In the interurban era, tracks radiated from Indianapolis in almost all directions. All of the county seats of towns surrounding Marion County were connected not only via steam railroads, but electric traction, as well. Today, I want to look at an interurban line that paralleled the Michigan Road, and the Big Four Lafayette line, on its way to Lebanon.

Two companies were originally chartered to accomplish this. One was the Indianapolis & Lebanon (I&L) Traction Company. This company filed articles of incorporation on 22 February 1901. The plan was to possibly extend the line to be built by this company to Frankfort and Lafayette. The other was the Indianapolis, Lebanon & Frankfort (IL&F) Traction Company. Articles of incorporation of this line would be filed on 14 February 1902. The second company actually completed their survey first, having been completed on 25 March 1902. The main difference between the two was the destination of the lines. The former would connect to Lafayette. The latter would end in Crawfordsville.

On 6 December 1900, the Boone County Commissioners approved the county’s portion of the I&L franchise. The company was to use the Frankfort Road north of Lebanon, the Lafayette Pike south of Lebanon, with the route connecting to Whitestown and Zionsville. Into Marion County, it would connect those towns to Augusta.

Building into Lebanon was unique when it came to towns along this route. In February 1902, the Lebanon city council approved a 35 year lease in the city. This lease was dependent upon the payment of a fee of $8,000. No other town along the route would require such a payment. A little over a month later, the Lebanon city council would approve the franchise rights to both companies.

The building of a bridge by the IL&F in 1903 also led to some problems for the company. An injunction by the Marion County Board of Commissioners was filed, and heard in Marion Superior Court. The injunction was issued by the Commissioners because the company started building a bridge across a deep trench on the Meyers Free Gravel Road near the intersection of the Michigan Road, without the permission of the Board. (Meyers Free Gravel Road would change its name later to Cold Spring Road.) To add insult to injury, attorney William A. Van Buren filed a suit against both Marion County and the IL&F for making his trip to his office in the city much longer due to bridge being mid-construction. He claimed $200 in damages and requested that the bridge either be finished or removed as soon as possible.

Court filings in September 1903 saw the I&L changing its name to Indianapolis & Northwestern (I&NW) Traction Company. The same month saw the completion of the line to Frankfort, with the company stating that branch lines to Crawfordsville and Lafayette would be completed by 1 December of the same year.

In addition to the other lines mentioned above, the Lebanon & Thorntown connected the two title towns. That company was started shortly after plans for the other two were in place. The Lebanon & Thorntown was authorized to abandon the line, with five days notice, with an order from the Public Service Commission, anytime between 20 August and 20 September 1926. While the line was an independent company, it owed the Terre Haute, Indianapolis & Eastern for repairs and electric power for a total of four years. In the 21 years of its existence, not a single dividend had been paid on the stock.

In 1930, the I&NW, with all of the other lines owned as the Terre Haute, Indianapolis & Eastern, would be placed in receivership. It was announced in newspapers starting after 15 December 1931, that the State of Indiana had authorized the sale of “all of the property of every kind, character and description of said Indianapolis & Northwestern Traction Company, including all property and assets (except cash) in the possession or under the control of the undersigned receiver.” Not only did it include the property, there was also the possibility of injury and damage claims, income taxes from 1922 to 1929, and bonds secured by the mortgage of the road issued 2 March 1903 to be included in the payments made by the new owner. The sale of the property was to occur even though the line itself had been abandoned.

During the Great Depression, following the stock market crash of October 1929, the voters of the United States decided to head in a new direction when it came to leadership in Washington, DC. This led, in 1932, to the election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt who promised to get the nation back on track economically using the power of the Federal government. That, in turn, led to many programs designed to pump money into local economies. One of those programs was the Public Works Administration, or PWA. Through the PWA, quite a bit of infrastructure was financed throughout the country. Road projects were high on that list.

I already covered some of those projects from 1933 in Marion County (see 1933: Public Works Road Projects of Marion County, Part I and 1933: Public Works Road Projects of Marion County, Part II). But there were projects all over the state that were under the PWA umbrella. I would like to focus on some of those today.

In Spring 1934, 75 men were hired to perform work on both US 40 and US 27 in the Richmond area. The majority of those hired, 50 to be exact, were to work on US 40. The rest for US 27, although the Richmond Item of 23 March 1934 lists that road as Indiana 27. (For an explanation of that, see US Highways: They are actually State Roads.) Maintenance and widening of the berms were part of this project that was supposed to last all summer. Payroll was to be covered by both state and Federal funding.

Another project, announced in October 1935, concerned the relocation of SR 44 between Shelbyville and Rushville. SR 44 was a road that was full of turns, having followed county roads already in place when it was created. Bids for grading the new route, which would run along the south side of the Pennsylvania Railroad connecting the two cities, started that October. It would consist of two project areas, running from the edge of the two cities to a point 1/2 mile east of Manilla. Wages on the Shelby County project would be from 37.5 to 54 cents. The Rush County project would have a pay scale between 35 and 49 cents.

Work on SR 13 in Hamilton County was also a project for the PWA. At that time, SR 13 through Hamilton County followed the Allisonville Road (old SR 37) to north of Noblesville, then the SR 37 and SR 213 corridor to the Hamilton-Tipton County line. Unfortunately, what made this project worthy of being listed in the Noblesville Ledger of 25 January 1934 is not the work being done, but the funds running out and the pending unemployment of the 300 men working on the project. Due to Federal project employment quotas, these men couldn’t just be moved to another project in the area.

While not a project, per se, it should be noted that not all of the money dispensed under the auspices of the PWA for road projects went to the state highway system. It is estimated that approximately 25% of the money went to more local road projects. This was especially true in Indiana with its relative lack of state maintained routes compared to other surrounding states. It should also be noted that PWA funds for these projects wasn’t just an outlay of cash from Washington. Most of the PWA funds were loans, in the form of purchased municipal bonds.

While I basically only covered three of the projects that were designed to pump money into the economy, there are many more that can be found if you look hard enough. The Great Depression era covered over a decade, but it wasn’t all malaise for that time. There was a recovery period followed by another downturn. World War II, and preparation for such, finally kicked the last vestiges of that financial horror out the door. And led Indiana to more and more road projects to be discussed later.

1878. A meeting in Bloomington is held to create a new railroad route from Cincinnati, across Indiana and Illinois to St. Louis. Subscriptions in the route collected at the meeting came to $30,000. The plan was named the Cincinnati & St. Louis Narrow Gauge Railroad. In Indiana, the new railroad would cross to Greensburg, Hope, Columbus, Nashville, Bloomington and Bloomfield. While the entire route was never built, it would lead to a route that connected at least three of those towns. That railroad became a Big Four Railway route called the Columbus, Hope & Greensburg.

