Greensburg

On 31 December 1821, the Indiana General Assembly created a new county from lands that were part of the unorganized Delaware County. The county would be made official on 4 March 1822. That county would be named after United States Naval Commodore Stephen Decatur. Also in 1822, Thomas Hendricks founded a town near the center of the county. He named it after his wife’s home town in Pennsylvania: Greensburgh. It would become the county seat of Decatur County in July of the same year.

Greensburgh (spelling of the town’s name until 1894) would become a central point with transportation facilities that would connect it with the rest of the nation. The first big one, however, was a state road. The Michigan Road was built through the town, connecting Madison on the Ohio River to Shelbyville and Indianapolis on its way to Lake Michigan.

Several more state roads were built to the town around the same time. Roads were built to Columbus, Vernon, Rushville and Batesville. State roads at the time were paid for by the state, then turned over to the county for maintenance. This would give Greensburg connections to most of the state.

In 1853, the Lawrenceburg and Upper Mississippi Railroad was built through the town. The stretch from Indianapolis to Lawrenceburg, 90 miles of track, opened in 1853. At the end of that year, the company would change its name to the Indianapolis & Cincinnati Railroad. 14 years later, in 1867, the I&C was consolidated with the Lafayette & Indianapolis to create the Indianapolis, Cincinnati & Lafayette Railway.

It would be early in the 20th Century when the next transportation system connected to Greensburg. The Indianapolis, Shelbyville & Southeastern Traction Company would terminate in the city. This company would last until 1931.

The Auto Trail era brought three trails to the city: the Terre Haute, Columbus Cincinnati Highway; the Michigan Road; and the Tip Top Trail. The first two roads are self-explanatory. The Tip Top Trail would leave Greensburg toward Rushville and New Castle. More information on this highway is available in the post “Tip Top Trail.”

When the original batch of numbered state roads started appearing in 1919, Greensburg was included on two of the new state roads. One was SR 6, which was the Michigan Road through the area. The other was SR 36, which connected Greensburg to the National Road near Dunreith. By 1923, the THC&C Highway was added to the state road system from Greensburg to Lawrenceburg as SR 53.

With the Great Renumbering, Greensburg found itself on SR 3, SR 29, and SR 46. SR 3 started at Greensburg and worked its way north along the SR 36 corridor. Later, SR 3 would be extended southward toward Vernon. SR 29 would become US 421 in 1951. In the early 1960’s, another facility was added to the city, or at least close to it, when Interstate 74 was built.

Towns of Pike Township, Marion County

As I have covered much of Marion County when it comes to the little towns that have crept up due to the transportation facilities in Pike Township. For all intents and purposes, there really are only three places that could be mentioned here: Augusta; New Augusta; and Traders Point.

Let’s start with Augusta. This town was created along the Michigan Road in 1832. It had been platted by David G. Boardman. Naming of the town has never been determined with any certainty. But it would lead to the creation of the Augusta Gravel Road Company, a toll road using the old Michigan Road right-of-way.

The original plan of the town included basically two blocks paralleling the Michigan Road centered on what was called Meridian Street (now 77th Street). The backing streets that were parallel to the Michigan Road were called Spring St. (now Spring Lane) and Parallel Street.

The southern most street of the original plat was Walnut Street. This, today, is called 76th Street. The cemetery shown in the map image to the left is still there. It is located on the curve of 76th Street as it leaves the town itself.

The town of Augusta grew slowly, providing services to local residents and travelers along the Michigan Road. Stagnation occurred when the Indianapolis & Lafayette Railroad was built through the area, located about a mile or so west of the town. This would create the second town I want to cover.

The Indianapolis & Lafayette Railroad built, in 1852, what would be called by the railroad “Augusta Station.” It would be the closest location to the town of Augusta above. The station was located just north of the survey line that would later become 71st Street.

The old town of Augusta found itself in a strange situation. Between the railroad and the fact that the Michigan Road became a toll road (The Augusta Gravel Road), within a few years, a town grew up around the station. There were two names for the village came to be used – Augusta Station and Hosbrook. In 1878, the United States Postal Service decided the issue of the town name. The post office was given the name New Augusta.

West of both Augusta and New Augusta is Traders Point. Or, more to the point, more or less was, Traders Point. The original town sprang up around the mill built by John Jennings and Josiah Coughran in 1864. It was located along Eagle Creek where it was crossed by the old Indianapolis-Lafayette Road. The origin of the name is unclear. There are stories about it having been the location of a Native American trading post. It could also have been named simply because it was a convenient place to do business.

With the coming of the Auto Trail era, all three towns would be included. Traders Point and New Augusta would be included on the Hoosier Motor Club’s Dandy Trail, an 88 mile circle around Marion County. It would skirt Augusta to the south, having been run along the 71st Street/Westlane Road corridor through the area. Augusta would once again appear on the Michigan Road, this time the Auto Trail, that mostly covered the same roads as the original Michigan Road built in the 1830’s. Traders Point would also was on the Jackson Highway.

In 1919, with the creation of the Indiana State Highway Commission, the Jackson Highway north from Indianapolis became part of State Road 6. Later, the old Michigan Road, at least from Indianapolis to Logansport, would become part of State Road 15. SR 6, at least through Traders Point, would be changed to US 52, and SR 15 would changed to SR 29, when the Great Renumbering happened on 1 October 1926. New Augusta would find itself left off of the state highway system all together.

Traders Point would cease to exist as it was originally planned with the coming of Eagle Creek Reservoir in the 1960’s. The town was determined to be on the flood plain for the new man made lake. The location isn’t under water now, and visiting there has very little in the way of sights. The name Traders Point has been placed on quite a few things removed from the original town. Even on shopping centers miles away at 86th Street and I-465.

New Augusta would find itself removed from most of the commercial building craze of the 1950’s and 1960’s. Augusta would get those facilities as shopping centers and the like were built along Michigan Road. The railroad tracks that helped create New Augusta are still in place, but no longer connect to any towns north of New Augusta. They now connect to industrial park areas near 79th and 86th Streets, connecting to the Park 100 area.

All three areas of the county would be absorbed into the City of Indianapolis when UniGov went into effect. Neither Augusta nor Traders Point appear on the Indiana State Highway system, with Traders Point being the first to be removed since US 52 was the first state road in Marion County to be detoured around on Interstate 465.

Original State Roads 6-10

1919. The second law creating the Indiana State Highway Commission was passed, and passed Constitutional muster. When the original law was passed in 1917, the fledgling ISHC created five state roads, called Main Market Roads. They were covered in my post “The First Five State Roads, and the Auto Trails They Replaced.” (Indiana Transportation History Blog, 18 October 2019) But legal issues were brought up in regards to the Indiana constitution of 1851. That Constitution was created after the debacle that was the Mammoth Internal Improvements Act. (Indiana Transportation History Blog, 23 August 2019)

The second law had answered a majority of the Constitutional questions when it came to funding roads. Some people saw the ISHC necessary, not for the creating of a state road system, but for a method to get the money the federal government was spending on creating the system. The federal government would only give money to states that had a state transportation agency in place. No money was to be given directly to any government entity smaller than the state.

The Indiana State Highway Commission wasted no time in adding roads to the state highway system. It should be noted here that the ISHC could not just take roads into the system. There were financing concerns, obviously, but also the fact that the roads in question were actually owned by the county. Most had been toll roads previously, which means the counties had to buy them back from the toll road companies in the decades prior to this.

A quick look at a map of the first state roads, when compared to Auto Trails at the time, shows that the ISHC started by using roads that were already supposed to be upgraded for car transportation. (Check out these maps at the Indiana State Library: ISHC Official Highway Map of 1920; and the Standard Series Map of Indiana, 1919.) I will be mentioning those as I cover the second five original state roads. I want to note here that when I use the term “original state road,” it is in reference to the current state roads and their numbering. All of the roads that are listed here, and the ones in the first five article, were renumbered on 1 October 1926, something I have been calling “The Great Renumbering” since I started the ITH Facebook Group on 31 May 2014. Also, the old state roads, those built by the state between 1820 and 1850, had names that showed their destinations, not numbers. Numbered state roads, at least in Indiana, are a 20th Century invention.

