mileage
148 CRAWFORDSVILLE station, Spring and Green Streets. Elevation approximately 745 ft. The Crawfordsville
AMTRAK station is one of the classic “glass shack” stations next to an older depot which was used during the Monon days. The
city was founded in 1822 and named in honor of William Harris Crawford, a public official and presidential candidate of the time. Crawfordsville was incorporated as a town in 1834 and as a city in 1865. General Lew Wallace, military leader and author of
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1880), lived most of his life here.
Crawfordsville
is the home of Wabash College, which was founded in 1832 as an all-male college. The school turned down a request from residents
of Crawfordsville during the 19th century to admit women. During the early 1990’s, the college considered the possibility of
admitting women, but in 1992 the school’s trustees voted to remain an all-male institution. Wabash is one of the few remaining
private liberal arts colleges in the United States for men only. During World War II, the college operated a training program
for the U.S. Navy.
Crawfordsville is also the home of the Ben Hur Museum, built
in the home of General Lew Wallace, and the Henry S. Lane Home, built in 1845 for the then-Governor of Indiana.
The city of Crawfordsville is located on an out-wash terrace associated with Sugar Creek.
149 Your train will slow
down dramatically here as it creeps through Ames Junction, where we are leaving the old Monon line and entering a Conrail line which
we will be following between here and Indianapolis.
152 The area between here and Indianapolis is covered primarily
by ground moraines of the Tipton Till Plain.
154 Linnsburg. This town was named after Asbury Linn, a local
merchant and farmer, and was laid out in 1870.
159 New Ross. This town was named after the English town of
Ross, the site of a battle. The town was named by George Dorsey, a local innkeeper.
160.5 Enter BOONE County. We will be
in Boone County for approximately 5 miles only. The county was organized in 1830, and named after legendary Frontiersman Daniel
Boone. The county seat was originally Jamestown, which we will pass through in a couple miles; however, in 1832, the county
seat was moved to Lebanon.
164-165 Jamestown. This was the original county seat of Boone County. The town was
named after James Mattlock, one of the founders, and was platted in 1832.
165 Enter HENDRICKS County. This
town was named after William Hendricks, the Governor of Indiana from 1822 to 1825. Hendricks was born in Pennsylvania in 1782,
and was a publisher in Madison, Indiana, on the Ohio River, prior to getting elected to the territorial legislature. In 1816,
Hendricks was named Secretary of the Constitutional Convention. The county was formed in 1824.
Cross the North Fork of Big Walnut Creek. The valley of Big Walnut Creek is composed of mixed glacial till and outwash deposits. We are still crossing the Tipton Till Plain.
167 Cross the Middle Fork of Big Walnut Creek. We are still crossing
the valley composed of mixed till and outwash deposits; however, you will not be able to differentiate the two types of deposits from
the train.
170 Lizton. This town was originally called New Elizabeth and was named after the wife of Jesse
Veiley, the town’s founder. The name was shortened to Lizton by officials of the New York Central Railroad (the predecessor
of the Conrail line we are on). Lizton, Pittsboro, and North Salem, make up the North Hendricks School Corporation.
171.5 Raintown. This town was named after Hiram Rain, a local sawmill owner in the 1870’s.
174 Pittsboro. This community was
founded in 1834 by John B. Hadley. It was named “Pittsborough” after Hadley’s home town in North Carolina. In April of
1906, the citizens voted for incorporation of the town.
176 Cross the West Fork of White Lick Creek, another small
outwash-filled valley within the Tipton Till Plain.
178 Cross White Lick Creek and enter Brownsburg. This city
was laid out in 1835 and originally called Harrisburg after William Harris, who established the town. The Brownsburg name came
later. Brownsburg is the home of O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis, formerly known as Indianapolis Raceway Park. Former
race car drivers John and Aldo Andretti were from Brownsburg, as well as Robbie Stanley, Josh Wise, and Bobby East. Stage actress
and playwright Emily Schwartz is also from Browns-burg.
181.5 O’Reilly Raceway Park is visible to the south (right if eastbound). We are passing through Clermont Heights.
182.5 Enter MARION County and the City of Clermont. The county was named after General
Francis Marion, the noted “Swamp Fox” of the American Revolution. Marion was born in South Carolina in 1732, and was known for
his daring raids against the British during the Revolution, whereafter he withdrew his troops into the swamp country of the South,
where the British troops could not find them. The City of Indianapolis now takes up the entire area of Marion County.
Clermont was first platted as Mechanicsburg in 1849, but was later renamed since several other towns in the state had the same name. Since 1970, Clermont has been an “included town,” and, as a part of the Unigov program adopted by the Indiana State legislature, the
town is now part of the City of Indianapolis.