By 1881, the scope of the railroad would be scaled back. At least in part. The first company that was created was the Hope & Greensburg, connecting the two title towns. Greensburg, the county seat of Decatur County, had already been connected to Cincinnati by a railroad from Indianapolis through Shelbyville. Hope, originally founded as Goshen (until it was realized that Indiana already had a town named Goshen), is a small town along the Shelbyville-Columbus State Road. (When I say small town, the population in 2010 was around 2100. That is reported as both .03% of the 2010 state population. It made Hope the 200th largest community in the state.)

It really wasn’t smooth sailing to get another railroad built across Indiana. The plan to create the route was actually voted down in Clay Township, Decatur County. This township borders Bartholomew County, and would be a major piece of land to have to go around. The Columbus Republic of 17 January 1881 reports that another vote was to be scheduled in Clay Township to allow the road. Part of proposition that the voters of the area shot down was that the governments of the townships would own stock in the company. Hawcreek Township, Bartholomew County, had already voted. It is not mentioned, but it is assumed, that Hawcreek Township, where Hope is located, had approved the line and purchase of its stock.

Opposition to the proposed railroad was very strong. The Columbus Republic of 20 January 1881 reported that the opposition was so strong that it “will probably prevent its construction if possible.” But the company wasn’t deterred. It was also reported that “the road, if built, will owe its existence to the ambition of President Ingalls, of the C. I. C. St. L. & C (Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis & Chicago) road. He has been entirely independent of both the Pennsylvania and B & O. combinations.” It was hoped that acquiring this little line from Greensburg to Columbus would be the first link in a line all the way to St. Louis, as the route was originally planned.

The meeting that was reported in the above newspaper elected officers and formally extended the line. The name was changed at that meeting from “Hope & Greensburg,” to “Columbus, Hope & Greensburg.” The corporate hierarchy was approved, having a board of directors consisting of 13 people. An official name change was to be filed with the Secretary of State as soon as possible after this meeting.

By 2 October 1883, the road would be open to Hope. This was celebrated by carrying 152 passengers from Hope to Cincinnati. The railroad would be opened to Columbus on 1 April 1884. This would allow trains to connect from Cincinnati, through Greensburg, to the Panhandle routes at Columbus. Businesses and passengers along the route had two choices to get to Indianapolis, one to Cincinnati, one to Louisville, and another connection toward Columbus, Ohio, via Shelbyville and Rushville. Express shipments would be handled by the American Express Company, with agents placed in stations along the route.

The Columbus, Hope & Greensburg, starting in May 1884, would be operated by the CICStL&C. Later, it would, as of 17 October 1891, be leased by the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis (Big Four) Railway. One of the railroads that created the ultimate Big Four Railway was the CICStL&C. The Interstate Commerce Commission reports issued around the time of World War I (as a result of the government takeover of all railroads in the United States) state that “the Big Four receives all revenues, maintains and operated property and pays taxes and interest on outstanding bonds of the lessor, but the records do not disclose any other consideration paid.”

Passenger service was on the decline along the line when the railway was going to meet with local officials about removing passenger service between Columbus and Greensburg. The Columbus Chamber of Commerce was against this move. 1928 saw a loss of some of the revenue for the small branch line as mail was moved from trains along the line to a star route bus. Passengers, at the time, had already been using a bus, operated by the railroad, to get between the title cities. The Big Four, as of 27 February 1928, was going to start running a combined passenger/freight train along the entire line. But that train would not carry any mail. The Star Route Bus would run from Burney twice a day to Columbus and once daily to Greensburg. The new passenger accommodations would be limited to one train daily: to Columbus in the morning; to Greensburg in the afternoon.

The decline of passengers along the Columbus, Hope & Greensburg would finally be complete on 13 December 1941. The Big Four removed the last passenger car from the route. It was a single passenger coach, in a freight consist, which would run daily. The Rushville Republican of 17 December 1941 reported that “passenger receipts of this tine branch had dwindled to as low as $2 a month.”

The Columbus end of the line would be moved in 1958 when the New York Central yards and its station at Third Street were purchased by the Cummins Engine Company. The New York Central had already put in place plans to move terminal facilities from the Third Street station to a new facility at 14th Street and Michigan Avenue. The plan for Cummins to buy the downtown Columbus property had been in negotiations for two years, according to the Greensburg Daily News of 19 March 1958.

The railroad, in its entirety, would be abandoned by the Penn Central by 1973. There was talk, in a letter to the editor of the Columbus Republic of 25 June 1971, that a “proposal for a public park along the to-be-abandoned Columbus-Hope railroad line” had been printed as a letter to the editor some nine days prior. Later, other things that were in play were affecting the possibility of using the right of way for other purposes. A proposed reservoir on Clifty Creek would have required the very expensive rerouting of SR 46 between Columbus and Greensburg. As pointed out in a letter to the editor in the Columbus Republic of 13 February 1973, “it seems to me the best solution would be to acquire the old abandoned railroad right of way that goes through Hope and Burney and on to Greensburg. This road bed could be made into an excellent 2-way state road by widening it by bulldozing a little off the top to make it a little wider.”

Between 1919 and 1950, the Indiana State Highway Commission was expanding, almost exponentially, as money would allow. I’ve already discussed roads like The Riley Highway, and The Minute Man Route, among others. Today, I would like to focus on little snippets found in newspapers that discuss state roads that would come to be. The proposals themselves will be mentioned. Some of the roads included, which seem like main roads that should have been on the short list of original state roads, are major roads today.

The Scott County Journal of 25 September 1929, reported that a highway booster meeting in New Washington was very interested in adding another state road to the list. “Considerable effort is being made by interested citizens to have the State Highway Commission take over this road in connection with the proposed State road extending from North Vernon south to Jeffersonville.” The effort is being made to get the road from Jeffersonville to Hanover, via Charleston made a state highway. Both of these roads would make it into the state system as of the 1933 Indiana Official State Highway Map as SR 3 (in the quote above) and SR 62.

Another road proposed, even before the Great Renumbering, was a road north out of Fort Wayne through Leo, Spencerville and St. Joe to end at Butler. The proposal was mentioned in the Garrett Clipper of 26 July 1926. The road would take some time to get into the system. The first section would be added after 1930, connecting US 27 toward Leo to Auburn, where the road would end at US 27 again. It was given the designation SR 1. The proposed route would be listed as an authorized addition in 1932. It would be added in time for the 1933 official map.

While this road was already in place with the Great Renumbering in 1926, the “proposed” part of this road would show up on the ISHC radar in 1944 as a post-war project. The proposal, according to the Columbus Herald of 13 September 1944, called for a new bridge across the White River at Second Street in Columbus. Also, “survey will be made soon for proposed state road between Columbus and Nashville announced by the State Highway Commission of Indiana.” This project would eliminate a number of turns and curves from the already existent route. This would also, potentially, eliminate some of the curves approaching the then current Second Street bridge.

