Category: History
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The Fairmount House
The Michigan Road begins in Madison with winding Michigan Hill and its Ohio River view and weeping limestone wall. The Fairmount House overlooks it all from the hill’s crest. Completed in 1872 by Aurelius H. Gibson, who made a fortune in barrel staves and lumber, this home is said to be filled with all the…
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Where cars no longer go
We all have our hobbies. Some people follow pro football, some run, some make lovely quilts, some fish, some solve the Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle. I like to explore abandoned roads. Yeah, that’s a great conversation starter at parties. I’m not sure where this vigor comes from. All I know is that the first time I found…
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Clinched: The Michigan Road
Over Labor Day weekend I finally finished driving the Michigan Road. Here is what stands at its end: You might think it’s the open to The Simpsons brought to life, but it’s actually the cooling tower of the fossil-fuel-fired Michigan City Generating Station. I didn’t count on how built up Michigan City would be and…
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The Michigan Road as it was in Burlington, Indiana
I recently bought a book that sketches the history of Burlington, Indiana, a town about 20 miles south of Logansport on the Michigan Road. The 1978 book is heavy on photos, light on text. But oh, the photos! I’ve been hoping I’d find some good old photos featuring the road, and this one was so…
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The Boardman House
A quick look at one of the oldest houses in Indianapolis, built 1832 on the Michigan Road.
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Learning to see
In case you can’t tell by my recent posts, I have the Michigan Road coming out of my ears. Most of my road trips take me places I’ve never been, and my Michigan Road trips have been no different. If you look back at my early trips, such as along the National Road in western…
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Pleasant View, on the Michigan Road
Southeast of Indianapolis, about 3½ miles of a five-mile stretch of I-74 were built on top of the Michigan Road. Within those five miles, I-74 swings slightly west, allowing 1½ miles of the Michigan Road to reappear. In the middle of that segment is the tiny unincorporated town of Pleasant View. If you look carefully as…
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Scenes from the Michigan Road in southern Indiana
I made my second visit to the Michigan Road in southern Indiana on Saturday. I returned to Napoleon, where I finished last time, and drove north from there. It was another great trip, full of sunshine and sights. It was cool, so I rolled the windows down and enjoyed the breeze. My dogs napped in…
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The Michigan Road
When Indiana was new, most Hoosiers lived along the Ohio River. The state’s first and largest city, Madison, was on the river, and the state’s first capital, Corydon, was near the river. Indiana wasn’t ten years old in 1825 when the capital moved to Indianapolis at the state’s swampy center. People needed ways to get to the…
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The National Road revisited
“I know!” someone at the highway maintenance barn exclaimed. “Let’s get drunk and go stripe some road!” This and many other adventures, including an abandoned bridge, 10 miles of abandoned brick highway, and an 1830 stone arch bridge still carrying traffic, in my report on the Indiana and Illinois National Road, Revisited.
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A kink in the National Road
Last year I wrote on my Roads pages about a trip I took with a friend down US 40 and the National Road across western Indiana. We enjoyed finding forgotten and sometimes abandoned segments of the road’s original alignment. Since then, thanks to the gang at the American Road forum, I’ve discovered the Automobile Blue…