Line when it came back into being in 1882.

The first line mentioned in the city directory is the Illinois Street line. This line also was laid down in 1864, running from the Louisiana Street barn to North Street. Two years later, it was extended to Seventh Street (now 16th Street). By 1889, the Illinois line was extended to 26th (now 34th) Street, with a Crown Hill loop running from Illinois to Mississippi Street (Boulevard Place) north of 26th (34th) Street. It would be electrified in 1890.

A separate addition to the Illinois Street line occurred with electrification. To the Crown Hill loop was added the Fairview line, continuing up Mississippi Street to 30th (38th) Street/Maple Road, west along Maple Road to Rookwood Street, north to 34th (42nd) Street, west to Fairview (Haughey), then north to the Fairview Park loop. This line would serve the new campus of Butler University when it moved from Irvington in 1928. It began life as an electrified line.

In 1911, Fairview line was changed to continue straight up Senate Avenue (Boulevard Place) to 42nd Street. This was in conjunction with the creating of the 38th Street boulevard that exists today. The “Rookwood Avenue elbow,” taking the line along 38th Street between Senate and Rookwood Avenues, was removed the following year. (Indianapolis Star, 15 April 1934)

In 1892, another addition to the Illinois Street line was added. This time, the line left Illinois Street at 26th (34th), going east to Central Avenue, then northeast on Fairgrounds (Fairfield) Avenue. It was built as an electrified line.

The last line to be added to the Illinois Street line skeleton was built and electrified in 1904. It was called the Illinois-Mapleton. While the other lines branched at 34th Street, the Mapleton would continue north to 38th Street. In 1914, it was extended to 39th Street. The Illinois-Mapleton lasted until 22 May 1942, when it was abandoned by the Indianapolis Street Railway Company.

The Illinois-Fairview Street Car line was mentioned in advertisements for the Beverly Heights addition on Boulevard Place between 43rd and 44th Streets. It was listed as “The Fairview Illinois Street Car Line – the city’s best – parallels the whole addition just one block south.” (Indianapolis News, 27 September 1916)

The other two Illinois Street lines would last as trolley lines with rails until 12 October 1951. Feeder busses would be used along the two lines from 13 October 1951 to 30 December 1951, when the company would also use trackless trolleys. This arrangement didn’t last long, and the trackless trolleys were removed from service, as were the overhead power lines.

There was a time in Indiana when most major roads were not maintained by the local governments, but by turnpike, or toll road, companies. I have covered this several times over the past year. Towards the end of the 19th century, the state of Indiana had gone so far as to pass legislation allowing counties to purchase the toll roads back from these companies, making them “free” roads once again. But one road found itself in a legal quagmire with the city of Indianapolis. That road was the Pendleton Pike.

The Indianapolis-Pendleton State Road was created by the state early in its history. It was one of the late comers to the turnpike category. It would be 1861 when the Indianapolis and Pendleton Gravel Road Company turned the old state road into a toll road. Before this happened, however, the Bellefontaine Railroad was built along the north edge of the state road’s right of way. Part of the requirements for this designation is that the road be maintained in passable shape as long as tolls were collected. The Indianapolis and Pendleton Gravel Road transferred its rights in the turnpike to the Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western Railroad on 1 January 1882. From that point, the toll road company ceased maintenance of the Pendleton Turnpike.

This all came to a head in 1894, when the city of Indianapolis decided to improve Pendleton Pike inside the city limits. At that time, the official end of Pendleton Pike was at the junction of Clifford Avenue, Cherry Street, Massachusetts Avenue and the Lake Erie & Western/Louisville, New Albany & Chicago railroad right of way. Today, that is under I-65/70 at 10th Street. Pendleton Pike would be renamed shortly after “Massachusetts Avenue” to the city limits, which at the time was at Brightwood Avenue (now Sherman Drive).

There were legal questions as to whether the city could do such improvements. The Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western, the predecessor to the Peoria & Eastern Railroad, as the company that owned the toll road according to the previous turnpike company, failed to maintain the road from 1882.

The city attorney weighed in on the subject in April 1894. As reported in the Indianapolis Journal of 13 April 1894, not only did the toll road company stop maintaining the road, it also stopped collecting tolls. As such, it was the opinion of the city lawyer that the toll road company lost all interest in the road, making it a free highway once again. The argument was that the railroad company (IB&W) was given the right of way as owner…making Pendleton Pike a railroad property, not a road.

The city argued that the Big Four Railroad, owner of the former Bellefontaine and operator of the Peoria & Eastern, owned the north edge of the old state road’s right of way, and that the IB&W (P&E East) used the Big Four right of way until it veered away from the Big Four at Warren Street (now 21st Street). As such, the railroad had no right to the Pendleton Pike right of way. Since the IB&W used the Big Four right of way, it was the opinion of the city attorney that that right of way ended at the fence along the south edge of the railroad/north edge of the road. “The gravel road company could convey no more that it possessed, and as it never owned the fee in the highway, it could not convey that fee to the I. B. & W. Railway Company.”

“I am of the opinion that the failure of the gravel road company and its assignee to collect toll and repair the pike from 1882 to the present time is evidence of an abandonment of its rights in the highway, and, because of such abandonment, the turnpike has returned to its original status of a public highway, and that part of such highway within the corporate limits of the cty (sic) is now a public street of the city of Indianapolis to all intents and purposes.”

The railroad companies, both the Big Four and the P&E, did not see eye to eye with the opinion of the city attorney. There was speculation at the time (April 1894) that the Peoria & Eastern would file suit against the city for the loss of the right of way. I have not found any reference to that. But I can tell you that the improvements to Pendleton Pike were causing a ripple effect involving the Big Four and the town of Brightwood. 1896 Elections in the town were hinging on the improvement of the Pendleton Pike. But not the way one would think. Most candidates were against the improvement, but only because the Big Four would be stuck with half the expenses. Brightwood was a railroad town, after all. It had been created by the railroad, and still (at that time) depended on the railroad for its livelihood. Anything that might jeopardize that would be frowned upon by the electorate.