As mentioned in the post “Road Trip 1926: SR 39,” there were two sections of that road. But on the Facebook Group version of this blog, I was asked about the third section of that route. That section runs southeast from Brownstown to SR 56. The Tribune (Seymour) of 14 September 1937 mentions that the proposed SR 39 would connect to US 31 near Henryville as a relief route for said US 31 for traffic coming north from Louisville. While the complete route was never built, it is provide potential relief using SR 56 to SR 39, thus using SR 135 north to Indianapolis.

Another proposed route, that would first appear on maps as SR 17 connected Kokomo to Logansport. This route, according to the Logansport Pharos-Tribune of 08 August 1933, would use the old interurban right-of-way between the two cities. That interurban route ran along side the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks that connected the same two points. It was proposed, and added to maps, to become SR 17 in the beginning. It appeared on the Official Highway Maps of 1937 and 1941 as such (but not the maps between those two years). When it was completed in 1941, for the 1942 Official Map, it had been redesignated US 35, which already connected the two cities via SR 22 and SR 29, the latter being truncated (albeit temporarily) at the Burlington junction of SR 22/SR 29/US 35.

These are but a few of the proposals for highways in Indiana over the years. I will be covering more of them in the future.

The addition of roads to the state highway system, over the years, had some very hard times. Some, like SR 9 and SR 44, were just monetary issues that the state had to be able to afford to maintain the road. Others, like the subject road, depended upon counties to make sure that the road would ultimately be accepted into the state system. The road in question was to become a northern SR 7.

1939. The Indiana State Highway Commission has decided to build a state road, to be numbered 7, from the National Road near Knightstown to Anderson, to enter that city along Columbus Avenue. The right-of-way was in place for Henry and Hancock Counties. Madison County was the lone holdout…but not for lack of trying. Due to lack of money.

Part of the requirement before the ISHC would place SR 7 through the area is that there be a 70 foot right-of-way. Most of the route had already been acquired. Madison County, with their 1940 budget already in place, had no money to purchase said right-of-way. But the majority of the problem, and hence the expense, was on Columbus Avenue between Anderson’s 38th Street and SR 67. As a residential street, most of the right-of-way was spoken for with that purpose. That would make acquiring it very expensive. Especially in terms of the financial situation of 1939.

The state was asked to narrow the road requirement in that section. The ISHC did have that authority. Since the area in question was in the jurisdiction of Madison County, and not Anderson, it would have been tricky…if only technically.

The new SR 7 would start at Ohio Avenue/SR 32 in downtown Anderson, follow Columbus Avenue south to US 36, east to the Knightstown Road at Emporia, then south, southeast and south to US 40 at Knightstown. This would place 22.5 miles of road into maintenance responsibility of the ISHC.

In 1941, the new state road appeared on Indiana official highway maps. But the designation SR 7 was replaced with the designation SR 109. But the routing, and destination, was a bit different than what it is today. Current SR 109 north from Knightstown was followed to CR 800S. Here the original state road turned west, then north on Grant City Road. At the junction of Grant City Road and current SR 109, the original route followed the current one. The current SR 109 turns north at Warrington. The one designated first actually stayed on Nashville Road to the Hancock-Madison County Line, where SR 109 ended abruptly. This was changed to more the current route from Warrington north through Madison County as of the 1942 Official Highway Map. It became official in July 1941.

SO the planned extension of SR 7 ended up becoming SR 109. And Madison County’s section was late to the party due to ISHC requirements and money issues.

In the early days of Indiana, there was no real system of roads. Most roads in the state were barely wide paths through the wilderness, hardly marked, and very rarely improved. Most of this came from the fact that traffic, at best, was light for distances longer than from farms to towns. But the government of Indiana realized very early that things would have to change when it came to transportation if the state were to grow.

One of the first, and longest lasting, ways to make this work was implemented in the law of the Indiana Territory in 1807. This created a system of “Road Supervisors,” a county office in charge of creating and maintaining a transportation system. This system relied on a “road tax.” But this tax wasn’t exactly what we would see it as today. It was more a forced labor system that would maintain roads in lieu of a road tax.

A quote at the time stated this: “There is probably no other feature in our road system which has so far served to maintain the low state of our American road-making as this ‘corvee,’ or forced-labor system on the highway.” This created a system where road maintenance was seen as a nuisance, and the concept of as little work as possible was the deal of the day.

In 1807, a law was passed that stated “all male persons of the age of twenty-one years and not exceeding fifty, who have resided thirty days in any township, of any county within this territory, and who are not a county charge, shall be liable yearly and every year, to do and perform any number of days’ work, not exceeding twelve, whenever the supervisor of the district in which he resides shall deem it necessary.”

This created a large number of road workers. It was also mentioned that if the person didn’t show up, or refuse to obey the instructions of the supervisor, or waste the day not performing the task assigned to him, that person would be fined 75 cents a day to be paid to the township supervisor. And if the worker asked of anything from travelers along the road, i.e. food, drink or toll, the worker would be fined $1 a day.

The territory of Indiana decided, in 1814, to change the age range to 16 to 50. This didn’t last long, and the lower age was returned to 21, where it remained until the road supervisor system was eliminated with the creation of the Indiana State Highway Commission in 1917.

The problem with this system came down to the fact that it didn’t lend itself well to any type of permanent improvement of roads. This work system created temporary repairs to keep them passable in certain seasons of the year.

Most of the argument against this system involved words like “forced labor” and “serfdom.” But it was in place for around a century to keep the state government out of the “road maintenance” business. Part of this would lead to the banning of state road maintenance responsibility in the 1851 Constitution of Indiana. That banning also led to problems when the Indiana State Highway Commission was initially formed in 1917. This constitutionality problem led to a recreation of the ISHC in 1919.

Indiana has been known as the “Crossroads of America” for a very long time. But what is less realized is that title was earned before there were that many good roads. Indiana was the crossroads of railroad companies. Looking at a map today, you’d be hard pressed to realize that. But you could go almost in the state by rail. Some say that it was because there were so many rail routes, it helped lead to the collapse of many railroad companies. A lot of these railroad companies were started with what was thought to be a good idea, but not enough traffic to support themselves. One such road was the Midland Route.

What would be named the Midland Route started on 3 July 1871 as the Anderson, Lebanon & St. Louis (AL&StL) Railway. As you can tell by the name, it would connect across northern central Indiana, creating a direct route to St. Louis without having to go through Indianapolis. As with what happened quite a bit with a railroad line at the time, the area where the AL&StL was built improved quite a bit by the new railroad. Unfortunately, the flip side of the same coin was that the railroad itself did not do well financially. Foreclosure started on 12 December 1878, and was completed 23 December 1881. It then gained a new name in the process: Cleveland, Indiana & St. Louis (CI&StL) Railway.

Before continuing, it should be mentioned that one of the early creations of the AL&StL was a town named after the shape created when the railroad crossed the old Pendleton State Road to the northwest. Samuel E. Busky, a railroad company director at the time, noted that the crossing of the road and railroad looked like a man’s coat lapel. Hence the name of that town.

