In 2012, I drove a section of the Dixie Highway from the Illinois state line to Indianapolis along the corridor that is now US 136. I’m bringing that trip report here from my old Roads site.

Just after the Dixie Highway enters Montgomery County, it enters Waynetown. Despite being near the west edge of the county, it was platted as Middletown in 1830.

Imagery ©2012 DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, IndianaMap Framework Data, USDA Farm Service Agency, Map data ©2012 Google

At first I thought the windows on the second floor of the red building were boarded up, but on closer inspection it looks like those are shutters.

Waynetown

This is the most interesting set of buildings in downtown Waynetown.

Waynetown

I was especially taken with the Pizza King sign and the scene it created.

Waynetown Pizza King

This store entrance looks like it’s straight out of the 1930s.

Waynetown

Just east of Waynetown I found what looks like an old alignment. On this map, I’ve drawn in green where I think it used to go. The only reason I can see for realigning the road was to smooth out that sharp curve, but it sure seems like there would have been less invasive ways to do that.

Imagery ©2012 DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, IndianaMap Framework Data, USDA Farm Service Agency, Map data ©2012 Google

Here’s where the old road starts on the west end, with just a tiny bit of pavement that hasn’t crumbled to dust over the years.

Possible old alignment

As I entered Crawfordsville, I followed Old Waynetown Road, which is almost certainly the Dixie Highway’s original alignment. I’m pretty sure that the Dixie crossed the river at what is now Wayne Ct. and followed Wayne Ave. to Market St. before heading due east. I’ve drawn that route in green. I didn’t go look, but Google Maps’ Street View shows Wayne Ct. extending beyond the last house and fading away as it approaches the river, a good sign that there was once a bridge there.

Imagery ©2012 DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, IndianaMap Framework Data, USDA Farm Service Agency, Map data ©2012 Google

I crossed the river on US 136, of course, but decided to just follow it as it curved around and became Market St. As you can see on this map, US 136 (the Dixie) doesn’t quite go through the heart of Crawfordsville, instead passing along the northern edge of downtown.

Imagery ©2012 DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, IndianaMap Framework Data, USDA Farm Service Agency, Map data ©2012 Google

That simply wasn’t going to do for me, so I parked and explored downtown Crawfordsville, which lies along US 231. Here’s the road eastbound from there.

Crawfordsville

A few old European-style street signs remain attached to some of the buildings. This one is on the southwest corner of US 136 (Dixie Highway) and US 231.

Crawfordsville

A bit south of the Dixie on US 231 stands the Montgomery County courthouse.

Crawfordsville

Just after leaving Crawfordsville, there is what I think is an old alignment. Where the road would have crossed the creek, there is no longer a bridge, but I see possible evidence on Google Maps that one was once there.

Imagery ©2012 DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, IndianaMap Framework Data, USDA Farm Service Agency, Map data ©2012 Google

A bit east of there is the tiny town of Mace.

Imagery ©2012 DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, IndianaMap Framework Data, USDA Farm Service Agency, Map data ©2012 Google

You never know what you’ll find even in the tiniest of towns. In Mace, I found a former gas station and what was probably a tiny diner. It probably offered just enough room for the grill and a counter or maybe one or two booths or tables. It’s used as the rental office for some nearby apartments today.

Mace

Next: New Ross and Jamestown.

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Comments

9 responses to “The Dixie Highway in western Indiana: Waynetown, Crawfordsville, and Mace”

  1. brandib1977 Avatar

    Wow! That picture with the Pizza King sign, the bikes and the corner detailing on the building is fantastic!

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Waynetown was kind of charming in a slightly shabby way.

      1. brandib1977 Avatar

        That’s good. I like towns like that!

  2. Rush Rox Avatar

    You proposed that the realignment east of Waynetown was to “smooth out that sharp curve”, but I will suggest that the sharp curve you envisioned did not exist. There was a rail line in play here, so the realignment eased up the obliqueness of an earlier rail crossing AND smoothed out one fairly tight curve of an S-curve complex. I am unable to provide sufficient detail here from which you could properly visualize the old road’s route, so please see IHAPI imagery of Montgomery County in 1939 at https://igws.indiana.edu/IHAPI/Map/ .

    Once you’ve viewed the 1939 imagery, you’ll notice that a trace of the old road just about jumps out of the pic you have posted here. In today’s Google Maps view, the old road’s trace across the field is indiscernible, but your pic shows it clearly. To my knowledge, which is admittedly limited, the highway did not ever extend westward all the way to the rail line and run alongside it for a short distance. If your research digs up more than my cursory effort here, please share it with us, if you don’t mind.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Oh my gosh, you’re so right. The old road crossed the tracks and curved more directly easterly, and then crossed what’s now the current alignment (which wasn’t present then), and then curved again to cross it back. It’s as clear as day. The 1939 aerial shows it plainly. It also tells us that the road was realigned early in the SR 34 era of this road. In the 2012 aerial I screenshotted, you can just make out the faint indentations in the land where the road used to go.

      1. Rush Rox Avatar

        Tee hee! I just knew you would be tickled by that, Jim. Isn’t IHAPI imagery full of “old alignmenty goodness”? (if I am permitted to use that terminology, which I believe you coined long ago in one of these posts)

        1. Jim Grey Avatar

          Good on you for remembering that long-ago phrase!

          I need to lean into IHAPI much more when I explore the roads. I know it’s there but I just don’t think to use it when I’m trying to figure something out.

  3. J P Avatar

    This trip is interesting, as I have not spent much time in that area but have heard of some of the places.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      This was my first time through here. Not much call for me to go out this way!

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