Original State Road 6: This road connected Madison to Monticello, via Versailles, Greensburg, Shelbyville, Indianapolis, Lebanon, Frankfort, and Delphi. For those of you keeping track at home, it may sound like the southern end looks miraculously like the Michigan Road, or at least the Auto Trail of the same name. And you would be right. From Madison to Indianapolis, it followed the Michigan Road Auto Trail. The difference between the historic Michigan Road and the Auto Trail is basically the section that runs from Bryantsburg to Napoleon. Versailles is on the Auto Trail, not the historic road.

North out of Indianapolis, OSR 6 followed the old Indianapolis-Lafayette State Road to Lebanon. From there, it used the old state road to Frankfort. This was the route used by the Jackson Highway from Indianapolis to Frankfort. From Frankfort, the ISHC just charged “cross country,” using county roads, to complete the route through Delphi to Monticello.

OSR 6 would become, in 1926, SR 29 from Madison to Indianapolis, US 52 from Indianapolis to Lebanon, and SR 39 from Lebanon to Monticello.

Original State Road 7: From the Illinois-Indiana State line west of Kentland, via Kentland, Monticello, Logansport, Peru, and Wabash, to Huntington. Map geeks will instantly recognize this by its post-1926 designation: US 24. From west of Kentland to Logansport, it was part of the Illinois Corn Belt Route (Indiana Transportation History Blog, 2 December 2019). Between Remington and Wolcott, the route was shared with the Jackson Highway, which led to Lafayette and Frankfort, where it connected to OSR 6. OSR 6 ended at OSR 7 at Monticello. From Logansport to Huntington, the ISHC used the route of the Wabash Way to create OSR 7.

Original State Road 8: From Remington, north through Rensselaer and Crown Point to Gary. The route was also the Jackson Highway from Remington to Demotte, and from due south of Crown Point east of Lowell to Crown Point. When the Great Renumbering occurred, OSR 8 became part of SR 53 from Remington to SR 2, then SR 2 to where SR 55 would come later. From Crown Point to Gary, the route became SR 55 in 1926.

Original State Road 9: From Rockville north to Hillsboro, then west to Veedersburg, then north through Attica and Williamsport to Boswell. The route then travelled through Fowler to end at OSR 7 west of Goodland. This one was interesting at the time of the Great Renumbering. The original route had been moved to the west from Rockville to Veedersburg, instead of Hillsboro. The road that headed toward Hillsboro had become SR 59, but only to Grange Corner. And even then, not for long. A lot of the route became US 41. At least from Veedersburg to Boswell. Otherwise, the original route of SR 9 was mostly forgotten. Some of this had to do with the renumbering of 1923. (Indiana Transportation History Blog, 18 May 2019) The only section of this entire route that had been part of the Auto Trail system was from Attica to the Benton-Lake County line, which was part of the Adeway. (Indiana Transportation History Blog, 26 October 2020).

Original State Road 10: Evansville, through Princeton, Vincennes, Sullivan, Terre Haute, Clinton, to OSR 33 west of Covington. This long route made use of several Auto Trails. Leaving Evansville, OSR 10 follows the route of both the Dixie Bee Line and the Hoosier Highway. (Indiana Transportation History, 23 October 2019). The two routes parted ways at Princeton, with the Hoosier Highway turning east. The Dixie Bee Line was used for OSR 10 to Perrysville Station, along the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad. OSR 10 turned east to Perrysville, while the Dixie Bee Line turned west heading off to Danville, Illinois. The rest of the route of OSR 10 crossed the countryside along county roads until it ended west of Covington.

A quick glance at a map of Indiana, and the reader would think that OSR 10 became the original route of US 41 through the state. And from Evansville to east of Clinton, that would be correct. However, near Clinton, the route crossed the Wabash River. Here, in 1926, it would become SR 63 from Clinton to its end at OSR 33/SR 34.

By 1920, state road numbers would reach into the 40’s. Not many roads were added to the system by the time the first renumbering happened in October 1923. With the Great Renumbering, the state found itself dumping some roads, although it was to be temporary. These original numbered state roads would make a wonderful road trip. I plan on doing a series of that very thing soon.

1951: US 421 – A Third “Michigan Road” Route

In 1950, a series of new United States highways were voted upon by the organization that controlled such things at the time, the American Association of State Highway Officials, or AASHO. That organization is not one of the Federal government, but one that is actually the states (and Washington DC and Puerto Rico) getting together to set standards and keep track of interstate and US highway numbers. (There is a lot more to it, but I want to get to the point!)

Whenever a highway is added or removed to the interstate or US highway system, it has to have approval of AASHTO (the successor to AASHO, with the words “and Transportation” added in 1973). When US 33 was removed from Indiana and Michigan, while the two states agreed, it had to be approved by AASHTO. The same for US 460 when it was truncated at Frankfort, Kentucky, leaving the rest of Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri without that highway that was basically replaced by Interstate 64.

So, in 1950, some new US highway was added to the system. These highways were “daughters” to other routes. For instance, US 136 would be the first branch off of US 36, with 136 starting in Indianapolis, and US 36 originally starting there. But today, I want to look at another road that came through Indianapolis for a time…US 421.

When the Indiana State Highway Commission was created (the second time) in 1919, the first state road added to the highway system after the first five Main Market roads was the Michigan Road Auto Trail, slightly different from the Historic Michigan Road, from Madison, through Versailles, Greensburg, and Shelbyville to Indianapolis. The original State Road 6 continued north from Indianapolis via the Lafayette Road, but that is not part of this profile.

On the northern end, original SR 15 connected Michigan City to Logansport via Laporte, Knox and Winamac. In 1923, with the first Renumbering, the Historic Michigan Road from Logansport to Indianapolis was added as an extension of OSR 15. This created a route that connected the same destinations without going the same direction. The Historic Michigan Road connected Logansport to Michigan City via Rochester, Plymouth and South Bend. The new original State Road 15 used a direct course between the two.

Meanwhile, the original State Road 6 from 1920 would come into this story by connecting Frankfort to Monticello through Rossville and Delphi. With the renumbering of 1923, that route would be given the number 44, the original number of what would become the rerouted Lincoln Highway (and US 30).

With the Great Renumbering of 1 October 1926, entire route of the old Michigan Road Auto Trail from Logansport to Madison was given the number 29, as was the original State Road 15 from Logansport to Michigan City. The old state road 6/44 that connected Frankfort and Monticello was given the number 39.

To other roads that would become part of this story were shown as authorized additions to the state highway system. First was the road that connected the Michigan Road near Boylestown to Frankfort was to be added as State Road 28, which at the time connected US 31 west of Tipton to SR 9 north of Alexandria. The other was to be added as SR 43 north from Reynolds along the new US 24 due north to Michigan City.

Meanwhile, the original Michigan Road route from Logansport to Rochester was an authorized addition to the state highway system as SR 25. The rest of the route, from Rochester to Michigan City had been part of the system since 1923, most having been part of the system since 1917. Original State Road 1 (later US 31) from Rochester to South Bend was an original Main Market Road, as was Original State Road 2 from South Bend to Rolling Prairie. The section from Rolling Prairie to Michigan City would be added as OSR 25, and the section from Rolling Prairie to South Bend would be given the number 25 as well, since the number 2 was moved to what would later become US 30.

So now that we have the history of the route nailed down, let’s get to the topic of this post.

On 25 January 1951, it was announced that road markers had arrived from the renumbering of several state highways to a new number: US 421. At the time, US 421, a daughter of US 21 that connected Cleveland, Ohio, to Hunting Island, South Carolina, ended at Bristol, Tennessee. The road itself had been truncated to Bristol, as it had previously connected to the Cumberland Gap in Virginia. And once again, it would cross Virginia, on its way to Lexington and Milton, Kentucky, to cross the Ohio River into Madison, Indiana.

Once in Indiana, it would follow the Michigan Road Auto Trail route (again, not entirely the Historic Michigan Road) to just south of Boylestown. This would take the new US highway through Versailles, Greensburg, Shelbyville and Indianapolis. This was the route of SR 29.

At the point south of Boylestown, US 421 turned west for seven miles to enter Frankfort along SR 28. At Frankfort, the new highway would turn north along SR 39 to US 24. West along US 24 to SR 43, then north along SR 43 to Michigan Road.