The CI&StL didn’t do much better than the AL&StL before it. Less so, really. Three and a half years later, on 1 April 1885 was sold again at foreclosure. The person that acquired the route, Thomas C. Platt, did so with a cash outlay of $40,000. In July of that year, it would be reorganized, gaining the name, and nickname, that it would have for the rest of its existence: Midland Railway.

It was during this time that the Midland would be built to its original longest extent. Starting in Muncie, it would parallel the Bee Line of the Big Four to Anderson. From there, the road would turn more or less due west through Noblesville and Lebanon, then turn southwest through Advance and Ladoga, ending at Waveland.

In 1891, the stock of the company was purchased by another man, Chicago attorney Henry Crawford. The road would change name again, this time to the Chicago & South Eastern (C&SE) Railway. This occurred on 9 October 1891, and 11 days later, all of the Midland was conveyed to the new C&SE. During the time of the C&SE, the road was built even longer. Using trackage rights along the Terre Haute & Logansport (later part of the Vandalia/PRR Terre Haute to South Bend line), the Midland connected Waveland Junction, west of Waveland, to Sand Creek. From Sand Creek to Bridgeton, and from Carbon to Brazil, the C&SE built its own track. Between Bridgeton and Carbon, the railway leased the Fort Wayne, Terre Haute & Southwestern (FWTH&SW) (in 1892) to connect the two separate sections of track. The FWTH&SW was purchased by the C&SE in 1902.

On 1 September 1902, Henry Crawford sold his interest in the C&SE to both the Big Four Railway and the Pennsylvania Railroad. 16 March 1903 saw the final change of names of the railroad to the Central Indiana (CI) Railway. Three days later, operations of the route would be taken up by the Big Four/PRR owners. The plan was to use the route as a bypass of Indianapolis. It crossed several important lines of both companies: Bee Line (Big Four), Lafayette line (Big Four), St. Louis line (Big Four), Peoria & Eastern (Big Four), and Terre Haute line (Vandalia/PRR). It would later be crossed by the Indianapolis & Frankfort (PRR). Connections were also possible with the Baltimore & Ohio.

In the interurban age, residents of Ladoga would ride the CI to New Ross, along the Ben Hur route (Crawfordsville Traction), then ride the electric traction to Indianapolis. It would also serve as transportation for western Hamilton County students to go to Westfield High School.

Its use as a bypass would become a financial problem for the company. By the 1920’s, the Big Four/PRR started trying to abandon the entire route. This led to protests by local residents. On 14 September 1928, the company was given permission to abandon all but the section connecting Anderson and Advance, though the plan was to abandon the Advance to Lebanon section. The abandonment happened on 30 November 1928. The track that ran inside the city of Muncie would be sold to the Big Four.

The section from Advance to Lebanon would last until permission to scrap it came down from the Interstate Commerce Commission on 18 October 1943. Sixty days later, track gangs started ripping up the 8.27 mile section of railroad.

The Central Indiana would end up as part of the Penn Central in 1968. In 1974, the Penn Central was given permission to abandon the section from Westfield to Lebanon. In 1976, the line would be conveyed to Conrail. This is important in that when Conrail was created, it only had to take routes that it felt would be profitable or a good fit. There were many tracks in Indiana that had been part of the Penn Central that never made it to Conrail. This route was given the name of Westfield Secondary. But Conrail would change its mind with this route in 1982, when it was given permission to abandon the Westfield Secondary from Lebanon to Gadsden and from Lapel to Westfield.

Today, the remnants of the line, from Lapel to Anderson, is a shortlined railroad. The rest of the road, in sections, has become, or will become, a Rail Trail. In Westfield, it is called the Midland Trace Trail.

When the Michigan Road was being planned and surveyed, the plan was to connect the Ohio River at Madison (chosen as a result of a vote that ended up 11 for and 10 against) to a new town on the shore of Lake Michigan to be called Michigan City. Because of the sparseness of the settlement in Indiana at the time, the surveyors were given directions to connect Madison to Greensburg, Greensburg to Indianapolis, Indianapolis to Logansport, then Logansport to the Lake. Along the way, other towns were included as they were in the path between the two destinations.

Researchers have an advantage these days. There are sources online that allow researchers to have access to more information to the surveys of the Michigan Road than most topics in the transportation field. For instance, most of the information for this entry will be from one book: Development and Lands of Michigan Road.

The most confusing part of the surveys with the Michigan Road is the place where the counting starts. The town of Logansport is 102 miles, by way of the Michigan Road, from Lake Michigan and Michigan City. Those 102 miles are not counted from Michigan City, but north out of Logansport. South of Logansport, the mileage counting starts at 102 for the journey to Greensburg at mile 220. The last 46 miles are numbered from Madison at mile 1 to Greensburg at mile 46. This brings the total surveyed mileage to 266.

Another thing that should be mentioned at this point is how survey directions work. Most surveys are done in reference to due north and south. From there, directions are measured in degrees east and west of that true north/south. Hence, a 45 degree line to the west would be referenced as North, 45 degrees West. Also referenced is the measurement unit called a “rod.” A rod is 16.5 feet, or 1/320 of a mile.

There are two survey references to Michigan City in this source (page 15). At mile 102, the road is surveyed to aim in a direction that is described as north 53 degrees west for 108 roads, turning to 20 degrees west for 76 rods “to Edge of Lake.” This turn takes place at Washington Street in Michigan City.

In Carroll County, at mile 110, the survey is kept in what is probably the straightest line ever created in Indiana at the time. The survey turns to South, 19 degrees east. This line, with very few exceptions, is maintained to the crossing of Crooked Creek in Marion County near where Kessler Boulevard crosses Michigan Road. At Indianapolis, the road was to connect to the original mile square at the northwest corner (called the intersection of North and West Streets and Indiana Avenue), then follow Indiana Avenue to its end at Ohio Street. There, the Michigan Road turned east one block, south on Meridian Street to the Governor’s House on Circle Street. That ended the survey north of the town of Indianapolis.

From the Governor’s House, the Michigan Road would continue on Meridian Street to Washington Street. The survey would then follow Washington Street one mile, before turning South 71.5 degrees east along what is now Southeastern Avenue. To show the difference in length from the survey lines that separate Indiana’s land grants to the length of the survey of the Michigan Road, range lines are six miles apart. The turning of the Michigan Road from the National Road happens about one block west of a range line, in this case, Shelby Street south of the old B&O/PRR tracks. This is in mile 173. The next range line, which is now known as Franklin Road, is in mile 180.

Northwestern Shelby County and the Michigan Road was covered by me back in May 2019. Little need to go over that again. Suffice it to say that the road between the Marion-Shelby County Line and Shelbyville is pretty much a straight line, with an exception, mentioned in that May post, at Pleasant View. It’s in Shelbyville where things, according to the source that I shared, get a bit puzzling. The survey itself states that after crossing the Big Blue River (where SR 9 and Michigan Road meet north of Shelbyville), the road then connects to Public Square, then turns east on Washington Street to Noble Street. From here, the road travels south to Jackson Street then east again before turning to South 69 1/2 degrees east after having left the town. Jackson Street, today, is one block north of that is now SR 44 in Shelbyville, which follows Broadway. I have yet to find any sources to show how Jackson Street and Michigan Road directly connected. If you have further information, I would love to have it.

