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Indiana Highways in 1950

Started by US 41, October 20, 2015, 11:43:32 PM

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US 41

I found this map of Parke County, Indiana from 1950.

http://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/US/1575985/Parke+County++Liberty++Sugar+Creek++Howard++Penn++Reserve++Washington++Greene++Wabash++Adams++Florida++Raccoon/Indiana+State+Atlas+1950c/Indiana/

I found this very interesting. Here's some of my thoughts.

1) I can't even imagine any of these state highways running on the routes shown on this map. I know they did, but it is pretty mind blowing.

2) Some of the routes these highways ran on don't even exist anymore.

3) If you know anything about Parke County at all you know it is famous for its covered bridges. A few of these highways (US 41 over Sugar Creek and SR 59 in Mansfield) had to have ran through covered bridges.

4) Some of these roads that used to be highways are now gravel roads. Old 36 Road for example east of Rockville is a gravel road. It also runs through a covered bridge.

5) I can see Eisenhower's frustration. It's odd that only 6 years later we decided to build an interstate system whenever some of our highways were still running through covered bridges. I never realized how fast transportation has improved.

Now a couple of questions for anyone that knows the answers.

Q1) Were US / state highways paved in 1950 or was it legal for them to be gravel? (I'm aware that a road could have easily went from paved to gravel in 65 years.)

Q2) Were yellow and white lines painted on the highways in 1950?

Q3) What was the speed limit on Indiana state highways in 1950?
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froggie

QuoteQ1) Were US / state highways paved in 1950 or was it legal for them to be gravel? (I'm aware that a road could have easily went from paved to gravel in 65 years.)

There are no laws I'm aware of that prohibit US or state highway routes from being gravel.  In fact, even today, there are some states that have gravel state highways (segments of MN 74, VA 91, and VT 65 for example).  There were gravel US route segments into the 1960s.

QuoteQ2) Were yellow and white lines painted on the highways in 1950?

Yes.  Indiana was using yellow lines to delineate no passing zones as early as 1946 (my 1946 IN map mentions it).

QuoteQ3) What was the speed limit on Indiana state highways in 1950?

Couldn't say about 1950...my 1957 map shows a max speed limit of 65 MPH, with a 55 max for buses and 45 for trucks.

silverback1065

man us 41 back then was a disaster, it was zig-zaggy as hell back then

US 41

Quote from: silverback1065 on October 21, 2015, 06:45:14 PM
man us 41 back then was a disaster, it was zig-zaggy as hell back then

And that was the main route from Chicago to Florida. The crossroads of America at the time was just south in Terre Haute. Transportation has really progressed.

This link (http://www.historicmapworks.com/Atlas/US/31433/Indiana+State+Atlas+1950c/) shows 1950 maps of every county in Indiana. I found Parke County the most interesting just because it is the county I spent most of my time in in high school, so I'm very familiar with those roads. I never imagined that some of the roads I had been driving on were once highways.
Visited States and Provinces:
USA (48)= All of Lower 48
Canada (5)= NB, NS, ON, PEI, QC
Mexico (9)= BCN, BCS, CHIH, COAH, DGO, NL, SON, SIN, TAM

Rushmeister

Very interesting map, but the date of 1950 must be way, way off.  I'm guessing that sometime in the early 1920s would be more accurate. 

For instance current US 41 bridges over Roaring Creek and Sugar Creek were built in 1925 and they don't appear on this map.   Also, see aerial imagery found at https://igs.indiana.edu/IHAPI/Map/.  The 1939 view clearly conflicts with a date of 1950 for the map found at Historic Map Works, who gets a "C'mon, man" rating for their dating claim.  Pretty liberal use of the "circa" designation if you ask me.

On another note, I've had the pleasure of exploring many of Parke County's back roads and I gotta tell you I just love it out there.  I've researched and explored old alignments of US 36 and US 41 (and also nearby roads Ind 47 and 63) and racked up hundreds, if not thousands, of miles in the process.  I drive out that way every chance I get.
...and then the psychiatrist chuckled.

Captain Jack

Quote from: US 41 on October 20, 2015, 11:43:32 PM
I found this map of Parke County, Indiana from 1950.

http://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/US/1575985/Parke+County++Liberty++Sugar+Creek++Howard++Penn++Reserve++Washington++Greene++Wabash++Adams++Florida++Raccoon/Indiana+State+Atlas+1950c/Indiana/

I found this very interesting. Here's some of my thoughts.

1) I can't even imagine any of these state highways running on the routes shown on this map. I know they did, but it is pretty mind blowing.

2) Some of the routes these highways ran on don't even exist anymore.

3) If you know anything about Parke County at all you know it is famous for its covered bridges. A few of these highways (US 41 over Sugar Creek and SR 59 in Mansfield) had to have ran through covered bridges.

4) Some of these roads that used to be highways are now gravel roads. Old 36 Road for example east of Rockville is a gravel road. It also runs through a covered bridge.

5) I can see Eisenhower's frustration. It's odd that only 6 years later we decided to build an interstate system whenever some of our highways were still running through covered bridges. I never realized how fast transportation has improved.

Now a couple of questions for anyone that knows the answers.