The improvements, in the end, were done. And this caused even more problems for the town of Brightwood. Two residents of the town had, some time prior to the improvements, installed tile pipe to allow their lots along Lawn Avenue between Putnam Street and Pendleton Pike in Brightwood to dry out. The improvement of Pendleton Pike, now called Massachusetts Avenue, damaged some of those tiles. Lots were again beginning to fill up with water, making those lots useless and threatening the health of residents. The town clerk was instructed to say there was no record of the pipes having been installed.

One of the things I like about running a group like Indiana Transportation History is that I get to see a lot of things on Facebook that would normally not be accessible to me. I have a lot of people that have become “friends” on Facebook due to the group. One of those today shared something that he found in a digital library…but didn’t share it to the ITH group. He shared it to another group. But because he is on my friends list, I got to see it. It was a link, which I will share here, to the “Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices For Streets and Highways,” issued in 1938 by the State Highway Commission of Indiana.

Before we go much further, I guess it would be good to define the “Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices For Streets and Highways,” or MUTCD for short. In my post of 21 June 2019, called “Why are State Road Signs Shown as Round on Maps,” I gave a brief history of the MUTCD. It all started in 1925. Before that time, each state could make their own signs, and rules placing them. In 1925, the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO) started making recommendations about what signs should look like to keep them standard across the country. There was one requirement in the 1925 collection of recommendations – the shape of and legend on the signs marking the coming United States highway system.

By 1927, AASHO came out with the first manual on what signs should look like and what shape they should be on rural highways. The urban version came out in 1930. But the signs in each didn’t match entirely. The first MUTCD, combining the rural and urban versions of the highly recommended versions of how traffic should be controlled, came out in 1935.

The version that was shared on Facebook today was the one issued three years later in 1938.

Now, I have made it sound like the MUTCD is only about signs and their shapes. This is nowhere near true. The 1938 ISHC MUTCD is 60+ pages. Part I of the MUTCD is for signage. Part II is for marking…of pavement, safety zones, and pedestrian islands. The particular copy available online does not include Part III (Signals) and Part IV (Islands).

Let’s skip to part II first. Among other things mentioned in the MUTCD is that only the ISHC has the legal authority to paint any type of markings on state highways. On the other hand, the ISHC is legally not allowed to place markings on roads that are not part of the state highway system – unless permission from the appropriate local authority is given. Lines on pavements were used for the listed purposes: center lines; lane lines; pedestrian cross walks; limit lines at intersections; obstacle approach; change from two-way to one-way streets; safety zones; and parking spaces and limits.

Center lines were different than they are today. Back in 1938, the actual center line was painted: (generally) black on concrete, white on asphalt. The line in question must be four inches in width. On either side of the center line, a solid yellow line of four inches in width shall be painted. It was also mentioned in this version of the MUTCD that the place where the expansion lines in concrete pavement and the painted lines on the road should match as nearly as possible. Any confusing lines should be removed. Yellow was the standard color for most pavement markings, except for center lines and specifically mentioned instances.

As far as the signs go, Indiana only had one sign that didn’t match the National MUTCD. Yet, the pictures in the Indiana MUTCD show the particular instance as if it were the national variety. State route markers in Indiana at the time showed a rough outline of the state on a rectangular sign and a number inside the outline. The National MUTCD suggested that state road signs should be round. And the diagrams in the ISHC 1938 MUTCD show just that…round state road signs.

Most signs at the time were either white or “federal yellow” in color. This included stop signs, which were yellow in the beginning. The shapes of the signs was also important. The stop sign has eight sides because it is a more dangerous situation than the regular regulatory or informational sign. Railroad crossing signs are round – or have 360 sides – because they have always been one of the most dangerous driving situations that exist. Especially before government authorities started moving roads to eliminate or soften the crossing angle of the railroad crossing.\

Another thing included with the sign regulations is the minimum (and sometimes maximum) distance signs should be located from obstacles, intersections, and the side of the road. For instance, most stop signs, according to the diagrams in this book, are to be located no less than 50 feet from the center line of the road that crosses in front of said stop sign. That seems a bit distant…but I haven’t really looked at it before I saw this copy of the MUTCD.

Route markers came in two varieties when it came to either the US or SR markings: regular or small. The sign sizes and sign type number are shown in the following snippet. When a road changed direction, it used the G-2/G-3 signs for US routes, and the G-5/G-6 signs for state routes. There were no “advance arrow” directional signs at the time…just a shield with the letter “L” or “R” on them. Arrow signs were kept for the intersection for confirmation. That is shown in the second snippet.

The signs marking county lines appeared in 1938 much like they do today – except they were white with black letters instead of the current white on green. Another sign that was included in the 1938 edition was one that I really wish we had today: signals set for [##] M.P.H., where a speed number was on the sign to show what speed to drive to make all the lights. A snippet of that sign is included here.

There a lot more things that I would love to include in this entry. But it is best to read it for yourself, if you are interested. The shared version of the 1938 MUTCD is available at this link: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112088559445&view=1up&seq=1

In the article “1889 Fort Wayne Rail Transport,” I used the last paragraph to mention a small railroad that was being built at the time, the Findlay, Fort Wayne & Western. I want to take this chance to delve deeper into that road that lasted a little over two decades.

The FFtW&W started life as the New York, Mahoning & Western. The construction of the road began in 1887. It was, at first, designed to take advantage of the natural gas boom of the late 19th century. That boom saw manufacturing ramp up to very high levels due to the availability of cheap fuel in the form of natural gas.