On 13 March 1951, the new US 421 was officially marked along the route mentioned above. All official press releases for the marking of the route made sure to point out that the old route numbers would be used along the new route until 1 July 1951 to avoid confusion. Thus from Boylestown to Madison, the road would have two numbers: US 421 and SR 29. At least for a while. It would seem that the only two road numbers that would removed would be SR 29, located as above, and SR 43 from US 24 to Michigan City. SR 28 is still, to this day, labelled as such along the US 421 route. And SR 39 is multiplexed with US 421 from Frankfort to Monticello.

From Indianapolis, this new US highway would create the third route with a Michigan City end. And all three followed the Historic Michigan Road out of the city. At Boylestown, US 421 separated from the historic road to follow the route above. At Logansport, SR 29 left the historic route by travelling northwest across the old swamp land that caused the road to turn toward Rochester in the first place. Meanwhile, the original road continued along its old path, connecting to Rochester as SR 25, then to South Bend as US 31, and on to Michigan City as US 20.

The SR 29 route would be changed, as well, to a US Highway from Logansport to Michigan City…when it would become part of the US 35 route. By 1935, the number US 35 was multiplexed with SR 29 from Burlington (west of Kokomo) to Michigan City. In 1942, the section from Burlington to Logansport would go back to being just SR 29, as US 35 was rerouted along the new SR 17 connecting Kokomo to Logansport directly. The SR 29 designation would be truncated to Logansport, thus removed from the US 35 route, sometime in either late 1957 to 1958. The Indiana Official State Highway Map of 1959 shows no multiplex of US 35 and SR 29.

Over the 170 years of its existence, the Michigan Road has been an important route. The city of Michigan City was created to be a point of destination for the road. As technology improved, this important route would be replaced and shortened. Today, the US Routes of 20, 35 and 421 are the ends of the different routes connecting Indianapolis (more or less) directly to Lake Michigan at Michigan City.

Original SR 6, 9, 10, and US 41 and 52

Last year about this time, I was going through a series of articles called the “Road Trip 1926,” where I traced the routes of the roads maintained by the Indiana State Highway Commission, and their new numbers, as of 1 October 1926: the day of the Great Renumbering. It was nearly a year ago I covered the new US 52. I was always intrigued by the route that was assigned the number 52, especially at its northern end. US 52, originally, started at US 41 in Boswell, although the road was under construction to have US 52 end at US 41 northwest of Fowler, as it has been reported to have done since the beginning.

But the route to get to Boswell is what intrigued me. And in researching that, I discovered that Fowler has had a state road running through it since 1920, the first year the ISHC had added roads to its inventory after the first five were added in 1917. But then, it wasn’t what I thought, either.

Let’s just tackle this one road at a time, numerically.

1920 Indiana Official Highway Map of the subject area.

Original State Road 6: When this road was originally added to the state highway system, it started in Madison, following the old Michigan Road out of the city to Bryantsburg. At that point, it then used the old Madison-Versailles State Road to connect to Versailles. The next part of the trip connected Versailles to Napoleon, where it would follow the old Michigan Road to Indianapolis. If this sounds familiar, it is because it is still the rough route of US 421 today, and it was the route of the Michigan Road Auto Trail…although Versailles was never on the original Michigan Road.

From Indianapolis, the original SR 6 left Indianapolis via the original Lafayette State Road. At Lebanon, it turned north through Frankfort, Rossville, Delphi, ending at original SR 7 at Monticello. Now, you may be asking, “what does that have to do with the area you said you wanted to cover?” In 1923, the first state road renumbering occurred. OSR 6 turned west at Rossville onto what had been OSR 29 to end west of Oxford, south of Fowler, at OSR 9. But by 1923, OSR 9 had become OSR 10. More on that later.

1923 Indiana Official State Highway Map of the subject area.

The OSR 6 route would, on 1 October 1926, become part of US 52 and SR 22. The US 52 designation was a temporary one, as the road was already was a proposed relocation on the Great Renumbering map of October 1926.

1926 Indiana Official Highway Map of subject area

Most websites that cover the US highway system have US 52 ending northwest of Fowler in the 1926 plan. To be fair, as shown on the 1926 map above, it did…or would. The whole thing can be a bit confusing.

Original State Road 9: The only reason that OSR 9 is on this list is because that is what the road was in 1920. OSR 9 started, in 1920, in Rockville, heading north to meet the then Dixie Highway at Hillsboro. It then left Veedersburg, through Attica, Williamsport, Boswell, Fowler, ending at OSR 7 west of Goodland. In 1923, the number would change to OSR 10.

Original State Road 10: Starting, in 1920, in Evansville, travelling north through Princeton, Hazelton, Vincennes, Sullivan, Terre Haute, Clinton, Newport, and ending west of the Wabash River at OSR 33 (Dixie Highway) west of Covington. In 1923, the designation would change. OSR 10 would end at Clinton, where the old OSR 10 would be designated OSR 54 from that point north. OSR 9 would become OSR 10 starting in Rockville and heading north. Instead of ending at OSR 7, the OSR 10 designation would takeover the route that had been Original State Road 49 from Kentland north into the Chicago Metropolitan Area on the Indiana side of the state line.

OSR 10 would become the rough original route for US 41 in October 1926, with a newly constructed road heading north from Boswell to a newly constructed road halfway between Fowler and Earl Park heading into Kentland. Fowler itself would be off the state highway system for maybe two years while the new US 52 was being built through the area. Both US 41 and US 52 would be completely hard surfaced before the maps came out in late 1928 for the 1929 travel season.

1929 Indiana Official State Highway map of the subject area.

Indianapolis and the Original ISHC State Road System

I have posted much about the creation of the Indiana State Highway Commission. As of the posting of this article, the age of the Commission is either 103 or 101 years old. The original ISHC was established in 1917…but met with a lot of problems. It was finally nailed down in 1919 and made permanent.

This also creates a dating problem when it comes to the state highways. The first five state highways, then known as Main Market Roads, were established in 1917 with the original ISHC. Two of those original Main Market Highways connected to Indianapolis. The original National Road had been given the number Main Market Road 3. The Range Line Road, connecting Indianapolis to Peru, and through further connections, to South Bend, was given the Main Market Road 1 label.

When it was finally established, the ISHC changed the name of the Main Market Road to State Road, in keeping with other states surrounding Indiana. The markers used along the roads, painted onto utility poles like the old Auto Trail markers were, resembled the image to the left…the state shape with the words “STATE ROAD” and the route number. In this case, as of 1920, State Road 2 was the original route of the Lincoln Highway through northern Indiana.

The state highway system was designed to, eventually, connect every county seat and town of over 5,000 population, to each other. Indianapolis, as the state capital and the largest city in the state, would have connections aiming in every direction. Most of those roads marked with the original numbers would still be state roads into the 1970s and early 1980s, before the Indiana Department of Highways started removing state roads inside the Interstate 465 loop…and INDOT finishing the job on 1 July 1999. These road were removed for state statutory limitation reasons, and I have discussed that in a previous blog entry. So I won’t do it here.

The original state road numbers that came to Indiana varied greatly, as did their directions. There were no set rules when it came to state road numbers. They were assigned as they came…and stayed that way until the first renumbering of 1923, or the Great Renumbering of 1926.

Let’s look at the original state roads in Marion County, some of which actually did not reach Indianapolis itself.

State Road 1: As mentioned before, State Road 1 was originally called Main Market Highway 1. North of Indianapolis, it followed the Range Line Road, a local Auto Trail, through Carmel, Westfield, to Kokomo and points north. The route north followed Meridian Street north to Westfield Boulevard, then Westfield Boulevard on out to Carmel and beyond. In Carmel, the old road is still called Range Line Road, and serves as the main north-south drag through the town, as it does in Westfield.

South of Indianapolis, State Road 1, like its Main Market Highway predecessor, followed the old Madison State Road out of the city to Southport, Greenwood, Franklin and Columbus. The original SR 1 route is still able to be driven through the south side of Indianapolis, with the exception of the section replaced in the 1950s by the Madison Avenue Expressway. But Old Madison Avenue exists, if you can find your way back there.

While the entirety of original State Road 1 became US 31 with the Great Renumbering, bypasses in Marion County were put in place very early. The northern section, through Broad Ripple, and Carmel was replaced as early as 1930. The southern section, including the Southport/Greenwood bypass, was put in place in the 1940s.

