In October, 2012, I followed the Dixie Highway (a.k.a. State Road 37) from Indianapolis to Paoli. I’m finally sharing my full report from that trip here.
Leaving Bloomington, the Dixie Highway followed Rogers Street southbound to where it met what is now Walnut Street or Old State Road 37. Because of research Richard Simpson did on State Road 37’s original route, I believe the Dixie then turned south on Empire Road, which currently dead ends at current SR 37.
It then follows Old State Road 37 south to just north of Harrodsburg, where it forks right onto Gore Road to pass through that town.
I didn’t know either of these things when I drove this route, so I just stayed on Old SR 37 the whole way. The route winds a bit and crosses current SR 37 again before reaching Needmore and then a dead end.
Here’s the southbound road as it crosses Gulletts Creek.
The road on the right just past the rock wall is Needmore School Road. I wonder if it is an old alignment of this road. It runs through Needmore proper while Old SR 37 skirts it on the east. Here’s where Needmore School Road turns off Old SR 37.
This road exits Needmore as Trogdon Lane. Just past it is a curve that was once the Dixie Highway and State Road 37 that now serves a few homes. I’d love to know more about the history of this road here.
About a quarter mile south of here, the road ends abruptly at a gate.
Here the Dixie Highway and Old SR 37 pass through Empire Quarry. This part of Indiana is rich in limestone, which was heavily mined here for decades. This quarry provided limestone to construct the Empire State Building and the Pentagon. It’s been in operation since the late 1800s, but at far reduced capacity today as limestone construction fell out of favor starting in the mid 20th century. At some point after current SR 37 was built in about 1971, workers dug across the old road to get at more stone. That was that for this original routing of the Dixie Highway.
This quarry is private property, but people go in all the time anyway to have a look. While I stood here making photos, a handful of people walked up, stepped around the gate, and hoofed it down the old road. I have a policy of not trespassing, so this is as far as I went.
The Dixie Highway and Old SR 37 would have next entered the town of Oolitic, which is prononuced oo-LIT-ick. It’s named for the oolitic limestone found here.
I regret now that I didn’t stop to photograph Oolitic while I was there, All sources I know of say that the Dixie Highway and Old SR 37 entered Oolitic from the north on what is now Hoosier Avenue, the main road through town. As it exits town, its name changes to Oolitic Road. The 1935 USGS topographic map supports this routing, which it marks in red. It also shows the road’s original route through the quarry.
Next: The Dixie Highway in Bedford.
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