By 1895, the railroad had finally reached Fort Wayne. But it also had legal problems at the same time. As reported in the Fort Wayne News of 10 April 1895, a suit was filed in United States Court in Toledo by several small bond holders. They were seeking the court to foreclosure of first mortgage bonds and to have a receiver appointed for the road. The incidents that led to this suit started back in 1890.

In 1890, George G. Patterson, one of the creators of the FFtW&W, issued bonds to the tune of $1.5 million in order to build the line to Fort Wayne. Problems crept up in 1892, and a settlement was set forth with the creditors, with an agreement between the creditors and the bond holders. That agreement was confirmed by the courts. The $1.5 million settlement was reported to be of interest of all creditors and bond holders. Except holders of about $65,000 worth of the railroad’s bonds.

Those holders did not agree to the settlement. They then started began lawsuits. Those lawsuits were shot down by Ohio State Courts. The court declared the matter settled. The plaintiffs (listed as Middleton S. Burril, B. Parr, James Galway, Richard Combs and the Exchange Fire Insurance Company of New York) then moved to the federal court. The railroad saw the suit as a attempt to force a settlement out of court.

When the railroad finally reached Fort Wayne, it was announced that all repair work would be moved from Findlay to Fort Wayne. Arrangements had been made with the Wabash Railway for all work to be done in the Wabash shops at Fort Wayne. A small crew of three or four men would be left at Findlay to act as a roundhouse repair crew.

In late 1897, the Fort Wayne Sentinel (29 November 1897) was reporting that a purchase of the Findlay line was likely to occur. That purchase would be completed by the Illinois Central Railroad. The party included “John Jacob Astor and a distinguished party of eastern capitalists and railroad magnates.” The interest of these railroad people was to forge together a collection of lines to form another Chicago-New York rail line. It should be mentioned that the collection of rail men arrived in Fort Wayne using Pennsylvania Railroad Train No. 4, and returned on Train #15, along the same Pennsylvania Railroad.

By 1900, as reported in the Fort Wayne News of 17 January 1900, discussions (rumors) were abound about the possible extension of the Findley, Fort Wayne & Western to Peoria, Illinois. The plan was mentioned by what the newspaper called “one of Peoria’s best known railroad officials.” The line was, according to the source, would possibly travel through Iroquois, Livingston and Woodoford (sic) Counties on its way to Peoria. The same area was covered by the Illinois Central at the time, but “railroaders think that there is ample business for another good line.” If such a line was built, it did not fall under the corporate umbrella of the Findlay, Fort Wayne & Western.

Interest in the railroad property was shown by the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton in 1901. The Fort Wayne News of 7 November 1901, using reports from the Indianapolis Journal, stated that the CH&D wanted access to Fort Wayne, and the FFtW&W was mentioned by name. CH&D officials had come to Fort Wayne to inspect the FFtW&W with George Chapman (President) and B. F. Fenton (General Manager) of the Findlay. While no official news was released at the time, it was not hard to believe that the CH&D would try to buy the Findlay line.

Four days later, the CH&D hadn’t made a confirmed decision to buy the FFtW&W…but that there was “no doubt the deal will go through.”

Any reference to the Findlay, Fort Wayne & Western ends in newspapers after 11 November 1901. It is assumed that the line became part of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton shortly thereafter. The CH&D would have problems of its own after that acquisition. The Erie attempted to take over a consolidated CH&D/Pere Marquette company. The combination of these two companies was called the Great Central. The company fell into receivership in 1905. The Baltimore & Ohio purchased the CH&D in 1909. The Baltimore & Ohio decided that it no longer had need of the former Findlay, Fort Wayne & Western, abandoning the railroad by 1919.

This article is going to be very graphics heavy. I want to show what was being reported in the newspapers of the time about the construction of I-465…using the newspapers of the time.

First, the contracts for the building of the interstate…and their bidding times, at least as shown in the Indianapolis News of 25 November 1965.

In the Indianapolis Star of 30 December 1964, the following was reported: “(The Indiana State Highway Commission) Approved a $185,975 purchase price for the property of Pritchett, Hunt and O’Grady Inc. bowling lanes at 7714 East Washington Street, which is on the site of the planned interchange of U.S. 40 (Washington Street) and the east leg of Interstate 465. (Executive Director) Goodwin said negotiation on the bowling property has been the chief cause of delay in proceeding with I-465 construction north to U.S. 40 from the road’s end south of U.S. 52. Construction will probably begin in the spring.”

The following photo from the 1 May 1969 issue of the Indianapolis News shows interstate construction at Fall Creek. The News also makes a point to state they are correcting the caption, as they originally claimed it was I-65 at 22nd Street.

The Toledo, St. Louis & Western Railroad, commonly called the Clover Leaf, was a collection of smaller lines across Indiana. The last version of the company came into being in 1900, having been through several reorganizations to that point. The Clover Leaf’s existence would end on 28 Decemeber 1922, when it would become part of the New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad, better known as the Nickel Plate.

The earliest section of what would become the Clover Leaf in Indiana (actually of the entire road) would be built in 1873 and 1874 as the Frankfort & Kokomo Railroad. When it was built, the railroad was set at standard gauge, or 4′ 8 1/2″ track width. In 1881, it was changed to a narrow gauge of 3 feet. At this time, it also became part of the Toledo, Cincinnati & St. Louis Railroad.

The Toledo, Cincinnati & St. Louis, a narrow gauge railway that was chartered to connect those title cities. It was formed in 1881 as a consolidation of many smaller lines, among them the Frankfort & Kokomo. This company would make all of its track narrow gauge. The TC&StL would take into its corporate structure the other three railroads that would make the Indiana section of the Clover Leaf.