State Road 3: As mentioned above, Main Market Highway/State Road 3 followed the National Road through Marion County. One exception to this is the section of the 1830s National Road that crossed the White River downtown. That section of the old road was removed in 1904 with the demolition of the National Road covered bridge and its replacement with a new, and short lived, Washington Street bridge. With a couple of exceptions other than that (the Bridgeport straightening of the early 1930s, and the new Eagle Creek bridge built in the late 1930s), the old road was followed very accurately until the mid-1980s with the creation of White River State Park. The successor to original SR 3, US 40, was moved to make room for the park. Both US 40 and US 31 lost their designations on 1 July 1999 with the removal of those two routes inside the I-465 loop.

State Road 6: This old state road was a through route when it came to Marion County. From the north, it followed the route of the original Indianapolis-Lafayette State Road from Lebanon. After passing through downtown Indianapolis, it left the county using the original Michigan Road on its way to Shelbyville and Greensburg. The original State Road 6 followed the Michigan Road Auto Trail, not the Historic Michigan Road, meaning it still went to Madison, but it went by way of Versailles, which the historic road did not. With the Great Renumbering, the northern SR 6 became US 52, while the southern SR 6 became SR 29 – later to be renumbered again to US 421.

State Road 22: This road, as it was originally laid out, only lasted from 1920 to 1923. Out of Indianapolis, it followed the old Mooresville State Road through southwestern Marion County. It was designated the original route from Indianapolis to Martinsville, as described in this blog entry. This road will be discussed again a few paragraphs from now.

State Road 39: Another 1830s state road that was taken into the Indiana State Highway Commission’s custody in 1919. This road followed the old Brookville State Road from the National Road out of the county through New Palestine to Rushville and Brookville. The original end of that road, both the 1830s original and the 1919 state highway, is discussed here. The road would become, in October 1926, the other section of US 52 through Indianapolis. It would also eventually become the first state highway removed inside the I-465 loop in Marion County. And even then, it would be rerouted in the late 1990s to go the other way around the county.

That covers the 1919 highways. More would come to Marion County before 1923.

State Road 12: Originally, this road, north of Martinsville, was the old State Road 22 mentioned above. When a new SR 22 was created, the SR 12 number was continued from Martinsville to Indianapolis along the old Vincennes and Mooresville State Roads. This road, in October 1926, would become part of the new State Road 67.

State Road 15: While the southern route of the Michigan Road was State Road 6, the northern part, heading off to Logansport, was added later and given the number State Road 15. The entire route of the historic Michigan Road would never become a state highway, but major sections did…although late in the creation of the state highway system. With the Great Renumbering, this road became SR 29, and in 1951, redesignated, like its southern half, US 421.

State Road 22: Here we go again. State Road 22 was given to the route between Indianapolis and Paoli. In 1919, that included the route along the west bank of the White River from Martinsville to Indianapolis along the Mooresville Road. This was changed by 1923 to keep SR 22 on the east side of White River, where it followed the old Paoli State Road, and the Bluff Road, through Waverly to the south edge of downtown Indianapolis at Meridian and South Streets. This was one of the routes of the Dixie Highway through Indianapolis, and would later become part of SR 37 in 1926.

State Road 31: In 1920, when this road was originally created, it turned south to connect to the National Road west of Plainfield. It had followed the Rockville Road from Montezuma to Danville, then turned southeasterly to meet State Road 3. By 1923, the road was moved from what would later become part of what is now SR 39 to continuing on the Rockville Road into Marion County. State Road 31 would meet the National Road outside the city limits of Indianapolis at what is now the intersection of Holt Road and Washington Street. It would become US 36 before it was extended along the new section of what is now Rockville Road to the intersection at Eagle Creek with Washington Street.

State Road 37: One of two state road numbers that still served Indianapolis after the road numbers were changed in October 1926 (the other being State Road 31). The original State Road 37 left Marion County in a northeasterly direction on its way to Pendleton, Anderson and Muncie. Inside the city limits, the street name was Massachusetts Avenue. When it reached the city limits, the name of the road changed to Pendleton Pike. This still occurs today, with the name change at the old city limits at 38th Street. In October 1926, the number of this road would change to State Road 67.

There were two other major state roads in Marion County, but they weren’t part of the state highway system until after the Great Renumbering. One was the Crawfordsville State Road, part of the original Dixie Highway, connecting Indianapolis to Crawfordsville via Speedway, Clermont, Brownsburg, and half a dozen other towns. It would be added to the state highway system by 1929 as State Road 34. The number would change later to US 136.

The other road was the original Fort Wayne State Road, also known as the Noblesville State Road, but even more commonly called the Allisonville Road. It would be added to the state highway system in 1932 as State Road 13. Less than a decade later, its number would be changed to the more familiar State Road 37.

Indianapolis in the Auto Trail Era

Indiana has been known as the “Crossroads of America” for most of its history. No other place in the state exemplifies that more than the Hoosier Capitol. Although Indianapolis, as a town, started as a remote outpost in the forests and swamps of central Indiana, it would soon become a transportation center. The National and Michigan Roads started the journey toward Indianapolis’ connections to the rest of the country. The coming of the railroads from 1847 to the middle 1850’s accelerated it. The automobile would seal the deal.

A quick look at a Rand McNally Auto Trails map of 1920 shows that Indianapolis was well served when it came to the new routes. Some of these were old roads, using names that had been used for almost a century. Others were new names on old country roads. Today, I want to look at the Auto Trails of 1920 radiating from Indianapolis. For this, I will be using that mentioned Rand McNally map, and using Rand’s numbering system.

8 – Range Line Road: Leaving Indianapolis due north, earlier on Illinois Street, later on Meridian, this route connected Indianapolis to South Bend via Kokomo, Peru, Rochester and Peru. In Marion County, the Range Line followed the Central Canal into Broad Ripple, then northeast along the Westfield Pike, which once it crossed the Hamilton-Marion County Line followed a survey range line north to Kokomo and beyond. In 1926, this would be the route of US 31.

22 – National Old Trails Road: In Indiana, this old route followed what was the first United States road that had been built to connect Cumberland, Maryland, to Vandalia, Illinois. This was called the National Road. In Indianapolis, it followed that route as closely as it could. (Downtown, the original path of the National Road had been removed in 1904 with the demolition of the covered bridge over the White River.) In 1926, it became US 40.

24 – Hoosier Highway: This road crossed the city southwest to northeast. It would come into Marion County along the old Mooresville State Road, also known as the West Newton Pike/Maywood Road/Kentucky Avenue. It left the city along Massachusetts Avenue where it became the Pendleton Pike at the city limits. The Pendleton Pike was also called the Oakland (Oaklandon) Toll Road for a time. This routing, both ways, would become SR 67 in 1926.

25 – Dixie Highway: Indianapolis found itself in a very nice position when it came to this road. It was created by an Indianapolis resident, Carl G. Fisher. And it used four roads to enter and exit the Hoosier capitol. From the north, it entered Indianapolis along the path of the historic Michigan Road. From the west, the Dixie followed the old Crawfordsville Pike. Southward, the Dixie Highway left using the Bluff Road heading toward Waverly, Martinsville and Bloomington. The route also followed the National Road to the east toward Richmond and Dayton, Ohio. The former three routes are still known by those names today. With the Great Renumbering, Michigan Road became SR 29, Crawfordsville became SR 34, and Bluff Road became SR 37.

26 – Michigan Road: The historic old Indiana state road connecting the Ohio River to Lake Michigan. Through Indianapolis, that would be Southeastern Avenue and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street/Michigan Road. The Michigan Road Auto Trail to the north ended at South Bend, even though the historic road left the west toward Michigan City. The entirety of the Michigan Road was made SR 29 in 1926.

42 – Hills And Lakes: This route was created to make a more or less direct route from Indianapolis to Lake Wawasee. It left Indianapolis along the Range Line Road, until it reached the Maple Road (now 38th Street), where the H&L turned east to follow the old Fort Wayne State Road, also known as the Allisonville Pike, out of the county. It did not get a state road number until 1932, when it became SR 13. It would later be renumbered SR 37.

47 – Pikes Peak Ocean-to-Ocean Highway: The original route of this road came through Indianapolis, using Rockville Road on the west and Washington Street/National Road to the east. It would later be moved to north of the city through Lebanon, Noblesville and Anderson. The original PPOO was made US 36 and US 40 in 1926.

69 – Jackson Highway: The Indianapolis section of this north-south long distance road used the old Lafayette State Road from the north (US 52 in 1926) and the old Madison State Road (US 31 in 1926) to cross the city.