The next thing of note in the survey is the 215th Mile. The original survey for the Michigan Road in this section was done in 1828. However, there was a change made in 1833 in this section by William Polke. The change involved, actually, the Lawrenceburgh State Road that was established before the Michigan Road. The description is very complicated. But the change made the road nine rods shorter than the original Michigan Road survey. From there, the road continued to Greensburg, with no real route through the town mentioned.

Through Jefferson County, after climbing its way out of the Madison lowlands, the road was surveyed at North six degrees east, with little exception, to the town of Napoleon at mile 33. Here the Lawrenceburgh State Road is mentioned again, as it leaves Napoleon to the east at this point. From this point to the 46th mile, where the road meets the Greensburg plat, then another 10 rods to Greensburg’s Main Street, the Michigan and Lawrenceburg State Roads share the same trail. At Main Street in Greensburg, the last mention is that the Michigan Road bears west from where it enters the town.

Editor’s Note: This post marks the 250th such article posted to the Indiana Transportation History blog. Thank you all for your continued support.

At one point in the history of Indianapolis, street names were a strange collection of fits and starts. There were very few through streets in the city. Part of this was due to the fact that additions to the city were done without any consideration to making them fit in with the one next to it. This created a city of street names that ran through one neighborhood and ended. For instance, Dillon Street, located along a range line, would only run south from Michigan Avenue (Road) to Prospect Street. From there, the name changed to a shortened version of the turnpike name that ran south from what is now Fountain Square: Shelby Street (the turnpike was Shelbyville Road).

The first major change in street names occurred in 1895, as the city decided to try to bring some semblance of sanity to the street grid. Streets along the same line were given the same name. But that wasn’t all. Some of the names would change again later. Some were strangely added to other streets for no other reason than to create more confusion.

The first one I would like to focus on is Central Avenue. The current Central Avenue starts at roughly Tenth Street, aiming north through the city ending north of 64th Street at Riverview Drive. But in 1895, that street started at the 300 block of Pennsylvania Street (in 1897, that was changed to the 600 block), aiming northeast to Cherry (now 10th west of Central), then due north to the city limits. The previous name of the section from Pennsylvania to Cherry was Fort Wayne Avenue, originally part of the Fort Wayne State Road. It would later be renamed to, get this, Fort Wayne Avenue.

Another road that changed names back and forth would be Ashland Avenue. Several streets would be consolidated into what would be then known as Ash Avenue. Ashland Avenue and Sheridan Street would be changed to the new Ash Avenue name. This would be changed later to become Ashland Avenue.

Cornell Avenue also was a consolidation of streets. Alger, Forest, Greenwood, and Peru Streets all were merged to become Cornell, which before that time had existed from Massachusetts and Cherry north to Ninth (now 18th Street). There, Greenwood Street would go further north for several blocks to Bruce Street, which was a continuation of 15th Street (now 24th). Peru Street was south of Massachusetts Avenue, so named because it ran along side the Indianapolis & Peru Railroad, later the Lake Erie & Western, now known as the Nickle Plate.

Two of the most “famous” name changes that occurred at the time were those of two streets that were put in place by Alexander Ralston when he created the plat for the town of Indianapolis. Those streets, Mississippi Street and Tennessee Street were changed Senate and Capitol Avenues, respectively. The rumor was that city leaders were not impressed with the progress those two states were making after the Civil War when it came to civil rights. The council felt that there was no reason for them to be honored with street names in the Hoosier Capital. They were renamed to relate to their position in regards to the state house.

Other street names changed that year were Three Notch Road to Meridian Street, Beeler Street to Martindale Avenue, Brinkman Street to 17th Street (for an explanation of numbered streets in Indianapolis, and the massive change that happened, click here), Custer Street and Grand View Avenue to Bellefontaine, John Street to Dawson Avenue, Pendleton Avenue to Massachusetts Avenue, Sutherland Avenue to 17th Street, and Young Street to Olive Street.

The last name that I would like to focus on is another original plat name. The center of the original design for the town of Indianapolis called for a circular road with the Governor’s mansion in the middle. This was called Circle Street. In 1894, the name of that street was changed to Monument Place.

All of these name changes, as well as a list of all the streets in the city of Indianapolis at the time can be found in the 1895 Indianapolis City Directory starting on page 61. A complete collection of city directories is available at the IUPUI University Library online.

When the state highway system was expanded in 1920, original State Road 11 left Greenfield along the Pendleton-Grteenfield State Road. I have covered Pendleton, and its important location, in a previous post. Anyone looking at a map will notice that route being covered by what is now SR 9. The same reader will notice that SR 9 continues south of Greenfield, toward Shelbyville and Columbus. But that was not the case in 1920. Or even at the time of the Great Renumbering on 01 October 1926. It wouldn’t be until 1931 that SR 9 would be extended south of Greenfield. Before that, the road did have a name: The Riley Highway.

The original Riley Highway left Greenfield along Franklin Street, heading south toward Fountaintown. The highway itself was a collection of county roads that continued south through Shelbyville, Hope, and on south to Seymour. Through most of Shelby County, the road still has the name Riley Highway.

As early as December 1929, plan were underway to get the Riley Highway to be included in the 2,000 miles of roads that were to be taken over by the ISHC in 1930. “Paving of the Riley Highway from Greenfield to a point east of Columbus…is expected to materialize within the next few years.” So reported the Hancock Democrat of 05 December 1929, in a story that had been reprinted from the Shelby Democrat.

The original plan to extend SR 9 from Greenfield south was taken up by representatives of the towns of Fountaintown, Shelbyville and Hope. Those towns put together committees to petition the State Highway Commission to lengthen the then current SR 9 to at least Hope, a town on the Big Four Railway connecting Columbus to Greensburg. The meeting with the ISHC was planned for 20 August 1930.

The Greenfield Daily Reporter of 18 August 1930 reported that “it is estimated that between eighty and ninety per cent of the milage along this route, known as the Riley highway, has already been secured through these grants, which call for the moving back of all the fences to a distance thirty feet from the center of the road.” While Shelby County residents were all for this extension, there was “considerable amount of opposition had been encountered from residents along the Riley highway in Hancock county.” This caused the work of the extension of SR 9 to work on a more eastern route, one that connected to the then current SR 9 at US 40 west of the Hancock County Courthouse. This would leave Greenfield heading south, connecting to the Riley Highway about one mile north of Fountaintown.