The first, built in 1879, was the Delphos, Bluffton & Frankfort, which connected Willshire, Ohio, to Warren, Indiana. It was joined by the Frankfort, St. Louis & Toledo, which continued the line from Warren to Kokomo, and connected to the Frankfort & Kokomo. The FStL&T was completed in 1880. A year later, the Frankfort & State Line Railroad extended the consolidation of lines across the entire state.

But the Toledo, Cincinnati & St. Louis would only last around five years. In 1886, it broke up into several companies before being reorganized into one company again. The Indiana section would become the Bluffton, Kokomo and Southwestern Railroad. This company was created with papers filed with the Indiana Secretary of State in April 1886.

The three companies created from the implosion of the TC&StL were consolidated again as the Toledo, St. Louis & Kansas City Railroad on 12 June 1886. It was at this time that the decision was made to make the entire railroad a standard gauge line. This work was completed before June 1889. Sylvester H. Kneeland was given the contract for the work. His contract called for Kneeland to receive $2.5 million in the new company’s stock, and $2 million in company bonds. More stocks and bonds in the company would be given to Kneeland as his expenses went up. The exact total was unknown.

The Toledo, St. Louis & Kansas City found itself in receivership on 18 May 1893. While still in receivership, the company was sold at foreclosure on 27 March 1900, for $12.2 million to the stock and bond holders. The company was then reorganized at the Toledo, St. Louis and Western Railroad on 12 June 1900. The receivership ended on 1 August 1900, with the new Clover Leaf in full swing.

On 29 December 1922, it was announced that a major merger was approved by the boards of directors of five separate companies. The five companies were: New York, Chicago & St. Louis (Nickel Plate); Chicago & State Line; Lake Erie & Western; Fort Wayne, Cincinnati & Louisville; and Toledo, St. Louis & Western (Clover Leaf). The authorized capitalization of the new company, to maintain the New York, Chicago & St. Louis name, was $105.5 million. The total trackage of the new company would by 1,695 miles.

Meetings with the share holders would be held in March 1923. Meetings were scheduled as follows: Nickel Plate in Cleveland, 12 March; Chicago & State Line at Chicago, 13 March; Lake Erie & Western at Peoria, Illinois, 14 March; Fort Wayne, Cincinnati & Louisville at Muncie, 15 March; and the Clover Leaf at Frankfort, 16 March.

The Clover Leaf, before the consolidation, had been controlled and operated by the Nickel Plate for some time, even under the receivership. The Clover Leaf, at the time of the consolidation, owned one-half the capital stock of the Detroit & Toledo Shore Line Railway. This gave the bigger Nickel Plate access to Detroit from Toledo.

Author’s note: Before I begin, this is a discussion about labor and labor unions, and an instance where the two didn’t get along. This is simply reporting that instance. I am not taking a side either way. It is a period in transportation history that has happened, and hence, should be covered in Indiana Transportation History. My hope is that it doesn’t turn into a discussion of the pros and cons of unions. I want to use my journalism training to objectively look at the subject.

For decades, the law in Indiana required local people to help with maintaining the roads on which the lived. This was continued during the Toll Road era of travel, where local residents helped maintain the road, then paid for the right to use it. By the time the Indiana State Highway Commission was created, the labor requirement had been dropped…but farmers and local residents were still helping with road work. That began to change in Southern Indiana in 1937.

Farmers and unskilled laborers were accustomed to getting temporary jobs on road projects at that time. According to the Indianapolis Star of 18 September 1937, this caused major conflict between those unskilled workers and union labor organizers active at the construction sites. Union organizers were requiring a $15 union initiation fee to get a job on these road construction jobs. (One could pay in payments, but $5 had to be paid before a worker would be allowed on the worksite.) This was causing some temporary workers to rebel.

What didn’t help matters is the fact that there was a major state road under construction that had the possibility of being closed for the third winter season in a row, “due to constant strikes or shut downs.” State law at that time required that unskilled laborers could only work in the county in which they lived. Most of the workers realized that paying both a $15 fee (or, as they called it, “buying a job”) and union dues would be useless once the current construction project was completed, since they couldn’t go to the next job in the next county.

And while this discontent was continuing, a 14 mile section of State Road 3 north from North Vernon was in a holding pattern…upsetting those that depended on that road.

The union organizers required not only the $15 initiation fee, but $2 a month for union dues. The concern of the unskilled workers is that was a lot of money, especially to those that were on public relief or hired by the Works Progress Administration. “It is a virtual bar to those” in that situation.

Another concern among the workers was the shortened work hours. Most workers, at the time, worked 48 hours a week. But union limits shortened work days to five or six hours. This was at a time when the state bid sheets specified unskilled laborers make less than $1 an hour. Also, the United States was still in the midst of the Great Depression. Work, and therefore money, were hard to come by.

“Workers say the big labor turnover on the job is caused by the desire of the union to get a larger number of men to pay initiation fees. Some of the workers who paid all or a part of their initiation fee have been discharged.”

On the other side, there were no provisions in either State or Federal projects when it came to unionization. But state regulations were in place when it came to the work hours and wages to be paid. The Indiana Highway Constructors, the state organization of road contractors, entered into an agreement with the Hod Carrier’s Union for employee representation. The Hod Carrier’s Union mainly dealt with building trades in America’s largest cities. The agreement provided that the contractor work with Union workers first. If none are available, then non-union workers can be used. Once on the job, union stewards would encourage the unorganized to join the union.

The agreement also a scale of wages in southern Indiana of 50 cents per hour, meaning when construction was going full bore, the best that workers could hope for was $18 to $20 a week.

There were other things not helping get workers a temporary job. To get a temporary road job, the worker must be registered and given a number by the state employment service. This was a leftover from when the state had a bigger unemployment problem earlier in the Depression era.