183.5 To the left (eastbound) is the Indianapolis Country Club. Beyond the Country
Club is Eagle Creek, which is filled with more than 100 ft of glacial outwash materials. Eagle Creek was a major glacial meltwater
channel during the end of the Pleistocene Epoch.
186 On the right (eastbound) is the suburban town of Tremont.
189 The abandoned railroad grade on the right (eastbound) formerly served passenger trains which operated between New York City and Kansas
City, even into the AMTRAK era. The Indianapolis Airport is visible now to the south (right if eastbound).
190 Pass beneath Interstate 74 and 465, as we pass through the suburban town of Mickleyville.
192 Interstate 70 now approaches
the railroad on the south (right if eastbound).
195 Cross the White River, the largest tributary of the Wabash River. The river rises in southern Indiana, and is about 50 miles long, emptying into the Wabash at Mount Carmel, in southwestern Indiana.
196 INDIANAPOLIS Union Station, 350 S. Illinois Street. Elevation approximately 710. Union Station contains several eating
establishments, and several shops.
Indianapolis is the capital of Indiana. It is also the seat of Marion County, with which it consolidated in 1970. Historically a leading center of manufacturing and
commerce in the Midwest, Indianapolis also is an important transportation hub. Known as the Crossroads of America, four interstate
freeways and four federal highways meet in Indianapolis, putting the city within a day’s drive of one-half the nation’s population. The development of Indianapolis began in 1820 when a committee from the state’s legislature chose the site for a new state capital
because of its central location. The legislature named the city Indianapolis, which literally means the “City of Indiana” (from
the Greek polis, or “city”). Early fur traders called the site Fall Creek Settlement.
Just north of Union Station is Monument Circle, which contains the 284-ft high Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, which was built of
Indiana limestone and dedicated in 1902.
Indianapolis has a well-balanced economy,
and since the 1970’s, the city has experienced steady, sometimes impressive, economic growth. Major manufactured products include
automobile parts, electrical components, pharmaceuticals, machinery, transportation equipment, metal products, processed food, paper
products, printed materials, and rubber and plastic goods. Government activity, financial and insurance institutions, construction,
sports, tourism, and the convention trade are also important contributors to the city’s economy. The city houses few headquarters
of major corporations; the best known is Eli Lilly and Company, a major pharmaceutical manufacturer.
Indianapolis, of course, is best known for its annual Memorial Day spectacle, the Indianapolis 500 auto race. The city also
houses the Indianapolis campus of Indiana University-Purdue University, the Indiana University Medical School, and Butler University. Other attractions in the city are the Indianapolis Children’s Museum, James Whitcomb Riley House, Garfield Park Conservatory, Indiana-polis
Museum of Art, Morris-Butler House, and others.
202 Cross Lick Creek, then pass beneath Indiana 100. Now that
we are out of the city, we can again observe features of the Tipton Till Plain from the train, which we are still traversing. The Wisconsin aged till on the ground surface is still the Trafalgar Formation.
205 Pass through the suburban community
of Burge Terrace.
206.5 Buck Creek has eroded into the Trafalgar Till at this crossing.
207 Pass through the community
of Julietta.
207.5 Enter HANCOCK County. Hancock County was named after John Hancock, the American patriot and member of the
Continental Congress, who is known for his first and boldest signature on the Declaration of Independence. Hancock then became
Governor of Massachusetts in 1780. The county was organized in 1828.
The
county seat of Hancock County is Greenfield, which was the home of noted Hoosier poet James Whitcomb Riley.
208.5 Cross Doe Creek,
another stream which has eroded downward into the Trafalgar Till ground moraine of the Tipton Till Plain.
211 Pass
through New Palestine. This town was laid out in 1838 and originally named Palestine, after the biblical town, but it was renamed
later as New Palestine, since there was another town named Palestine in northern Indiana. The town is located on Sugar Creek,
which we cross as we pass through town.
214.5 Pass through Finly. This town has had several names over the years. It was
platted in 1854 and named Carrollton, after local citizen Charles Carroll. The original railroad name was Reedville, but it
1913, the town was renamed Finly, after Congressman Finly Gray. James Whitcomb Riley referred to the town as Tailholt.
216.5 Enter
SHELBY County. This county was organized in 1821, and named after Isaac Shelby, the first Governor of Kentucky. Shelby
was born in Maryland and served in the Revolutionary War as a provisions officer under Patrick Henry. In 1816, Shelby was offered
the job of Secretary of War by President James Monroe, but he turned down the offer.