The Riley Highway itself, originally, ran through four counties: Jackson, Bartholomew, Shelby and Hancock. According to the Columbus Republic of 16 July 1931, part of the issues brought up by the people trying to get the road added to the state highway system is the lack of state roads in some of those counties. Bartholomew, for instance, was 64th out of 92 in state mileage. Shelby County was 88th. The only counties that had less mileage than Shelby were smaller counties: Union, Fayette, Blackford, and Ohio. Jackson was 32nd and Hancock was 77th.

Up to this point, the most active people in getting the Riley Highway added to the state system were those of Shelby County. The only state roads in the entire county were US 52, which skirted the northern edge of the county and SR 29 (future US 421), the historic Michigan Road, that connected to Shelbyville. The people of the Bartholomew County town of Hope was also big in getting in on the potential new state road.

Disappointment was in play in 1931, when the ISHC added 374 miles to the state system without including the Riley Highway. (Edinburgh Daily Courier, 18 May 1931) The Riley Highway had been named a year prior as to be added to the state road system, but hadn’t been included in those roads taken over thus far in 1931. It was reported that both the Riley and the Minute Man Route would be among the next roads that were in consideration for inclusion. It was understood that the Riley Highway would be first in the list of inclusion in 1931, but was not taken in due to “financial concerns.”

The fight would finally come to an end in July 1931. “Riley Highway Now Part of State System” was the headline in the Hancock Democrat of 23 July 1931. The plan was for the state to ask Hancock, Shelby and Bartholomew Counties to give up the road in the fall of that year. Paving would be completed over the following two years. This would, when complete, make the Riley Highway the only north-south road in Indiana (at the time) to connect to US 40, US 52, SR 29 and SR 46. The route was still being determined by the ISHC, but it was believed that it would lead south from Greenfield along State Street, then along the Fountaintown Pike to the Riley Highway at Fountaintown. Paving work would begin in September 1931.

In the early 1960’s, the Indianapolis Airport Authority decided to build a secondary airport. Later, in the late 1960’s, it was decided that a location in northwestern Hancock County would be chosen. The land, containing 3,600 acres, had been the site of the Kingen Gun Club. The land was bordered by Hancock County Road 600N, County Road 400W, County Road 600W, and the Penn Central Railroad. It would later become Mount Comfort Airport, but not in the time frame originally planned.

The idea for Mount Comfort Airport was to relieve light plane traffic at Weir Cook Airport. Studies for the potential secondary airport began in 1962. The Indianapolis Airport Authority had issued a playbook, called the “Secondary Airport Study, Site Selection and Planning Criteria,” in November 1967. In March 1968, the Indianapolis Airport Authority was in the planning stages of issuing $1.25 million in bonds to buy 887 acres of Hancock County farmland. (Greenfield Daily Reporter, 5 March 1968) 40 local residents showed up to protest the location of the airport terminal near Mount Comfort. This was not the first protest of the location. The previous month, 100 residents traveled to Greenfield to appear before the Hancock County Planning Commission. Nothing occurred at that meeting because no discussions of the airport would be held at that council meeting.

Three days later, also in the Greenfield newspaper, a letter that had been mailed to residents of Mount Comfort concerning the land decision was published. (Greenfield Daily Reporter, 8 March 1968) The land chosen was that of the Kingen Gun Club, spanning the above mentioned 3,600 acres. (At the time, Weir Cook Airport was only 2,200 acres in size.) It is estimated that the proposed airport be able to handle, and house, between 500 and 1000 privately owned aircraft. Mr. G. Edwin Petro, manager of Weir Cook Airport, believed that 80 percent of the aircraft using the field would be business owned.

The Airport Authority planned a 6,000 foot southwest to northeast runway, with the possibility to expand it to 7,000 feet. A secondary (cross-wind) runway of 5,100 feet was also in the plan. Hangar facilities for 500-1000 aircraft, three fixed base operator lease plots, an executive terminal building and car parking area were to be built with the new facility.

In addition to the fact that there was a large amount of land, relatively flat, located at Mount Comfort, there was another factor in play for this location. Interstate 70, which had just been completed through western Hancock County, only had two exits in the entire county: one at SR 9, and one at Mount Comfort. Complaints were hot and heavy in the newspapers in February 1969 about the condition of Mount Comfort Road, left barely passable in the area around the I-70 interchange. But then, so were complaints about fixing said road. Locals were both protesting the road conditions left by the construction equipment and the fact that the state, with federal money, wanted to fix the road with one that had a 100 foot right-of-way. Then federal money dried up for the project.

The Indianapolis Star of 7 November 1969 reported that things concerning the new secondary airport had taken a bad turn. “Construction of a much-needed $3.5 million secondary airport at Mount Comfort in Hancock County has been delayed indefinately because of lack of Federal funds, the president of the Indianapolis Airport Authority said yesterday.” The setback was expected to delay the airport construction for at least a year. The plan was to have the airport active by late 1970.

The next reference to the proposed Mount Comfort Airport would be shown in the Indianapolis Star with the headline “Mount Comfort Airport Work May Begin Soon.” This was on page 26 of the 3 May 1973 issue. This would be four years after construction was to start. The Indianapolis Airport Authority made sure to point out that the airport was NOT a second Weir Cook (soon to be Indianapolis International), but one for business and industrial aircraft. Plans, according to the subject article, was for the Mount Comfort Airport to be completed around 1990.

The airport would finally open for air traffic on 16 November 1977. (Indianapolis Star, 15 November 1977) The first phase construction would start on 27 October 1976. It was a scaled down version of the original plan at first. Two runways, the main of 6,000 feet and a crosswind runway of 3,900 feet, would be of sod. There would also be a 3,900 foot concrete runway, 150 feet wide, beside the main 6,000 foot sod runway. Both would be available for use the following spring. While the acreage of the facility would be 1,200, up from the almost 900 originally planned. The first phase was financed, in part, using a $5.7 million grant from the Federal Aviation Administration. The second phase of construction, as yet unscheduled, would see the main runway paved. The final third phase would include building another runway.

When the airport opened, not only did it have a short runway (too short for use by most private jet aircraft), the hangar facilities were provided by two hand-me-down 110 by 200 foot buildings from Grissom Air Force Base. In 1979, the 3,900 foot runway was fully paved to 5,500 feet. November 1981 finally saw the addition of full instrument landing capability.

Further newspaper articles about the airport report that the 6,000 foot runway was only paved for 5,500 feet. The secondary runway of 3,900 feet was paved as such. The airport, in 2010, would cover 1,800 acres. Studies showed that, at that time, with the increase of traffic at what would soon become Indianapolis Regional Airport, the facility should plan on adding a third runway to accommodate that traffic. (Indianapolis Star, 19 June 2010)

One of the most historic interchanges in the state of Indiana is the cloverleaf at Washington Street and Shadeland Avenue on the east side of Marion County. It was the first such interchange in the county…and as such was called “the Cloverleaf” for years. When it was completed in 1956, the Indiana State Highway Commission had built it to become part of the circular highway bypass of Indianapolis. Washington Street, at that time, was US 40, and Shadeland Avenue had been built as SR 100. (The history of SR 100 was covered here.)