Things would change quite a bit after the end of the Great Depression. Regulations would be changed, and there was to be more separation between local labor and road construction contractors. But this particular incident could have led to local residents taking the road construction into their own hands to get that section of State Road 3 opened for use after two years.

One of the things about the way I sit to write these blogs is that nothing is set in stone when I start. Most of the time, I sit at my desk trying to come up with ideas. (We won’t discuss the forehead shaped divot in the front edge of my desk!) And since I tend to write these before I have to get ready to go to work (they publish when I am at lunch…0100…if that is any idea), it sometimes can be a frantic push to write something. And before you ask, this is how I keep to a routine – sleep, blog, work. I tend to stick to routines…and am lost without them.

Anyway. Such is today’s topic. I was looking for a railroad map at the Indiana State Library Digital Collection. Any railroad map would do. That was my goal…a railroad history. And I found the following map: Map of the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana (1889). This was too good to pass up.

Let’s start with the street car lines. At the time, Fort Wayne had street car lines totaling 18 miles, 165 feet. That was distributed across five lines. The list on the map is different from the numbers given by the Fort Wayne Street Railroad Company. Line descriptions that follow come from the Polk Fort Wayne City Directory of 1888-1889.

As you read the descriptions of the street car lines, keep in mind that along the way, street names in Fort Wayne have changed at least once over the past century. As was the case in Indianapolis at the time, street names generally didn’t run for long distances, except those considered the major streets. Streets along the same line could have two or more different names. An example is the first street south of Lewis Street. West of Calhoun, it is Dawson Street. East of Calhoun, it is Montgomery. In Indianapolis, the corrections to this problem started in 1894. I will be researching this in Fort Wayne at a later date.

Route No. 1 – Belt Line. Commencing at Main and Calhoun Streets on Calhoun, then south on Calhoun Street passing the Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago), Grand Rapids (Grand Rapids & Indiana) & Wabash depots and on to Creighton Avenue, then west on Creighton Avenue to Broadway, north on Broadway to Main Street, then east on Main Street to Calhoun, forming a belt line. In 1889, that line consisted of 4.46 miles of trackage. 1.23 miles were shared with other street car lines to be mentioned later, and .77 miles of that was double track and switches.

Route No. 2 – Bloomingdale, Hanna and Walton Avenue line. Commencing at the corner of Wells and Third Streets, to Cass Street, west on Cass, passing the Lake Shore & Muncie (sic) depot ot Wells Street, south on Wells to Superior Street, east on Superior to Calhoun Street, south on Calhoun, passing the Pittsburgh, Grand Rapids & Wabash depots to Hamilton Street, east on Hamilton to Lafayette, north on Lafayette to Wallace Street, east on Wallace to John Street, south on John to Creighton Avenue, east on Creighton Avenue to Walton Avenue or the new yards. This is called the Bloomingdale line on the map. It consists of 5.44 miles of trackage.

Route No. 3 – Main Street line. Commencing at Glasgow Avenue on East Washington Street, the west on Washington to Harmer, south on Harmer to Jefferson Street, west on Jefferson to Lafayette Street, north on Lafayette to Main Street, then west on Main to Linwood Cemetery. According to the state library map, this is called the Lindenwood line, totaling 4.64 miles of trackage.

Route 4 – Commencing at Garden Street, running east on Jefferson to Broadway, connecting with the Belt Line. It consisted of a line of .6 miles total of tracks, double tracks and switches.

The fifth line, not mentioned in the city directory, yet on the map, is the Clinton & Lewis Street line. This 2.89 miles of tracks began at Clinton and Main Streets, south on Clinton to Lewis Street, then east on Lewis Street ending at Walton Avenue.

The steam railroads were a different story. According to the 1889 map, there were seven railroads into Fort Wayne with an eighth being under construction. I did cover the steam railroads of Fort Wayne in 1880. First mentioned was the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago, operated by the Pennsylvania Company. Then mentioned are: Wabash; Grand Rapids & Indiana (also operated by the Pennsylvania Company); Fort Wayne, Richmond and Cincinnati (operated by the Grand Rapids & Indiana); New York, Chicago & St. Louis (the Nickel Plate); Lake Shore & Michigan Southern (a New York Central system company); and the Fort Wayne, Cincinnati & Louisville (operated by the Lake Erie & Western, which in itself has a very interesting history).

The eighth line, then under construction, was the Findlay, Fort Wayne & Western. Born out of the natural gas boom of the late 19th century, this railroad went was originally called the New York, Mahoning & Western. Construction started in 1887, finally reaching Fort Wayne in 1895. It was built under the direction of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad. That is the same railroad that enters Indianapolis parallel to Brookville Road (US 52). 21 years after completion of the FFtW&W, the Baltimore & Ohio purchased the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton. This led to the end of the Findlay, Fort Wayne & Western. By 1919, the entire line was abandoned by the B&O.

While roaming Facebook the past few days, I have noticed an uptick in requests for information about the interurbans, especially around Indianapolis. Today, I have decided to do a recap of all the posts that I have done to cover anything interurban related.

I will admit, up front, that I didn’t know much about the interurbans when I started my journey into Indiana Transportation History. All I could tell you was that there were roads on the south side of Indianapolis named after the “trolley,” as it was told to me. More research into this led me to two things: one, the “trolley” was different than what I had always thought of as trolleys, aka street cars, and two, not just the “Stop” roads are named because of the interurban. The road I live off of on the east side of the city is also named after an interurban stop, named after the landmark on the corner…German Church.

But I did the research, and come up with (what I thought might be) interesting information about a lot of them. Below are descriptions of the 17 (!!!!) articles that I have written that cover this very fascinating, yet very short, period in history where electric locomotion existed in Indiana. Of course, this was much to the chagrin of the steam railroads, which, too, would lose in the end.

