Although Muncie’s Lees Inn was built in 1986, it took thirty-four years before the motel made a big splash with area residents as Quality Inn: in 2020, its roof fell into its swimming pool! I happened to drive past the place the day after the roof caved in and, thankfully, managed to snag some pictures.
Continue reading “Quality Inn made a big splash in Muncie”
Early automobile clubs in Indiana began to promote national auto trails that predated official state highways around the turn of the twentieth century. By 1922, the Hoosier State Automobile Association had laid out thirty-four of them1! One was the Hub Highway, which connected Lafayette and Chillicothe, Ohio, in 1917. In Delaware and Madison Counties, the road followed Bethel Pike from Muncie to Alexandria. There, it took Washington Street towards Orestes.
Continue reading “Twelve more miles of the old Hub Highway from Bethel to Orestes”
Indiana’s early, rural roads were often little more than a pair of dirty tracks through the countryside that were unsuitable for all but the most basic forms of transportation. Around the 1860s, turnpikes sprung up to address the problem. Privately-owned toll roads that were maintained to higher standards, turnpikes got their name from a “pike,” a spiked barrier that was physically turned by the toll house operator to provide access to travelers. In the 1880s, eleven turnpikes radiated out of Muncie1, and Bethel Pike was one of them. Later, it became part of the early Hub Highway.
Continue reading “Bethel Pike: Eight miles of the old Hub Highway from Muncie to Bethel”