The first railroad west of the Allegheny Mountains is preserved at the Fairgrounds in Shelbyville, the county seat.
217 Pass through Fountaintown. Fountaintown was platted by Matthew Fountain in 1854.
220.5 Cross Big Blue River. The valley
of the Big Blue River is rather wide here, and is filled with glacial outwash materials, deposited amidst the ground moraine of the
Tipton Till Plain. The Big Blue River flows south, into the White River.
221.5 At the edge of the Big Blue River outwash plain
is the city of Morristown, which was laid out in 1828 by Rezin Davis and Samuel Morrison. It was named after Morrison.
We are again traversing the very flat Tipton Till Plain.
224.5 Gwynneville. The town was platted in 1881. It was named
after a merchant from Carthage, Indiana, O’Brien Gwynne.
225 Enter RUSH County. The county was named after
Dr. Benjamin Rush, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1745. Rush was the Surgeon General of the Continental Army, and also the
first Professor of Chemistry at the College of Philadelphia. He became a doctor in 1766. He was also a member of the Continental
Congress, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Rush County was organized in 1822.
228.5 Arlington. This town
was originally called Burlington, and was platted in 1832. In 1875, it was renamed after the site of the National Cemetery in
Arlington, Virginia.
Cross the Little Blue River at Arlington, which is cut
into the Trafalgar Till of the Tipton Till Plain, and also filled with glacial outwash materials.
235-236 Pass through
Rushville, the county seat of Rush County. Notice the red tile limestone courthouse in the center of town. Rushville was
founded in 1822, and also named after Dr. Benjamin Rush (see MP 225 above). In 1944, Rushville served as the campaign headquarters
of Wendell Wilkie, who ran against Franklin Delano Roosevelt for President. Wilkie is buried at East Hill Cemetery in Rushville,
and remains the only Indiana native to be nominated by a major political party for President. Rushville was also the home of
Frazier Thomas, the host of the children’s TV show “Garfield Goose.”
236.5 Cross Flatrock River. This valley is also filled with
glacial outwash deposits. The Flatrock carried water away and to the south from the melting ice age glaciers, and its channel
was roughly parallel to an end moraine, which was also deposited by the last retreating continental ice sheets.
237 We are now entering a feature known as the Muscatuck Regional Slope. This feature is a wide gently-sloping regional surface
which connects the Ordovician and Silurian bedrock ridges of the Dearborn Upland, just east of here, with the flat Tipton Till Plain,
which is composed of glacial deposits. The bedrock of the Dearborn Upland is located on the western edge of the Cincinnati Arch
in this part of Indiana.
241.5 Pass through the small community of Mauzy, named after local landowners. The community was originally
called Griffin Station, also name dafter local landowners.
243.5 Pass through Glenwood and enter FAYETTE County. This town was
laid out in 1882, and was originally called Steel’s, named after David Steel, its first postmaster. The name was later changed
to Vienna, then to Glenwood.
Fayette County was established in 1819, and named
after the Marquis de Lafayette. the French statesman who fought with the American colonists during the Revolutionary War. After
serving in the American Revolution, de Lafayette also fought in the French Revolution in the 1780’s. de Lafayette’s full name
was Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier.
We are still traversing the
Tipton Till Plain; however, the irregular topography we are currently traveling is part of a large end moraine. Most of the
Tipton Till Plain is covered by ground moraine deposits.
247 We are crossing the same end moraine complex we have
been following for a few miles. In this area, several streams which flow into Williams Creek and eventually into the Whitewater
River, have eroded into the end moraine.
250 The area we are now crossing is mixed ground moraine and end moraine,
and again has been heavily eroded by streams.
252.5 Climb down from the end moraine complex into the valley of the Whitewater River,
which is primarily filled with glacial outwash.
253 CONNERSVILLE station, 1012 Eastern Avenue. Elevation approximately
835. Connersville is the county seat of Fayette County, and was named after fur trader John Conner, who established a trading
post here in 1808 and founded the town in 1813. Connersville marked one point along the famed Whitewater Canal, which once connected
Hagerstown, Indiana, with Cincinnati and other towns. In the early part of the 20th century, Connersville was known as “Little
Detroit,” after its small automobile industry at that time. Cars manufactured in Connersville at that time included the Auburn,
Cord, Lexington, and McFarlan.
Connersville is the home of the Whitewater Valley
Scenic Railroad, which runs between Connersville and Metamora, and follows the towpath of the old Whitewater Canal. It is also
the home of the Mary Gray Bird Sanctuary, the Reynolds Museum of Science and History, the Canal House, and the First Ward Hose House.