The interurban line that I ended up covering first was also the last into Indianapolis. In the article “The First and Last Interurban Out of Indianapolis,” I wrote about the first electric traction into the Hoosier capitol…and the accident that ended it 41 years later.

At one point, every interurban line in Indianapolis came under the operation of a single company, the Indiana Railroad of 1930. Most of the lines came under the ownership of one man. That didn’t last long as the Indiana Railroad started shedding lines as fast as it could.

In “Indianapolis and the Interurban,” I covered a question that comes up quite a bit when discussing electric traction: where does the interurban begin? I covered where stop 1 was on the traction lines, and a few others.

One of the first lines to be removed was the Greenfield Line, connecting Indianapolis to Richmond, and through connections at Richmond, to almost all of the state of Ohio through Dayton. “End of the (Traction) Line in Greenfield” covers the end of that line and the reroute that was planned to keep the dying service running.

And that reroute was to take place on the “Indianapolis-New Castle Traction,” or Honey Bee line. The line was part of discussions about becoming a new state road directly to the Henry County seat. But, legal issues got in the way. Today, the right of way is abandoned by both the interurban and the steam railroad with which it shared space.

Even today, almost 70 years after the last interurban ran in Indianapolis, there are still spots on maps where one can see traces of the electric traction companies and routes that are so long gone. I covered this in “Marion County Interurbans, and Their Remaining Property Lines.”

Not out of Indianapolis, but an interurban nonetheless, the Chicago, South Shore and South Bend Railroad is the last vestige of electric traction in Indiana. Although it is considered a “regular” railroad today, it started life as an electric railway in the interurban era of the early 1900’s.

I circled around to the “Interstate Public Service” company, known as the Greenwood line. This time, instead of what killed the line, I covered how it started in more detail. And the part of that line that still exists as an operating company today.

Running an interurban wasn’t as easy as laying tracks and running trains. Especially in cities like Indianapolis that wanted to ensure that the streets would remain in good shape, and the city could make a little bit of cash from the deal. “Street Car and Electric Traction Franchises” describes how that worked and why.

I wrote a series of articles that covered some of the traction lines individually: Martinsville Traction; Danville Traction; Lebanon Traction; and Beech Grove Traction.

Most everyone that has done any research at all on interurbans in Indianapolis knows about the world’s largest interurban station, the Indianapolis Traction Terminal on Market Street. But before it was built, the interurbans stopped on street corners, as covered in my article “1904: Interurbans before the Traction Terminal.”

I also spent a day writing about “Fort Wayne Electric Traction Options.” Five companies in Indiana’s second largest city, and one connected to Indianapolis.

A general history of the interurbans, especially from a Terre Haute perspective. “Interurbans, Part 1” and “Interurbans, Part 2” cover this history. You ask why Terre Haute? Technically, in the end, most of the lines in and out of Indianapolis, and the city street car company, were actually owned by the Terre Haute, Indianapolis & Eastern Traction Company.

What a very strange world we live in when it comes to railroad companies. The title of this entry may seem, to those that know railroad ownership, to be almost a no brainer. After all, through several ownership changes, the Monon and the B&O are the same company. Technically. At least they are under the same umbrella as CSX. But that is not the point of this blog entry.

Railroad company mergers have been happening as long as there have been railroad companies. The current behemoths of CSX and Norfolk Southern are basically collections of consolidations being made for over a century. One of my most favorite consolidations that wasn’t, and ended up being, is the whole split up of Conrail between CSX and Norfolk Southern. In the 1960’s, two major components that would become part of Conrail were trying anything they could think of to survive. It was the plan for the New York Central to merge with the Chesapeake & Ohio, and the Pennsylvania to merge with the Norfolk & Western. This failed government scrutiny, and ended up with the disaster that was the Pennsylvania New York Central Transportation Company – or Penn Central. Along comes the split up of Conrail, and anything going to CSX (the “C” does stand for “Chessie,” from the Chesapeake & Ohio) was marked “NYC.” The Norfolk Southern’s marked equipment read “PRR.”

But back to the Monon. The Transportation Act of 1920 included a provision which allowed the United States Congress to combine railroads into a limited number of systems. The major truck lines would take over smaller roads. The Interstate Commerce Commission, controller of all that was federal government policy when it came to railroads, was looking into this plan to keep the number of railroad company failures down. Needless to say, the plan would work…but not for another 50 years.

One of the smaller roads that would be grouped into the bigger railroad trunk plan was to be the Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville, known to most as the Monon. At the time, the Monon was actually controlled, through stock ownership, by the Southern Railway and the Louisville & Nashville. The Monon, however, “seems to be of little use to the Louisville & Nashville, which exchanges Chicago business primarily at Evansville.” (Source: Munster Times, 6 June 1929)

The B&O suffered from a regional problem. The Interstate Commerce Commission was looking for a way to expand its reach. “The problem with the Baltimore and Ohio, therefore, is to incorporate with it other properties which shall let it into New York and into good traffic-originating eastern territory and shall also extend its mileage to the Michigan peninsula and ferries and out across Indiana and Illinois through Chicago with trans-Mississippi systems.”

Part of this goal was accomplished when the Cincinnati, Indianapolis & Western Railroad was acquired by the Baltimore & Ohio. But the inclusion of the Monon would have made teh B&O stronger in the Indiana realm.

It should be noted that all this talk about railroad mergers at the time stems from an Interstate Commerce Commission study completed by Professor W. Z. Ripley of Harvard University. It was his recommendation that the Monon be consolidated into the Baltimore & Ohio. The ICC went along with that plan, as they did many others made in the report.

Part of the argument for the (not to happen) merger is that the Monon has for more than 30 years “maintained a joint through service with the Baltimore & Ohio between Cincinnati and Chicago, and with no other company, so far as I know, has the Monon ever maintained joint service anywhere.”