92 – Terre Haute & Indianapolis Scenic Route: In Marion County, this duplicated the National Old Trails Road from downtown to the west, diverging in Belleville in Hendricks County.

Bicycling Thursday: Louisville to Indianapolis National Meet

Editor’s Note: For those that like roads, this post covers the Jeffersonville Road (future US 31), Madison State Road (US 31 and SR 7) and the Michigan Road and its Auto Trail variety (US 421).

Near the end of the 19th Century, with bicycling becoming one of the most popular means of transportation, many organizations put together meetings of “wheelmen” across the nation. In 1896, the League of American Wheelmen, or LAW, held their national meet in Louisville. The plan was to have Hoosier bicyclists meet in Indianapolis and take a two day ride south to the Kentucky city on the Ohio River. Unfortunately, as is typical in Indiana in the summer, the weather turned hot and dry. This would cause the LAW Indiana division to cancel the ride at the last minute. This didn’t stop some of the riders from deciding to do the run anyway. Those riders were worn out by the end of the two days.

In August 1898, the LAW national meet would be held in Indianapolis. Some riders from southern Indiana and northern Kentucky decided to try the 1896 ride in reverse. But, as printed in the Indianapolis News of 17 June 1898, the route from Louisville would be rough. The route would cover basically the same route that would, in 1917, become Main Market Road 1, and later in 1926, US 31. “The first half of the journey, in which the roads are of a mixed character and very hilly, but in August are in fairly rideable (sic) condition.”

“The run really begins at Jeffersonville, which, by road, is 133 miles from Indianapolis.” I mentioned that the route would later become OSR 1, but the start of the route would not. OSR 1 would go through New Albany, which is just west of Jeffersonville. Historically, the two routes would come together just north of both towns. Seven miles into the ride, the route enters Hamburg. Soon two villages, very close together, would be next on the route: Sellersburg and Speeds. At the 17 mile point, the town of Memphis in encountered. To this point, the road is in rough condition between Jeffersonville and Memphis.

Another 5.5 miles north, and the riders enter Henryville. Scottsburg is another 14.5 miles later. The next part of the journey is a level earth road to Uniontown, 15 miles north of Scottsburg. A good condition road carries the riders the ten miles to Seymour. At Seymour, “a long stretch of macadam” begins, running to Franklin. Along the way, the 14 miles through Rockford, Jonesville and Azalia “is rough.” Between Azalia and Columbus, a distance of 15 miles, the hilly sections of southern Indiana gives was to a level road. “From there on there will be no further trouble with the hills.”

From Columbus, the riders will travel 12.5 miles to Edinburgh, through Taylorsville, then another 10.5 miles to Franklin, through Amity. Most of this route, historically, was the Indianapolis to Madison State Road. After Franklin, the 20 miles to Indianapolis was a very popular ride for bicyclists. Again, this is part of the Madison State Road. The road from Franklin was maintained very well, and riders will find the route in excellent condition. There are two small hills between Franklin and Indianapolis “which will, however, cause no difficulty to the average rider.”

The route above was the shortest of the routes between Jeffersonville and Indianapolis. There were three routes planned. The other two routes would take riders through Madison. The first of those two routes would connect to the one mentioned above at Columbus.

The run from Jeffersonville to Madison totalled 44 miles. As is typical of southern Indiana, the travel would be hilly the entire way. The first 13 miles, which takes riders to Charlestown, was in fairly good condition, as the road was macadam. The road conditions go down hill from there, as the route connecting the 12 miles from Charlestown to New Washington was a very poor condition earth road. The next 13 miles to Hanover were on a road that was in better condition. Fairly good travel connected Hanover to Madison.

After climbing out of Madison via the old Madison State Road, now roughly SR 7, was a very hilly 50 mile ride to Columbus, “which will make walking a greater pleasure than wheeeling.” The road conditions are described as “this is, however, the old Madison road, well known in the early days of Indiana and, while for late years it has not been kept up properly, it would not be a bad road if the wheelmen are hill-proof.” This route passes through Dupont, Grayford, Vernon, Queensville and Elizabethtown.

The third route climbs out of Madison along the old Michigan Road. Like the current US 421, the described route varies from the historic road in that it goes through Versailles. The 26 mile section of the route between Versailles and Madison is macadam and earth, and fairly level. Another six miles of macadam, but rough, road takes the riders into Osgood. Fairly good roads cover the 19 miles to Greensburg. At Napoleon, the described route and the Michigan Road again become one heading toward Greensburg.

Two bad hills, and earth roads, are encountered in the 22 miles from Greensburg to Shelbyville. After Shelbyville, the road is macadamized, or gravel, all the way to Indianapolis. After Fairland, there is one bad hill, the last one encountered before completing the 96.5 miles between Indianapolis and Madison.

The distance of the routes described above, according to the Indianapolis News, are as follows: Jeffersonville-Columbus-Indianapolis, 133 miles; Jeffersonville-Madison-Columbus-Indianapolis, 137 miles; Jeffersonville-Madison-Greensburg-Indianapolis, 140 miles. This trip was designed to take two days. It is possible, however, that the journey could be done in one day, making those riders that complete it members of what was known as the “Century Club,” those that complete a ride on 100 miles or more in a day.

The League of American Wheelmen, founded in 1880, still exists to this day. It is now called the League of American Bicyclists. It is online at www.bikeleague.org. Their history page states, not inaccurately, that “the success of the League in its first advocacy efforts ultimately led to our national highway system.”

Ben Hur Route

I am sure that almost everyone has heard of Ben Hur. Some even know that it was written by Lew Wallace: Major General US Army, 11th Governor of the New Mexico Territory; Minister to the Ottoman Empire; Adjutant General for his home state; and, oh yeah, Hoosier. The book he wrote, Ben Hur, made him and his family wealthy and famous. Lew Wallace was born in Brookville. He lived, and died, in Crawfordsville. So, it made sense to have an Auto Trail with the name. And hence, it was.

The Ben Hur Route was created in 1918-1919. The ultimate route would start in Huntington, traverse the state via Marion, Kokomo, Burlington, Frankfort, Crawfordsville, Rockville and Terre Haute. The route would find itself, in big sections, left out of the state highway system when it was created and renumbered. As state roads were added over the years, parts of the old road became state maintained.

Starting in Huntington, the Ben Hur route left the town to the southwest along Etna Road. By 1920, this would become OSR 11. The route between Huntington and Marion was covered in my Road Trip 1926 series, the entry for SR 9. The original route would travel through the town of Mt. Etna. I mention this because SR 9 doesn’t. SR 9 was moved with the creation of Lake Salamonie. The current SR 9 is west of the town by about a mile. After the Mt. Etna bypass rejoins the old SR 9, that state road is followed to north of Marion, where it turns on Washington Street.

The Ben Hur Route left Marion via what is now CR 200 to the town of Roseburg. From here, the highway traveled south for a mile along CR 300W. At CR 300S, the Ben Hur Route turned west to travel through Swayzee. CR 300S becomes CR 200N at the Howard County line. The old road then turns south on CR 1100E to Sycamore. There, travelers would make their way to CR 850E, and the town of Greentown, via CR 100N.

At Greentown, the original Auto Trail followed what became OSR 35, now, incidentally, US 35/SR 22, into Kokomo. While SR 22 turns west on Sycamore Street in Kokomo, the original Ben Hur Route turned west on Jefferson Street, rejoining SR 22 west of town, on its way to Burlington. As SR 22 curves to the southwest going into Burlington, the Ben Hur Route continued west on what is now Mill Street. Here, the Ben Hur Route met the Michigan Road and Dixie Highway.

South from Burlington, the utility poles contained three painted signs (Dixie Highway, Michigan Road and Ben Hur Route) from there to Michigantown. The ISHC would take over this section of highway in 1920, creating OSR 15. At Michigantown, the Ben Hur Route left the other two roads to follow Michigantown Road towards Frankfort. It enters Frankfort as Washington Avenue. In Frankfort, the route gets a little hard to determine, with the exception of the fact that one most go from Washington Avenue to Armstrong Street. Whether that be using Main Avenue or Jackson Street (now SR 39), it is unknown by me at this time.

The continuing Armstrong Street is the Ben Hur Route through rural Clinton County. The current road turns due west as CR 200S. At CR 350W, the highway turned south for one mile, then turning west again on CR 300S, also known as Manson Colfax Road. At Colfax, the road turns south along Clinton CR 850W until it becomes Boone CR 1050W. A jog in the road, then becoming Boone CR 1075W, the route encounters what is now SR 47.

