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270 miles of history
If you’ve ever read my blog before, you know about my fascination with the Michigan Road. It’s Indiana’s first state-funded road, built in the 1830s to connect southern Indiana to northern Indiana...
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The historic Michigan Road
Original alignment, Shelby County I’ve been working with blogger Hoosier Reborn on having the Michigan Road named a state historic byway. We’re building a grassroots organization from communities along...
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Kodak EasyShare Z730
Even though I’ve collected cameras for 30 years, I’ve only had a decent everyday camera for the past few years. By “decent,” I mean a point-and-shoot camera with autofocus and zoom, by no means...
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Seeking the signs
It’s a little unusual for me to make road trips this late in the year – I like the road best while it’s still warm outside. Yet I’ve hit the asphalt a lot this autumn. I’ve been sharing my Halloween...
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The bridge on Prince William Road
I made two trips to Delphi, a Wabash River town in northern Indiana, in 2010 to promote the Historic Michigan Road Byway. Not only is Delphi a charming small town, but the drive up from Indianapolis is...
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Peeling back the layers of time
I’ve significantly revised and updated this post which first appeared here in 2009. This is Michigan Rd. at 86th St., a major Indianapolis intersection. Michigan Road is eight lanes wide here – three...
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Old houses on the Michigan Road, preserved and lost
It’s been almost seven years since I drove the Michigan Road from end to end. Much has happened since then: my buddy Kurt and I built a grassroots organization in all 14 counties along the route that...
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Adding the Michigan Road to the modern Indiana highway system
Brace for impact: here comes a major road history post. I haven’t written one in ages. The Michigan Road, highlighted in blue. Map © 2008 Google. It was very late to the party: the last segment of the...
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Article 1
Getting your hair done on the Michigan Road Kodak EasyShare Z730 Zoom 2008 This is my 1,000th post!
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Whatever became of Augusta, Indiana?
A couple weeks ago, when I walked you through the old railroad town of New Augusta in northwest Indianapolis, I mentioned nearby Augusta. It came first, in 1832, built on the then-new Michigan Road....
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Goodbye Middletown Bridge
You can’t save them all. It wouldn’t win any beauty contests, this four-span stone-arch bridge on a bypassed one-lane alignment of the Michigan Road in southeastern Shelby County. But it was built by...
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Lifting a blighted neigborhood: The Angie’s List campus
This was the scene in 2008 where the Michigan Road and the National Road intersect on Indianapolis’s Eastside. Ew. Since then, this block and the block to the east have been extensively renovated. Here...
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Welcome to Wanamaker
When you stand on the Michigan Road in downtown Wanamaker, you’d never guess you’re really in Indianapolis. When Indianapolis merged with Marion County in 1970, most of the little towns that dotted the...
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Signs along the Michigan Road Historic Byway in central Indiana
If you’re wondering why I’m posting frequently about the Michigan Road all of a sudden, it’s because just before I returned to work this summer I toured the road through Marion and Shelby Counties,...
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Historic architecture in Shelbyville on the Michigan Road
1876 map, Michigan Road highlighted in magenta, Shelbyville in the center Driving the Michigan Road, Shelbyville is the first town you encounter southeast of Indianapolis. Even though the town wasn’t...
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Improvements on “MLK,” aka the Michigan Road, in northwest Indianapolis
There’s a saying: if you’re on a street named after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., you’re in a rough neighborhood. This may be only a stereotype, but sadly it’s been true of any city I’ve ever been in....
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For sale: Michigan Road Toll House
When railroads came to prominence in the mid 1800s, traffic dropped dramatically on roads like Indiana’s Michigan Road. What followed was an early example of privatization: many roads were sold to...
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The Michigan Road pedestrian trail in Indianapolis
Ten years ago walking or biking in most of Indianapolis meant taking your life into your hands. Large portions of this city have a suburban or even rural character thanks to 1970’s merger of this city...
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Tracking the changes at Kessler Blvd. and Michigan Road in northwest...
I wish I had started photographing the Michigan Road near my home as soon as I moved to the area in 1995. So much has changed. It would be interesting to have photographs that show the evolution. But I...
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