When State Road 67 was new in 1926, followed Mooresville Road out of Indianapolis to the town the road was named for. It’s the road in blue below, as it exits Marion County and enters Morgan County. A later alignment of SR 67 used the current alignment right to where the road in green below branches off to join the original alignment.
There wasn’t a great place to park the car so I could photograph it, but as SR 67 followed what’s now signed as Indianapolis Road, the north-south segment on the east side of Mooresville, it was surprisingly narrow with little to see. It felt like coming into Mooresville the back way. But soon the road turned west onto Main Street and all was right. Downtown appeared shortly. But the way south on old SR 67 was blocked.
A building was being demolished, and apparently the street was needed for equipment.
I learned that Mooresville is named for founder Samuel Moore, who operated a store on the northeast corner of Main and Indiana.
Mooresville is a typical Indiana town where people go about their lives. I’m sure many of them commute up to Indianapolis to work. The downtown small, but its storefronts contain vital businesses. This law office is on the northwest corner of this intersection.
As old SR 67/Indiana Street passes through town proper and into the strip-mall district, it soon reconnects with current SR 67.
Shortly after, current SR 67 veers slightly east to reveal another short old alignment segment.
I don’t recall why it was inconvenient to get a southbound photo from the north end of this alignment, but it was. Here’s a northbound photo from near the south end of this alignment.
The old alignment ends in the parking lot of what looks to have been a diner. I made this panorama of several photos to show the scene. That’s my friend and regular road-trip companion Dawn standing in the middle.
What’s fascinating about this parking lot is the little stub of pavement in its southeast corner. Notice how it points directly across to where the road ahead continues.
What I’ve since learned is that this stub was part of a detour built while the current alignment was under construction. This map shows the original path of the road (in blue and red) and the detour (in green).
Next: The original alignment of SR 67 south to Martinsville.
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