Northeast of Darlington, a quick turn west onto CR 500N, then Main Street, into Darlington. The old highway then turns south on CR 625E, to CR 300N. West along this county road brings the traveler back to current SR 47 which takes the old route into the east side of Crawfordsville. Southwest bound out of Crawfordsville, the route still follows SR 47. At least as far as northeast of Waveland. At CR 600W, the Ben Hur follows Waveland Road into Waveland, crossing the town along Main Street (SR 59) until it intersects CR 1150S. Here, it follows that road, and Saddle Club Road to intersect SR 59/236. It the follows SR 236 into Guion.

At Guion, the Ben Hur follows Guion Road to Judson, then Nyesville Road to what is now US 36 east of Rockville after travelling through Nyesville. Out of Rockville, the old road doesn’t follow what is now US 41, but Catlin Road through Catlin and Jessup to Rosedale. From there, the rest of the old Auto Trail heads towards its end at Terre Haute. Rosedale Road, Park Avenue, and Lafayette Avenue brought the old road to end at what is now US 41 in Terre Haute. Lafayette Avenue was, at the time, the Dixie Bee Line, and would become OSR 10. At the intersection of Park and Lafayette Avenues, the Ben Hur and Dixie Bee multiplex their way toward downtown Terre Haute. At the time, Lafayette Avenue ended at Third Street, not Fifth like it does today. And the Ben Hur Route ends at Wabash Street, at the junction of the Dixie Bee Line and the National Old Trails Road.

This Auto Trail was not the only reference to the “Ben Hur Route” in Indiana. The Terre Haute, Indianapolis & Eastern Traction Company, the interurban lines, also had a route called the “Ben Hur Route.” It had been originally the Indianapolis, Crawfordsville & Danville Electric Railway. This small company was purchased by the THI&E in 1912. There are very few remnants of either of the Ben Hur Routes today. While the old Auto Trail can be followed, most of it is county roads with some in questionable shape…at least those that are still intact. It is a trip that someday I would love to tackle.

The First Five State Roads, and the Auto Trails They Replaced

When the Good Roads Movement started in the United States, the rush was on to create a system of highways connecting all points of the country. This led to a collection of rural roads being marked with multi-colored signage painted on utility poles, sometimes with large numbers of marking on some routes. When the Federal Government started getting into the road funding business, it was through the states be giving money to each state that had a government agency to control that money. In Indiana, this was accomplished, originally, in 1917. Constitutionality of the new State Highway Commission caused the agency to be recreated in 1919. The ISHC decided that it would be easiest to start the new state highway system with the already (somewhat) improved system of Auto Trails.

In 1917, five “Market” roads were created as the start of the state highway system. The first of these roads was a collection of different Auto Trails stretching from north of South Bend to New Albany. At the Michigan state line, original state road (OSR) 1 started along what was the Dixie Highway. At South Bend, the Dixie Highway was joined by the Michigan Road. This arrangement was used to Rochester. Here, OSR 1 would turn southeast along the Range Line Road, while the Michigan Road and Dixie Highway would veer to the southwest, using the historic route of the former. OSR 1 would continue through Peru and Kokomo on its way to Indianapolis. At what is now SR 18, the Range Line Road was joined by the Belt Line, an Auto Trail connecting Lafayette to Fort Recovery, Ohio, via Kokomo. This multiplex would continue to what is now SR 26 south of Kokomo.

At Indianapolis, where the Range Line Road officially ended, the original route of OSR 1 would leave the city southbound on the Jackson Highway. This would be followed to Seymour. A small section south of Seymour failed to follow any Auto Trail, but this would only last for a few miles, where OSR 1 began following the Pigeon Roost Route, which only ran from New Albany to Seymour. OSR 1 left Indiana as part of the Dixie Highway and the Jackson Highway.

The next two Market roads added to the state highway system, OSR 2 and OSR 3, followed Auto Trails for their complete routes through the state. OSR 2 followed the original route of the Lincoln Highway through northern Indiana. This road connected Valparaiso, Laporte, South Bend, Elkhart, Goshen and Fort Wayne. OSR 3 used teh National Old Trails Road, in Indiana known as the National Road, from Terre Haute through Indianapolis to Richmond.

One of the few new state highways that would not originally be part of the Auto Trails system, at least at the beginning would be OSR 4. The new state road would start in Evansville and follow a country road to Boonville. From there, it would continue to Gentryville to Huntingburg. At Huntingburg, the old French Lick Route would become part of OSR 4 through Jasper, French Lick, West Baden to Paoli.

At Paoli, OSR 4 left to the north following the Dixie Highway, the French Lick Route and the Midland Route. The Midland Route entered Indiana at Vincennes and left via New Albany via Mitchell and Paoli. At Mitchell, the Midland Route left OSR 4 to the west. At Bedford, OSR 4 would turn east, still following the French Lick Route. The French Lick would be part of this state road across Indiana to Lawrenceburg. At Vallonia, the Jackson Highway would join the road to Seymour. At the eastern end of the road, OSR 4 changed from the French Lick Route to the Terre Haute-Columbus-Cincinnati Trail to head off toward the state line.

The final original state highway, OSR 5, basically followed the Midland Route from OSR 4 at Mitchell west to Vincennes. While this is along the general line of what is now US 50, the original route bounced north and south quite a bit connecting Vincennes and Mitchell.

Road Trip 1926: SR 29

Today, the road trip is along what would be known as the Michigan Road Auto Trail, and major parts of the original Michigan Road, from Madison to Logansport, through Versailles, Greensburg, Shelbyville and Indianapolis. After Logansport, this road connected to Michigan City in a much straighter path than the original Michigan Road did.

The major difference between the Auto Trail and the Historic Michigan Roads is the section between Bryantsburg and Napoleon. The road connects these two points directly. The Auto Trail veered to the northeast, first traveling through Versailles before heading northwest to Napoleon. SR 29 would follow this latter path. Before the Great Renumbering, the road south of Indianapolis was designated SR 6. North of Indianapolis, it was SR 15.

Survey Lines and the Michigan Road

I have mentioned, several times, in both this blog and the ITH Facebook group, survey lines and their effects on Indiana transportation. In general, the survey lines break Indiana up into one mile by one mile sections. These sections are combined into a six mile by six mile collection known as ranges and townships. There are several roads in the state named “Range Line,” as they are the north-south lines, roughly six miles apart, that separate the state into ranges east to west.

This system was set up in the “Northwest Ordinance,” the federal law passed to make sure that the land that would be sold would be easily located and documented. This was necessary because in the older states, sequentially from Delaware to Kentucky, marking land depending on more natural markers. This caused land claims to be hotly debated. It was possible that several people could own the same section of land due to these debates. Some people won, some people lost. This was not going to happen in the Northwest Territories and every territory added afterwards.

In Indiana, there are only three sections of the state that don’t follow the rules set out in the Northwest Ordinance: the Clarksville area; the Vincennes area; and the Michigan Road. The first two are actually angled to match the Ohio and Wabash Rivers, respectively. This was due to the fact that they were surveyed before the system of ranges and townships were set up. The Michigan Road doesn’t match the rest of the survey due to the treaty that created the road in the first place. While the sections are still one mile by one mile, they are not numbered as if they belong to the rest of the state.

1876 map of the Michigan Road in Cass County.

Along the old Michigan Road, now SR 25 out of Logansport, the town of Meta sits right on the border of the old Indian Territory. The treaty that created the Michigan Road stated that the Native Americans would allow the United States to purchase a 100 foot wide path from Logansport to South Bend, then west to the newly created terminus town of Michigan City. Starting east of what is now Meta, the land was surveyed, roughly from the center of the new road, in mile squares. Looking at a survey map of the state, one will notice that these sections are actually just a few feet south of the rest of the later surveyed areas surrounding it. Another thing that came be noticed is that the sections on either side of the Michigan Road sections are not, generally, one mile square. Most of them are narrower, east to west, then the mile square set by law.

Meta is in Section 16, just west of the “Michigan Road Section 45,” the is the highest number of these sections. They are numbered sequentially to a point two miles north of the Marshall-St. Joseph County line. The Michigan Road enters Fulton County, from Cass County, at the line separating sections 42 (Fulton County) and 43 (Cass County).