Q1) Were US / state highways paved in 1950 or was it legal for them to be gravel? (I'm aware that a road could have easily went from paved to gravel in 65 years.)

Q2) Were yellow and white lines painted on the highways in 1950?

Q3) What was the speed limit on Indiana state highways in 1950?

Another source I have found invaluable for referencing old routes is historic aerials.  www.historicaerials.com

It is great and very accurate when comparing old photos to more recent ones. They can be fairly detailed, you can even see the painted lines in most photos. I was able to see a Rock City Barn while looking around the area of my Grandparents old motel in Hopkinsville, KY.

Finrod

Looking at the old map of Montgomery County (where I grew up), that finally explains where SR 234 came from: US 136 used to be SR 34.  I had no idea.
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Aaron Camp

On the USGS Historical Topographic Map Explorer website, IN-63 had a long concurrency with US-41 from the Lyford area in southwestern Parke County (current eastern terminus of IN-163) to the intersection of Lafayette Avenue and 7th Street in Terre Haute in Vigo County in the late 1940s/early 1950s. I'm not sure if IN-63 was moved to a separate alignment bypassing Clinton to the west, bypassing Parke County altogether, and crossing the Wabash River in the far northwestern part of Terre Haute after IN-63 became a four-lane divided highway north of Terre Haute in the 1970's or sometime before then.

NWI_Irish96

Quote from: US 41 on October 21, 2015, 10:13:42 PM
Quote from: silverback1065 on October 21, 2015, 06:45:14 PM
man us 41 back then was a disaster, it was zig-zaggy as hell back then

And that was the main route from Chicago to Florida. The crossroads of America at the time was just south in Terre Haute. Transportation has really progressed.

This link (http://www.historicmapworks.com/Atlas/US/31433/Indiana+State+Atlas+1950c/) shows 1950 maps of every county in Indiana. I found Parke County the most interesting just because it is the county I spent most of my time in in high school, so I'm very familiar with those roads. I never imagined that some of the roads I had been driving on were once highways.

The map is definitely pre-1930 based on the lack of existence of US 421.  I'm not old enough to remember Indiana pre-interstates, but some things I saw that I never knew:

In Lake County:
US 6 appears to have left Ridge Ave at Hohman Ave and followed Hohman up to 165th before turning on 165th to enter Illinois.
The southern leg of IN 912 was on Kennedy Ave instead of Cline Ave


Indiana: counties 100%, highways 100%
Illinois: counties 100%, highways 61%
Michigan: counties 100%, highways 56%
Wisconsin: counties 86%, highways 23%

KeithE4Phx

Quote from: cabiness42 on November 29, 2017, 09:06:01 AM
The map is definitely pre-1930 based on the lack of existence of US 421.

US 421 did not enter Indiana until 1951.
"Oh, so you hate your job? Well, why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called "EVERYBODY!" They meet at the bar." -- Drew Carey

Rushmeister

Quote from: Rushmeister on December 22, 2015, 12:25:14 PM
Very interesting map, but the date of 1950 must be way, way off.  I'm guessing that sometime in the early 1920s would be more accurate. 

For instance current US 41 bridges over Roaring Creek and Sugar Creek were built in 1925 and they don't appear on this map.   Also, see aerial imagery found at https://igs.indiana.edu/IHAPI/Map/.  The 1939 view clearly conflicts with a date of 1950 for the map found at Historic Map Works, who gets a "C'mon, man" rating for their dating claim.  Pretty liberal use of the "circa" designation if you ask me.
I've changed my mind about what I posted nearly 2 years ago.  The c.1950 Parke County map offered to us by historicmapworks.com is probably a fake.  I believe someone has added the state and US highways to a pre-1920s county map.  The routes appear to be highlighted by hand over existing roads.  Yes, we know that new highways were usually routed over existing roads, but I'm quite certain US 41's Roaring Creek bridge was constructed specifically for a more direct, new-terrain route north of Rockville.  Even if a new-terrain route for US 41 north of Rockville was not yet finished when US 41 was actually opened, I really can't understand why such a zig-zaggy (thank you, silverback1065) route would have been selected over old State Road 10 from Rockville through Marshall to Grange Corner, which would have been decidedly preferable to the route this map indicates.   

If there is someone out there who can verify that US 41 actually followed such ridiculous and laughable alignments in northern Parke County, please speak up.  I would love to learn more about it. 
...and then the psychiatrist chuckled.

Mapmikey


Finrod

I can't speak to whether the highway routings in Parke County are correct, but looking at neighboring Montgomery County to the NE that I know better, it looks accurate: SR 34 instead of US 136, SR 43 instead of US 231, SR 55 going all the way into Crawfordsville, and SR 47 on its old alignment between Crawfordsville and Darlington.  Then again, Montgomery County hasn't had much in the way of highway realignments in its history; other than adding I-74 and the aforementioned SR 47 new alignment, the biggest reroute in the county's history was changing the alignment of US 231 on the north side of Crawfordsville.
Internet member since 1987.

Hate speech is a nonsense concept; the truth is hate speech to those that hate the truth.

People who use their free speech to try to silence others' free speech are dangerous fools.



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