The Presidents of the railroads, Daniel Willard of the B&O and H. R. Kurrie of the Monon, were of differing opinions of the recommendation. The latter had made a speech about the plan, not coming out for the recommendation. After the latter’s speech, the former came out with a speech defending the plan. Part of the idea is that the Monon would fit better with the B&O with its location north of the Ohio River.

Mr. Willard pointed out that one of the arguments against the merger would be the “state of Indiana being injured.” That argument, Willard said, didn’t hold water in that the B&O spent $10 million a year in Indiana alone, as opposed to the $4 million spent by the Monon.

It was also mentioned that if the merger would go through, the yards at Indianapolis would most likely transfer most of the work to either Lafayette or Bloomington. The fear that traffic would be routed away from the Monon were put at ease by Mr. Willard, pointing out that the route between Cincinnati and Chicago via the Monon is 72 miles shorter than using the B&O between the two cities.

In the end, the ICC plan didn’t happen. At least not the way it was envisioned in the 1920’s. Instead of systems that were centered in the south, north, east and west of the United States, the Monon would fall under the sway of the Louisville & Nashville, ultimately making it a “southern” railroad. The Baltimore & Ohio would become part of the Chessie System, a “northern” railroad. Both would become part of CSX, a consolidation of a northern and southern railroad into an Eastern railroad.

When the railroads started being built in Indiana, it was determined that the railroad companies would be able to get a lot more done if they were just given eminent domain over the routes that the coming railroads would be built on. This is not a justification or a condemnation of the whole concept of eminent domain. This is a view at what happens in the end…and the strange effects such an end of a railroad would have almost 30 years after the railroad was ripped up.

In Indiana, if an entity pulls out the eminent domain card to purchase property for some reason, like the building of a road or railroad, the entity that used the process doesn’t own the property in perpetuity. The railroad, for instance, owns the land until the railroad doesn’t exist anymore. In the case of abandoning a railroad, the property reverts to the person or persons that would have had legal title to that land today…from deeds processed at the time of the eminent domain purchase.

This was one of the sticking points when it came to the Nickel Plate through Fishers and Noblesville. If the tracks were straight up abandoned, the cities of Fishers and Noblesville, as well as Hamilton County, would have to purchase the land from all of the individual landowners that have crept up along side the railroad. You might be asking “how does that work when the railroad was built through farm fields?” Well, when any property is subdivided in Indiana, the lines of that subdivision are marked very well in the description of the property. The property deeds do make an allowance for the railroad running through the property…not on the edge of it.

Fishers and Noblesville got around this by something called “railbanking.” The railroad wasn’t “abandoned,” per se. It is just being ripped up. And in case it is ever needed again, rails can just be put back onto the right-of-way and rail service can begin again. I refuse to give my opinion as to whether that would ever happen…but legally, it can.

But what happens when the railroad is flat out abandoned. That is the subject of this entry into the annuls of Indiana Transportation History. The Pennsylvania Railroad, via the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway (the “Panhandle”), owned a railroad line connecting Indianapolis to Richmond, Columbus (Ohio), and Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania). It started life as part of the Terre Haute and Richmond, a route that would technically never be built. The railroad was built parallel to the National Road, in Marion County averaging about .1 to .15 miles south of Washington Street.

But that railroad was also abandoned in 1984 by the Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail). As such, most of the property reverted to the landowners on either side of the right-of-way. And this, in itself, has led to some interesting land issues when it comes to the Indianapolis Department of Parks & Recreation in their mission to create the Pennsy Trail from basically Emerson Avenue east to Cumberland, which currently has a section of trail called “Pennsy Trail.”

The City of Indianapolis announced publicly, I believe it was the 23rd or 24th of April, 2020, that Indy Parks is planning on completing the Pennsy Trail in two sections – one from German Church Road west to Post Road, and the other from Post Road west to Shortridge Road. It is the first section that got me to thinking about this entry.

At German Church Road, the old Pennsy right-of-way going east is being used by the driveway going to Meijer. The Cumberland version of the Pennsy Trail runs just south of the old track area. (This is marked on German Church Road by the hump that used to be the railroad tracks that still exists.) To the west of German Church Road, it is a private driveway to a residence that exists behind the WalMart on Washington Street. When the railroad existed, the farm property had a driveway connecting to Washington Street (currently being used as the entrance to the shopping areas located between the Steak ‘n’ Shake and Little Ceasar’s/Game Stop/Sprint).

When the WalMart was built, the railroad tracks were gone. But the driveway was still there. Expansion of the WalMart caused the driveway to be truncated…and the entrance to the property was routed along the old Pennsy right-of-way. Due to construction of residential neighborhoods south of the property, one including where this blog is written, the land in question finds itself with only one method of egress…and that has been purchased by the Parks & Recreation Department of the City of Indianapolis. Where the land owner is going to get access to this property is anyone’s guess. I am sure that it has already been worked out…but it can’t be through the WalMart property, as it sits four or more feet below the level of the Pennsy trail, and the distance is very short between the two.

Another section of the Pennsy right-of-way that has become part of the Indy Parks land acquisitions is from Mitthoeffer Road east. (Mitthoeffer is one mile west of German Church…which is one mile west of the Hancock-Marion County line.) The old right-of-way was turned into a city street called “Hidden Meadow Lane.” There are four houses that only have access to the outside world via that Hidden Meadow Lane. I realize that it will be easier to build the trail, and still have access to these properties with it being a city street. But this is another one of those things that the city will have to deal with in building a multi-use trail almost 30 years after the fact.

But problems like these have been encountered, and solved, before. In Cumberland, there the Pennsy Trail exists from German Church Road to Hancock County Road 600W (roughly three miles), the trail was built around a lumber company that had come along and the old right-of-way ran, literally, right down the middle of the property. The trail was built around that property, to pick up on the old right-of-way on the east side of Muessing Road.