1876 map of the Michigan Road in Fulton County.

The Fulton County town of Fulton, still along SR 25, is located in the center of section 40. Eight miles up the road from Fulton, in section 32, the town of Rochester was planned. This is where the old road changes from what was, in 1917, the Michigan Road (not part of the new state highway system) to Original State Road 1. This is now where SR 25 intersected with the original US 31 in downtown Rochester.

North of Rochester, the Michigan Road turns due north, with the survey sections centered on the road. This starts in the center of section 28, due north to the Fulton-Marshall County line between sections 24 and 25.

The town of Argos was laid out in the very center of Michigan Road Section 20. From section 21 north to section 18, the township line between Green and Walnut townships runs along the western edge of the Michigan Road survey.

1876 map of the Michigan Road in Marshall County.

At section 13, the town of Plymouth would be platted. At this location, between 1850 and 1920, the area would be covered by the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway (later Pennsylvania Railroad), the Indianapolis, Peru & Chicago Railway (later the Nickel Plate), the Yellowstone Trail, the Dixie Highway and the Michigan Road. A later version of the Lincoln Highway was also traverse the area in 1928. But by then, the two major roads became US 30 and US 31.

The last of the older towns in Fulton county along this route would be La Paz, platted on the line separating sections 4 and 5. The Marshall-St. Joseph County line is located on the survey separating sections 3 and 4.

1876 map of the Michigan Road in southern St. Joseph County.

The last of the Michigan Road surveys ends one mile south of Lakeville, in St. Joseph County. Lakeville is actually in Range II East, Township 36 North, Section 34. It is located along the south line of that section, making it the line that separates Section 34 of the Indiana survey and Range II East, Township 35 North, Section 3 of the Indiana survey. The Michigan Road Survey Section 1 actually doesn’t exist.

Google Map snippet of La Paz, Indiana, showing the Marshall County roads.

Another consequence of this separate survey is that county roads, especially in Marshall County, are usually located just south of the Indiana survey lines in a section one mile around the old US 31. As shown in the map snippet above, Marshall County 1st Road jogs south as it crosses what is now called Dixie Highway (Old US 31). This was caused by the Michigan Road survey.

Auto Trails Quick Take, Part 2

This is part two of the quick description of the Auto Trails, as listed in the Lafayette Journal and Courier of 1 November 1922. It gives a general idea of the roads that most of which would be accepted into the State Highway System. The numbering used corresponds to the numbers used on the Rand McNally Auto-Trails maps of the late 1910s through the mid 1920s.

(Note – all information in this entry comes directly, word for word, from the mentioned newspaper. Some may disagree with what was written.)

(25) The Dixie Highway originally was laid out over what is now known as the Michigan road running from South Bend, but later the routeing came from Chicago to Danville, Ill., and then into Indiana at Covington, and through Crawfordsville to Indianapolis (which road is now hardly used because of its condition), and then to Martinsville, Bloomington, Bedford, Paoli, and New Albany. Originally marked by the Dixie Highway association units at various places along the route. Later in parts re-marked by the H.S.A.A., and the Crawfordsville-Indianapolis-Paoli route now is being entirely repainted by one of the H.S.A.A. painting outfits.

(26) The Michigan Road, extending through Indiana by way of South Bend, Rochester, Logansport and Indianapolis, and on south to the Ohio River. Established by the state of Indiana in the early history of the state, right-of-way having been granted by the Indians. Marker adopted by the H.S.A.A. and the marking promoted through the motor clubs enroute – on list for remarking.

The only part of the historic road that didn’t make it as part of this Auto Trail is the section from Napoleon to Bryantsburg. The Auto Trail runs through Versailles, which was east of the original road.

(29) Crawfordsville to Anderson, marked by clubs enroute, but now replaced by state road markings practically all the way.

(30) Corn Belt Route, going entirely across the state of Illinois and entering Indiana at Kentland, extending to Goodland, Remington, Wolcott, Monticello and ending at Logansport. Marked by clubs along the route; due for re-marking.

(34) Lincoln Highway, extending through Indiana by way of Goshen, Ligonier and Fort Wayne. Established and marked by the Lincoln Highway association.

(36) Hub Highway, extending across Indiana from Lafayette through Frankfort, Tipton, Elwood, Alexandria, Muncie, Winchester, and Union City, and across Ohio by way of Dayton, Xenia to Washington Coury House. Marked by clubs enroute; now being re-marked by Hoosier State association.

(39) Custer Trail, principally a Michigan trail, but extending south through Angola, Waterloo, Auburn to Fort Wayne. Marked in Indiana by H.S.A.A.

(42) Hills and Lakes Trail, extending from Indianapolis by way of Noblesville, Elwood, Wabash, North Manchester to lake resorts. First marked by Hoosier Motor club and other clubs along the route, principally from Wabash; later re-marked by automobile association and soon to receive additional attention. Construction work on main route had held up matter of repainting the poles up to this time.

(43) The Dunes Highway, extending from Michigan City through the Dune region by way of Gary, Indiana Harbor and Whiting to Chicago, connecting with Sheridan pike at Chicago and with West Michigan pike at Michigan City. Established by the Dunes Highway association, marked by the H.S.A.A. Hard pavement now under construction between Gary and Michigan City.

(47) Pike’s Peak Ocean-to-Ocean Highway. This route extends from San Francisco to New York, entering Indiana at Montezuma, extending by way of Rockville, Bainbridge, Danville, Indianapolis to Richmond and on east. Established by Pike’s Peak Ocean-to-Ocean Highway association, marked by clubs in Indiana. Now being rerouted by the Pike’s Peak Highway association.

(48) South Bend to Knox, marked last year by the H.S.A.A.

(56) Atlantic-Pacific Highway, extending from Los Angeles, Cal., to Washington, D. C. The most recent national highway across the state of Indiana, entering at Princeton, crossing the state by way of Oakland City, Jasper, French Lick, Paoli, Salem, Scottsburg, Madison, Vevay, Rising Sun, Aurora and on to Cincinnati. Marked this year by H.S.A.A.

Carroll County Toll Road Violence

In the late 19th century, laws were passed to allow county governments to purchase the toll roads that existed. The toll road was appraised, and an offer was made by the county to the owners of the road. Often times, it was a pretty straight forward deal. Sometimes, it wasn’t.

In Carroll County, it was not.

Most of the toll roads in the state were gone by the start of the 20th century. However, there was at least one in existence, the Burlington Turnpike. As late as August, 1900, the Burlington road was still a toll road. The Indianapolis News of 23 August 1900 reports that the turnpike company was offering a $2,000 reward for the arrest, and conviction, of the person, or persons, that dynamited a toll house along the road on 21 August 1900.

To that point, according to the article, people opposed to the toll company have destroyed two bridges and two toll houses. The toll keeper at a third toll house received a letter on 22 August, warning him to leave the toll house by that night. He complied. There was thoughts at the time that the third toll house would be dynamited, as well.

The people of Carroll County are up in arms that this old road is still a turnpike. There are several forces at play in the situation, as well. Carroll County commissioners refuse to buy the road. This is also supported by the businessmen of Delphi, that believe that trade would migrate to Logansport. They believe that would take business away “which rightly belong to Delphi.”

Other argue, contrary to the state law concerning such things, that if the road becomes free, it should do so without Carroll County spending any money at all on the project. Cass County already purchased their share of the road. Carroll County offered $400 a mile for the Burlington Pike. The owners in Logansport turned it down for being too low.

The county commissioners, at this point, found themselves in a precarious situation. While it was the goal to make the Burlington Pike a free road, as it was the last toll road in Carroll County, it brought on two very different mindsets that led to a mob rule situation. First were the people that wanted the road purchased but balked at the price. On the other hand were the people that demanded that the toll road company just give it, for free, to the county.

And then the fecal matter hit the rotating air movement machine.

“When it finally became apparent that nothing was to be expected of the commissioners, mutterings of mob law were heard, and in May the big bridge over Deer creek, near Burlington, was burned. A few nights later the Rock creek bridge was fired, and the Rock creek toll-house was destroyed by dynamite. A guard had been stationed at the gate, but he meekly obeyed the leaders of the mob when told to hitch up his horse and get out.”

