I miss the days when travelers arriving in Muncie were greeted with a wide array of lodging choices. I’m too young to remember them and would never need to use them since I live here, but motorists could choose from places like Mom’s Motel, Swartz’s, Gray’s, Quesey’s Quarters, Stoney Haven, and the Star-Lite. Today, the Star-Lite still stands along an old routing of State Road 67. It’s a lonely remnant of a once-vibrant era that few now recall.
Unfortunately, there’s a dearth of information surrounding the Star-Lite. The motel sat at the corner of Pugsley Road and State Road 67, which was completed in 1937. The Delaware County Assessor says the place was built in 19401, but that date is almost certainly incorrect. A plat map from the 1940s shows the land, owned by Kenneth and Mable Scott, as vacant2.
Nevertheless, there’s a postcard of the establishment from the late fifties or early sixties when the Scotts owned it. Back then, the building was a single story, painted yellow, that housed seven rooms3. A home next door was presumably where the Scotts lived. Guy Kirby managed the Star-Lite in 1957, when the motel made the local news for housing a blooming Christmas Cactus. Anna Kirby managed the motel until 19704, then Olen Harris ran it for a decade beginning in 19735.
“All units in very nice condition,” a classified ad said that year, of the motel’s seven units and adjacent home. “Grounds are well kept and attractive. Very comforatable two bedroom home and office for motel. Priced at only $52,000. Possible contract to qualified buyers6”.
From 1951, motel traffic was bolstered by Bork’s Truck Stop, which stood just west. The tiny, one-story building featured four six-person tables, another that sat four, three booths, and a lunch counter. Mae Bork was famous for her 75-cent Sunday chicken dinners and 25-cent slices of pie. Unfortunately, the business closed around 1980 and the truck stop was demolished three years later7.
By 1984, the Star-Lite was advertising efficiency apartments for $15 per day or $45 per week8. The motel also rented “sleeping rooms” in 19859. From 1989 to the late 1990s, the old Star-Lite was known as the Country Inn. Unfortunately, the writing was on the wall. In 1999, a $33 million rerouting of State Road 67 opened, which left the place on a path seldom traveled. Around that time, a telecommunication products distributor called Vision Corp. took over the former motel10.
Today, it takes some effort to find the old Star-Lite Motel. Start by turning off the highway onto old State Road 67 at County Road 500-South or South Honey Creek Road. Follow the deaccessioned route to Pugsley Road and look for the long, two-story building.
The old motel may not look much like it did during its heyday as the Star-Lite, but it’s still a poignant echo of a bygone era worth remembering.
Sources Cited
1 Delaware County Office of Information & GIS Services. (2024). Parcel ID: 1411326015000. Delaware County, Indiana Assessor. map, Muncie, IN.
2 Auditor’s Section Plats 1940s (n.d.) Delaware County Office of Information & GIS Services [Muncie]. Web. Retrieved June 28, 2024.
3 Seven-Unit Motel (1973, August 27). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 21.
4 Greene, D. (1971, August 21). Seen and Heard in Our Neighborhood. The Muncie Star. p. 4.
5 Olen W. Harris, 79 )1987, May 27). The Muncie Star. p. 16.
6 (See footnote 3).
7 Francisco, B. (1983, April 10). Goodbye, Bork’s. The Muncie Star. p. 21.
8 ROOMS, by day (1984, January 27). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 19.
9 SLEEPING ROOMS (1985, October 4). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 23.
10 BZA undecided on Vision Corp. expansion (2001, June 30). The Muncie Star Press. p. 7.