Construction on the above mentioned interchange started in 1954. At the time, SR 100 (the Shadeland Avenue leg) ended at Washington Street. It had just been completed to that point in the previous several years. The road was built to be part of a complete bypass of Indianapolis. And as such, it started doing its job too well. Traffic along both roads was getting rather busy. It was then decided to reconstruct the interchange, which at the time had been a traffic signal. The plan was for the cloverleaf that is still there to this day.

But this wasn’t the only planned cloverleaf interchange. SR 100 on the west side of Marion County was High School Road. The most direct route from downtown Indianapolis to the Indianapolis Municipal Airport was Washington Street to High School Road and south to the airport. The original plan for SR 100 was to use High School Road, Thompson Road, Shadeland Avenue and 82/86th Street as a complete loop around the city. While this was never competed (the construction of I-465 started in 1960, and replaced SR 100 plans), the interchange at High School and Washington was going to be an important part of the plan.

(As an aside, the initial contracts for the construction of I-465 were actually issued by the state as part of SR 100. In the beginning, both numbers were used to refer to the highway, especially on the west side of the city.)

The image above shows the official notification of the contract letting for Washington Street/US 40 exit at I-465. These would be published in newspapers statewide. This one came from an Indianapolis newspaper on 20 October 1959. Although the contract was numbered as part of I-465, the contract actually calls for construction of the SR 100 west leg.

But the planning for the cloverleaf started way back in 1954. To the extent that houses were moved for the building of the interchange. Although, it is noted in the image below from the Indianapolis News of 15 December 1954, that the planning was incomplete. The plans for the highway hadn’t even been laid down at the time. It is important to remember that the plans for the Indianapolis Bypass, as SR 100, were started before the Interstate system had been created.

With the signing, by President Eisenhower, of the law in 1956 that created what would become the interstate system, the planning of SR 100 would be moved from one type of road to another. Traffic through the area would justify the expense of building a controlled access highway around the city.

As it turned out, the matching cloverleafs on US 40 at SR 100 would end up not being completed. The east side interchange would become a landmark. The west side leg of SR 100 dropped off the face of the earth when I-465 became to preferred bypass. And hence, the money spent to move the house pictured below would, in the end, been for naught.

Very soon after the Great Renumbering, the Indiana State Highway Commission started on plans to expand and bypass several of the new United States highways through the state. The earliest of these were plans for US 30, US 31 and US 40. Both US 31 and US 40 had quickly become some of the busiest highways in the state, connecting the capital city with surrounding states directly. The US 40 plan was to expand the road to two dual lanes with a center median. However, this ran into problems when it came to towns along the way.

It wouldn’t be until the early 1930’s that the ISHC would be allowed to maintain state roads that used local streets. By 1935, plans for US 40 were made for Cambridge City, in Wayne County. The state owned the road through the town. At the time, the US 40 pavement through the town consisted of nine foot wide hard surface on each side of the interurban tracks that ran through the middle of the street from College Street to the east corporation line. The ISHC then planned to add dirt berms and open ditches on each side of the road. (Source: Cambridge City Tribune, 17 October 1935)

This did not sit well with citizens in the area. Petitions were passed around to have the ISHC reconsider this plan that would not fix the headaches caused by bottle necks in the area. It was decided by the ISHC at the beginning of that week, that the US 40 rebuild would be full width in concrete with curbs and gutters. This was much appreciated by the citizens.

But the newspaper decided it was time to take on the city government to further improve the road. Yes, gutters and curbs would be great…but what about the safety of pedestrians in the town? It was time, the newspaper editorial staff opined, that sidewalks be built by the town for that purpose. “There are no better building sites on state road 40 between Indianapolis and Richmond than right at these locations where there are no sidewalks.”

The newspaper made the case for four foot wide sidewalks adjoining the curb. The case was made that with sidewalks, people would actually stop in Cambridge City. The argument was “dud you ever go into a strange town about meal time and ask for a good place to eat and some one told you the hotel across the street is the best place in town? You step into the dining room – it’s gloomy, table cloths dirty and the cream pitcher on the table had a swarm of flies around it? I’ll go to the next time, where I’m acquainted.”

The writer also pointed out that this was the duty of Cambridge City, not that of the state highway commission or the Federal government.

The planned expansion of US 40 would be completed the following year. The next mention of US 40 in the town would be in 1948, when the ISHC announced that Cambridge City would receive two traffic signal installations: one at Main Street (US 40) and Center Street (SR 1), and one at Main Street and Green Street.

The Indianapolis & Danville Traction Company. Routes between Indianapolis and Danville had already been in place before the complete opening of this traction line on 31 August 1906. The Big Four Railway had connected to the town as part of the Indianapolis & St. Louis Railroad, a company formed in 1867. The Rockville State Road (future PPOO, and US 36) and the Danville State Road (a little known route, even to the locals) also connected the the two cities. But electric traction fever had hit Indiana…and hard. Really hard.

The original plan for this line wasn’t to connect Indianapolis to Danville. The plan was to connect Indianapolis to Rockville, via Danville. The Indianapolis, Danville & Rockville ID&R) Traction Company was officially incorporated in January 1903 at Indianapolis. The ID&R sent men into the countryside of Putnam and Hendricks Counties in March 1903 to purchase private property for the right-of-way. (Indianapolis News, 27 March 1903) “Surveyors have gone over the route from Indianapolis to Rockville, taking along a level and establishing grades. The road follows the Rockville pike closely from Indianapolis for a distance of sixty mile, touching the towns of Danville, Bainbridge, Morton, Hollandsburg, Bellmore and Rockville.” The plan of the company is to acquire franchise rights in the towns before building would commence. The officers of the company, when first put together, were Everett Wagner (Indianapolis, President), J. W. Ader (Danville, Vice President), J. W. Trotter (Danville, Secretary), and W. C. Osborne (Danville, Treasurer).

Also mentioned in that article was the fact that the ID&R had already made arrangements with the Indianapolis & Western for both companies to both construct and use the tracks. The I&W would use the section between Indianapolis and Danville as a jumping off point to continue their plan to connect to Greencastle and Brazil. The I&W later decided to put its Danville plans on hold to go back to building its line through Plainfield.

By July 1903, it was reported that almost the entire right-of-way was acquired along the route all the way to Rockville. On 29 July of that same year, the company had filed for franchise rights to build over and along the Rockville Gravel Road in western Marion County.

An incorporation document for the Indianapolis and Danville Traction company was filed on 09 January 1904. The original planned issue of capital stock was $100,000. However, with the incorporation that day, it was increased to $700,000 so that construction could continue. The construction would had already started, as reported in the Indianapolis Star of 14 November 1903. “The gangs of men have gone into winter quarters and will work steadily until spring.” The goal of the company officials was to have the line built to Danville by 01 July 1904, “unless some unforeseen obstacle arises.” (Indianapolis News, 01 March 1904) All of the heavy grading was complete, and most of the needed bridges were ready to be swung into place. “The expansion to Rockville, Ind., will begin after the Danville division is completed.”