Another section of the old Pennsy right-of-way that had to be solved was the area just west of Greenfield. Eli Lilly owned a campus just east of Meridian Road and Main Street (National Road). The front yard of the complex was north of the old Pennsylvania Railroad. Although the old property lines of the railroad can still be seen on modern maps, the current owners of the property, Covance, would not allow Greenfield’s section of the Pennsy Trail to disect their land – so it was built along Main Street for less than half a mile before it returns to the original right-of-way.

While minds greater than mine will figure all of this out, it brought to my mind what could happen in the case of muddled land deeds, historic right-of-ways, and what would happen when someone wanted to use the old right-of-way again. As an aside, the property owners west to east of the sections from Shortridge Road to Post Road are: Indy Parks (Shortridge to Franklin) and Consolidated Rail Corporation (Franklin to Post). Conrail (or actually, I guess, CSX) owns this property because it is still listed as part of the back end of Hawthorne Yards, where the old Pennsylvania Railroad tower “THORNE” stood just east of Franklin Road and the tracks separated, one heading southwest to Hawthorne Yards, and the other continuing west to downtown Indianapolis. If needed, CSX could simply put the tracks back in to access the backside of the yards. This is still available because the tracks were never legally abandoned…just removed for maintenance reasons.

When the new state road numbers were assigned on 1 October 1926, there was a road that was to be added to the state highway system that connected Rochester to the Illinois-Indiana State Line west of Enos. That road was given the number SR 16, at least on maps. It was described at the time in a news release as “State Road 16 – A two section east-west road. One section runs directly west from Rochester through Winamac to the Illinois state line. The other runs east from Huntington to the Ohio line, east of Decatur, passing through Kingsland, Tocsin, Magley and Decatur. The ultimate hope is to effect another truck line across the state by joining these two sections.”

By 1929, the eastern section of SR 16 was added to the maps of Indiana. The western section was, as well, but not as SR 16. It was given the number SR 14. Well, sort of. SR 14 was the designation given to a road that connected Enos, on US 41, to Silver Lake on SR 15. The western terminus at the Illinois State Line, where it dumped into a county road on the Illinois side of the border, to Enos was still given the number SR 16. This changed in 1930, when that small section of SR 16 became SR 14.

The 1930/1931 Official Highway map still shows SR 14 ending at Silver Lake, but the map also shows an authorized addition to the highway system from Silver Lake to Fort Wayne, then northeast from Fort Wayne to Hicksville, Ohio. At the Fort Wayne end of the section to Silver Lake, this would correspond to Illinois Road (or, as it was first called, Illinois State Road). My goal is to find information about Illinois Road, other that what I have here, but information has been very sparse and hard to come by. The western end of SR 14 had been removed completely, according to the maps. SR 14 now started at SR 43, south of Medaryville.

The eastern end of SR 14, by 1932, started at the Ohio state line, north east of Fort Wayne, after coming from Hickville, Ohio. It then went through Fort Wayne, west on Illinois Road, and ended at SR 43 south of Medaryville. The western section, starting at the Illinois state line west of Enos, ended at SR 53 south of Aix. The section between SR 53 and SR 43 would be listed as an authorized addition. A road that will be important later, SR 230, left Fort Wayne due east for the Ohio state line at Edgerton was added in 1932.

SR 14 would be potentially moved again, as it was removed from the Illinois state line to US 41 south of Enos, and from SR 55 to SR 53. However, there was an authorized addition to the highway system, connecting SR 14 to US 41 north of Enos, through Fair Oaks and Gifford, then curving southeastward to connect to SR 43 where the eastern section of the road connected south of Medaryville.

The following year, SR 14 would be returned to its 1932 alignment. Sort of. It is listed on the map as part of the state system, but not maintained by the state. But this is on the Indiana State Library copy, and it is hand drawn onto that map. I am not sure who did the drawing, or why. It is just there. It should be noted that the same map shows, hand drawn, the “proposed roads not in the dotted line system,” which included the SR 14 reroute shown on the 1933 map. Another road of import on the 1934 map should be mentioned here. The original eastern SR 16, that would be SR 16, was renumbered that year to US 224.

1935 showed SR 14 connecting ending at the state line road between Illinois and Indiana, traversing the entire state of Indiana, connecting to Ohio SR 18 at the state line on its way to Hicksville. In Fort Wayne, going west, it still used the old Illinois State Road, meaning the name was once again descriptive.

In 1940, with the expansion of SR 37 north of Indianapolis, the new state road would connect Indianapolis to Fort Wayne, and then towards Hicksville, Ohio, where it turned into Ohio SR 2 at the state line. Thus SR 14 northeast of Fort Wayne was made part of the new extended SR 37. But this is where the above mentioned SR 230 comes into the picture. SR 230 would be recommissioned as SR 14 at this point, still creating a SR 14 connecting Illinois to Ohio, but this time to Ohio state road 113 and Payne, Ohio.

The next change made in the road would be the removal of the section from Enos westward to the Illinois state line in 1947. It should be noted that the 1947 map also shows SR 14 on the State Line Road for one mile, where it connected to a county road in Illinois. Again, this only lasted for one year, as that section of SR 14 was removed for good from the state highway system. 1979 showed the state removing SR 14 between Interstate 69 west of Fort Wayne and New Haven, east of the city. The section from New Haven east to the Ohio State line would be removed from the state highway system in 1994

At one point, the road that is now SR 14 was planned to be a cross state highway, known as SR 16. It made the cross-state designation, but it didn’t last long and it wasn’t as SR 16. Today, the road connects US 41 at Enos to west of Fort Wayne, through Kents, Parr, Lweiston, Winamac, Rochester, Athens, Akron, Silver Lake, and South Whitley.