The arch at Marshall, Indiana

On the way back home from our recent Turkey Run trip I drove the length of State Road 236. It starts at US 41 just south of the park and almost reaches Danville about 41 miles away. It’s so minor that it’s not even worthy of a writeup on my roads pages.

As it heads east, the first little town it enters is called Marshall. Check out its arch! What visions of grandeur, since unrealized, did Marshall’s residents have that prompted them to build such a monument to their little town?

Marshall, IN

One thing’s for sure: there’s no mistaking that you’ve entered Marshall. And there’s no forgetting Marshall, either. I came through here once before, probably 20 years ago. The whole point of the trip down SR 236 was so that I could see this arch again.

Marshall, IN

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Comments

8 responses to “The arch at Marshall, Indiana”

  1. wordination Avatar
    wordination

    Tiny town indeed — I lived very near this growing up (in Tangier, an even tinier town on the western edge of Parke County.) These towns all claimed large industry at the turn of the last century.

    (Bizarrely, as I stop here at your page, I see someone from Pforzheim, Germany – my mother’s hometown – has visited your page this morning. Pforzheim was famously one of the most bombed cities in Germany; Mom remembers every building on her street coming down, except hers – else I might not be here today!)

    1. Jim Avatar

      I don’t think I knew that you are a first-generation native! Anyway, I’ve been all over that part of the state but have never passed through Tangier. I looked it up; it looks like a collection of houses.

  2. David Avatar

    Thanks for the pix. Last year while camping at Shades, spouse and I took a scooter ride and accidentally found Marshall, via backroads. I had never been there before, worse, we didn’t have camera with us.
    Kinda stunning to encounter that arch in that little burg!

    1. Jim Avatar

      It is startling to come upon this arch. Makes you wonder about the town’s history.

  3. kurt Avatar

    Dang it! You beat me to this one!
    Kurt

    1. Jim Avatar

      Didn’t realize there was a competition!

  4. Bernie Kasper Avatar

    Now that is really neat Jim, I have never seen anything like it, I wonder how many small towns like this have completely vanished here in Indiana in the last century !!

    1. Jim Avatar

      When I read the old (1910s-1920s) road guides I have, I’m surprised by how many small towns have not vanished!

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