The arrival of the first train along the entire line (to Danville at that point), according to the Muncie Evening Press of 31 August 1906, was that morning. By this time, the company had already been sold twice. The original owners listed above sold it to a syndicate called the Tucker-Anthony Syndicate. This was sold to a syndicate represented by Hugh McGowan in Indiana. The purchase by McGowan occurred after the previous owner failed, by a year, to complete the Danville section in time. This led to the canceling of both the Rockville and Greencastle/Brazil extensions. It would be almost a year later that, as reported in the Indianapolis Star of 05 July 1907, hourly service would be commenced along the line. Trains would leave Indianapolis starting at 0500 and every hour until 1900 (7 pm). The last two cars would leave the city at 2100 (9 pm) and 2330 (11:30 pm).

The line, when completed, would consist of 19.8 miles connecting the Indianapolis Traction Terminal to “downtown” Danville. Most stops along the line were numbered, but those were rather strange at times. For instance, there were “half stops” after six, 11, 15, 16 and the last numbered stop, 22. Then there were named stops between the numbered ones. (Not unusual. The most well known interurban stops today were along the Greenwood line, with the road names being the stops. But Stop 9 was at Banta Road [1/2 mile north of Southport], and Stop 10 is 1/2 mile south of Southport. Southport WAS a stop…but not a numbered one.) Those named stops included Whitcomb, State Farm, White Lick, Tremont Gardens, Taylors, Griswold, Huron, Avon, Rockwood, Gale, Underwood, Hadley’s and Danville. The Danville line crossed into Hendricks County at Stop 9, nine miles from the Traction Terminal.

With the purchase of the Danville Traction by those represented by Hugh McGowan, in addition to other properties owned by the same syndicate, the Terre Haute, Indianapolis & Eastern was created. In addition to the Danville line, the Plainfield line (extended to Terre Haute), the Martinsville line, the Lebanon line, the Crawfordsville line and the Indianapolis & Eastern (connecting to Richmond) all came under the same umbrella. In addition to the above companies, Hugh J. McGowan was instrumental in the building of the Indianapolis Traction Terminal, reorganizing and forming the Indianapolis Street Railway Company, and forming the Indianapolis Traction & Terminal Company, which ended up leasing the Indianapolis Street Railways.

A report in the Indianapolis Star of 25 June 1907 caught my interest for this article. To give you an idea of how much power would be used to keep the interurban running, it was reported that P. H. Zipp, the Avon substation foreman, avoided death even though he fell into a supply wire carrying 33,000 volts of electricity. Apparently, what kept the man from being killed is that he fell through the wires to the floor below without getting the full brunt of what could have been fatal. His head and his face came in contact with the wires in question. His face and head were badly burned, and he did suffer from weakness due to the shock. But his doctor stated that he would recover.

Disaster struck the line, and the town of Danville, on 13 June 1909. Tornadoes and heavy rains struck the town that afternoon, leaving Danville, according to the Indianapolis Star of 14 June 1909, “cut off from all telephone or telegraph communication with the outside world, and cars on the Indianapolis & Danville traction line did not run between the hours of 4 and 10 p. m. on account of washouts.” Hardscrabble, a traction station four miles east of Danville, “was in the center of the storm and suffered considerable damage.”

Weather would be a concern for all transport facilities in March 1913. The floods spread all across Indiana, and most of page 11 of the Indianapolis News of 25 March 1913, covered flood damage all over the state. The section that relates to this article reports that no more cars would run along the Danville line after the 10 a.m. train due to high water. The floods of 1913 will be covered in a later post. Suffice it to say, those floods were extremely dangerous and extremely damaging.

“Improved highways, major busses and private automobiles joined yesterday sounding the death knell for another Indiana interurban line.” This was the first paragraph of an article in the Indianapolis Star of 06 August 1930. “Petition for abandonment of the Indianapolis to Danville line of the Terre Haute, Indianapolis & Eastern Traction Company was filed with the public service commission by Elmer W. Stout, president of the Fletcher American National bank and receiver for the traction line.” Part of the petition showed that the line had only shown a profit, in the last few years, in 1920, 1921, and 1927. Authority to abandon the line was given to Mr. Stout in September 1930, with traction division traffic to cease on 31 October 1930. The old right-of-way would be mentioned in newspaper articles after its abandonment for less than a decade as a location reference for those stories. But even that would stop. And the Indianapolis-Danville Traction Company quietly faded away with very little fanfare.

Back in September, 2019, when I started posting about late 19th Century bicycling in and around Indianapolis, it started with an article about Bicycling the Michigan Road. That covered from Indianapolis north toward Augusta. But anyone who has been around here for a while knows that Indianapolis is the middle point on the Michigan Road. So today, we are aiming southeast along the old road towards New Bethel… errr… Wanamaker. (There is a history article there that is beyond the scope of this blog…but I’ve been thinking about that.)

The Indianapolis News of 21 March 1896 covered this section of the old road as a return trip that I wrote about when I wrote Bicycling the Shelbyville Pike. The difference in this instance is that instead of the travel back to the city, like the Bicycling the Madison Road was for the Bicycling the Three Notch Road, this article covered the way out to New Bethel (I will be using New Bethel instead of Wanamaker due to the fact that was used in the article.) As a matter of fact, the article mentions that “between New Bethel and the city are over a dozen good country roads, which will be in a short time passable for the wheel.”

The article continues “these dirt roads during the summer months are really pleasanter for the wheelmen than the Michigan road, which is rarely in good condition.” The reporter states that this was more due to the amount of traffic on the road than anything else.

“The Michigan road runs into Washington street near Pine, just a mile east of Pennsylvania street.” This is still the location of the connection, although it has been moved a bit to the east to make the angle of intersection a little better. The condition of the road between this starting point and the Belt Railroad was bad. The News noted that “it will not be used much by riders.” A quarter of a mile east of the Belt Railroad, a road connects the Michigan Road, through Stafford, to the Brookville and Irvington (National) Turnpikes. (Stafford is a neighborhood bordered by English Avenue, the Belt Railway, the Pennsylvania/B&O tracks and Sherman Drive. One of its streets connects, now, directly to the Brookville Road. Check here for when it didn’t.) It is recommended that riders follow that route. That route, by the time of this article, had acquired its current name: Sherman Drive. The National Road is listed as being one of the best into the city.

Unfortunately, the News article is so down on the Michigan Road that it covers a bunch of other routes into the city. Going out the Shelbyville Pike to Five Points, to Acton, and north to the Michigan Road back to the city is a 32 mile trip. It is mentioned many times in the article that the old road was in very bad shape. Due to this, the article mentions very little else about the Michigan Road, but recommends leaving New Bethel to the northeast to connect to the Senour Gravel Road, which would allow the rider to come back to the city via the Brookville Road.