As if that weren’t enough, the Rock Creek “bridge was not damaged much, and on the following evening the work was completed by a charge of dynamite.” The toll road company responded by placing guards at bridges and toll houses. They also places armed men to patrol the nine miles of road between the Carroll County line and Burlington. “This plan proved effective until Monday night, when it was tacitly understood that hostilities would cease, pending a decision as to purchase. It developed, however, that this change of front was simply a ruse to rid of the guards, and the dynamiters got in their work again Tuesday night.”

The toll road, constructed in 1867, was built using subscriptions and work solicited along the route. The response was great. But the claim was that there was a promise to make the road free after 20 years, or 1887. Certainly not going into 1900. To add insult to injury, the residents of the area claim that very little had been done to the road over the past fifteen years. “The bridges were in poor repair, so that it was unsafe to run traction engines and heavy loads over them.”

Carroll County officials were, apparently, of no help. “The Carroll county officials have offered no assistance. Cass county condemns the lawlessness over the border and declares that such violence would not be tolerated in Cass.”

Another Indianapolis News article, dated 8 May 1901, states that the toll road company and Carroll County officials finally made a purchase agreement. The final purchase price was listed at $3,600. An astute reader will notice that the purchase price agreed to was $400 a mile. I’ll just let that sink in for a minute.

The last article mentioned that “this turnpike is a part of the old Government plank road from Indianapolis to Michigan City.” The section that I see six days a week going to and from work still has the original name: Michigan Road.

A follow up news story to the Burlington Road incident discusses the dynamiting of the old Wabash and Erie Canal dam across the Wabash River at Pittsburgh (unincorporated location across the Wabash River from Delphi) twenty years earlier. The guard was overpowered, and the northern half of the dam was blown up. According to the Indianapolis News of 24 August 1900, “no prosecution followed, and it is the opinion of many people now that the efforts of the turnpike company to prosecute those who used dynamite on the Burlington Road will also come to naught.”

As an aside, apparently mob rule in Carroll County was a big problem. Someone started a saloon in Burlington, only to have it repeatedly dynamited. The exact word used in the newspaper was “frequently.”

Road Boosting: Michigan Road

In 1917, when the first Indiana State Highway Commission law was passed, the state set aside five “Main Market Highways.” There was a concerted effort to make sure that the Michigan Road, the first state built road, was included in those five. It wasn’t.

So, when in 1919, a new State Highway Commission law was passed, the hope was that, again, the old Michigan Road would be included. It would take some time, but most of the road would be added to the state system. By the time of the great renumbering of 1926, the original road from Madison to Bryantsburg and from Napoleon to Michigan City would be part of the system, mostly under one number (SR 29).

But there were a lot of people working to make sure that the Michigan Road wasn’t forgotten. For instance, the Logansport Pharos-Reporter of 10 April 1919 reports that, according to the headline, “Everyone Must Help To Boost Michigan Road.” Attorney Charles Yarlott, chairman of the Michigan Road Association, “emphasized the need of township organization and the pressure that must and can be brought to bear upon the state highway commission if the people will only work toward that end.”

An editorial in the same newspaper from 2 July 1917, makes the case to locate the new military road along the Michigan Road. “The Michigan Road is unquestionably the logical line for the new government military road to follow from the south to the north through Indiana. This road is as old almost as is the military history of the Hoosier state.” Two paragraphs later, the editorial includes the line “the building of the Michigan Road, a national military road at its birth, had teh endorsement of the state and the nation as to location, and when the engineers laid it out the were compelled to pass upon all points of location which now seem to be up for consideration, teh result being that the Michigan Road is just where it is because the logic of military necessity at the time and for the future indicated that that was the proper place.”

A letter to the editor of the Indianapolis News dated 2 December 1920 pleaded the case for taking the entire Michigan Road, including the section from Napoleon to Bryantsburg, into the state system. The writer goes on to state “Madison has put up a great fight for the Michigan plank road to Versailles (a sort of hybrid affair, neither ‘hoss nor mule’) which abandons nineteen miles of the original Michigan Road.” He further states that “I have been an advocate about thirty years of the Michigan road as originally surveyed and built by the Second legislature.”

It didn’t stop there. The South Bend Tribune of 21 June 1921 reports that the Michigan Road is still left out of the state system. 100 members of the Michigan Road Association appealed to Governor McCray and the state highway commission on 20 June 1921 for such action. They won the endorsement of the Governor, and a commission to look into taking over the road was promised. Many cities along the route have stated “the Michigan Road is traveled more in the northern half than the Range line road between Indianapolis and South Bend, which was originally set aside as a state highway.”

(Editor’s Note: Most of the Michigan Road in Saint Joseph County WAS in the state system…starting with the law of 1917. From the south, the old road was part of State Road 1, the Range Line Road. And to the west, the old road was part of the Lincoln Highway to Rolling Prairie, which was originally State Road 2.)

Of course, there were other parts of the state that had some problems with the Michigan Road. An editorial in the Huntington Press of 3 March 1923 stated “a news item, printed in yesterday’s issue of The Press, says the state highway commission will take over the Michigan road from Logansport to Rochester and will pave it. Quite interesting! The highways under state administration in Huntington county were taken over in 1920 and not a foot of them has been paved.”

Before the creation of the Main Market Highway 1, a person none other than Carl Fisher made a passionate plea for the state to include the Michigan Road from South Bend to Indianapolis as the original MMH #1, and not the Range Line Road. Of course, at the time, that section of the old road was also the route of Fisher’s brainchild, the Dixie Highway.

Eventually, most of the old road became, once again, a state property. Until sections were bypassed along the way.

Auto Trails and Historic Roads, Not Quite the Same

In looking at the old Rand McNally Region 2 Auto Trails maps, I have found some things that are different than the historic trails that the Auto Trails claimed to be.

I have mentioned several times about the differences in the Michigan Road. For those that don’t know, the Michigan Road was Indiana’s first state highway. It was created to connect Lake Michigan, at Michigan City, to the Ohio River at Madison. The Auto Trail era of the Michigan Road turned southeast from Napoleon, connecting to Versailles before continuing on to Madison. The original road made no such detour. That detour was continued when the state highway system designated it as Original State Road 6. In 1926, the OSR 6 became SR 29, further cementing the Auto Trails version of the road as the “official” Michigan Road. Thank goodness for groups like the Historic Michigan Road to make sure that the original route was not only not forgotten, but memorialized as a State Byway.

But, in looking at the RM maps, I noticed another section of the Michigan Road that never made it to Auto Trail Status. That was the section west out of South Bend to Michigan City. Now, a part of that was part of the Auto Trail system – from South Bend to outside Rolling Prairie. But that was because that section of the original Michigan Road was part of the Lincoln Highway. The section from Rolling Prairie to Michigan City was a “side road” on the RM maps. It was not a part of any Auto Trail.

Then there is the National Road. Most people think, and I was one of them, that the Auto Trail called the National Old Trails Road followed the old National Road through Indiana. And for the most part, that is correct. Jim Grey, through his blog, spent some time showing that the NOTR around Reelsville did not follow the original route.

(https://blog.jimgrey.net/2018/01/22/puzzle-solved-the-national-road-at-reelsville-indiana/)

But that was due to a bridge that washed out in the 1870s and was not replaced.

Then I noticed another section that differed from the old National Road. And what’s funny is that it starts on a street that is named “Old National Road” in Richmond. The NOTR actually turned southeast out of Richmond, following what would eventually (though not permanently) become US 35 to Eaton and Dayton in Ohio. The original National Road was built in as much a straight line as was possible from Wheeling, VA (to become Wheeling, WV, in 1863), through the (then) capitals of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. At that time, that would have been Columbus, Indianapolis and Vandalia.

Dayton was not included on the original road. But the NOTR went through Eaton and Dayton, connecting back to the original road at Springfield.

Those two Auto Trails were the only ones in Indiana that actually tried to be roughly the historic roads. Most of the rest of them had non-local type names, or names of the connecting cities. The only other local name for an Auto Trail that I could find was the Range Line Road. Yes, it is still called that inside the central part of the city of Carmel. But the concept of the “Range Line” predated even any roads there. It was named after a survey line. The survey line separates two survey ranges, hence the name. It actually separates Range III and Range IV, both east of the Second Principal Meridian. A Range is (supposed to be) six miles east to west.

Now, back to my maps. (As a personal note, let me say that reading maps online is really a lot easier to do when you can bring it up on a 32″ monitor, while writing a blog entry on another monitor.)

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