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1960s From page B3
highways, including State Roads 29, 25 and U.S. 31. *** Carl G. Fisher of Indianapolis was a promoter. To bring attention to his and his brothers’ bicycle shop, he dropped a bike from a building. The stunt gained plenty of notice: From police. Later, to advertise his auto dealership, Fisher flew a hot-air balloon with a car dangling beneath over downtown Indianapolis.
Fisher invested in auto racing. The first Indianapolis 500 at the new Indianapolis Motor Speedway took place in 1909. But organizers stopped the race halfway through. Why? Too many crashes. Instead of giving up, Fisher convinced his fellow investors to pave the track. From material used, the speedway gained a nickname: The Brickyard. *** Fisher next turned his skills to building a transcontinental highway. He named the road after the president who signed
DEKALB BICENTENNIAL the order for America’s first transcontinental railway. The Lincoln Highway. At the time, paved roads ended at each town’s border. Maintenance of country roads fell to the folks who lived along them. Many states passed laws prohibiting use of public funds for roads. So Fisher and associates raised private funds. Each significant contribution warranted a press release: money from famous Americans, such as Thomas Edison, Teddy Roosevelt and President Woodrow Wilson; or 14 pennies from native children in Alaska.
Workers completed the first section of the highway in 1913. (The 1928 segment of the Lincoln Highway that runs through Indiana now follows U.S. 30, but a portion of the 1913 route can be traced on U.S. 33, passing through Ligonier and Elkhart.) In 1919, a U.S. Army convoy started from the White House on a well publicized cross-country convoy to San Francisco. The trip took 56 days, at an average speed of 5.65 miles per hour. Among the nearly 300 Army convoy personnel: Brevet Lt. Col. Dwight D. Eisenhower.
AUGUST 30, 2016
*** As president, Eisenhower remembered the 1919 convoy. He also remembered how Germany moved military equipment quickly on its autobahn system during World War II. Eisenhower signed the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, which created an interstate highway system. That same year, the Hoosier state completed the Indiana Toll Road. Today, the Toll Road is known as Interstate 80/90 and has been incorporated into the interstate system. With renaming, renumbering and rerouting
over the years, original highways have been lost. But I-80 is America’s transcontinental highway that most closely follows the route of the Lincoln Highway. *** The portion of Interstate 69 that links Indianapolis with Michigan was completed in 1971. As part of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), I-69 will eventually be transcontinental — connecting Mexico and Canada. But funding has been withheld, and progress on completing I-69 remains slow.
Interstate highway changes DeKalb County landscape The construction of Interstate 69 brought industry and economic development to the county. Auburn grew west toward the highway, adding several businesses through the years, and eventually forcing a widening of West
7th Street. I-69 gives area drivers easy access to Fort Wayne and Indianapolis, along with a convenient route north to Angola and into Michigan. The portion of I-69 running from Indianapolis to the Indiana Toll
Road was first proposed in 1944 and made part of the National System of Interstate Highways two years later. Construction in this area met with controversy, with the road traveling through wetlands and
farmland. Environmentalists said underground water systems would be threatened and wildlife would be endangered. The local portion was finished in 1967. It extends north into Michigan to Lansing and then east to
Flint and then Port Huron at the Canadian border. The highway has opened in three different phases in southern Indiana in recent years, with a section connecting with S.R. 37 being completed in 2015. Another portion connects
U.S. 41 in Evansville and I-64. The eventual goal is to extend the highway to the Mexican border through Paducah, Kentucky; Memphis, Tennessee; Shreveport, Louisiana; and Houston.
1970s: Manufacturing makes use of Indiana’s advantages BY LEE SAUER
By the 1970s, a trend that had stayed in the background came to the fore: Family farms were dying. Their replacement? Large agribusinesses that made use of new technologies — and needed far fewer workers. From this point on, Hoosiers would rely more and more on manufacturing to provide the state’s economic thrust. *** The trend from farm to factory took shape over decades. It started when gas boom companies set up shop in Indiana and continued when electricity reached Hoosier homes in the 1920s and 1930s. Indiana manufacturers began to churn out electrical appliances: washers, refrigerators, stoves and radios. Family farms even helped create demand for more manufacturing: they boosted markets for farm equipment made in the state, and they produced fruits and vegetables used in Indiana’s expanding canning industry. Right after World War I, Indiana reached a tipping point:
More Hoosiers now worked in manufacturing than on farms. *** With the end of World War II, America found itself with a dynamic infrastructure for innovation. Scientists who had previously worked on military problems turned their sights on domestic challenges. One result: farm production took off like a rocket. Suddenly, food surpluses and wildly fluctuating markets became problems. The federal government, building on Great Depression-era programs, responded with subsidies and food relief. But these were short-term fixes. The long-term problem seemed clear: There were simply more farms— and farmers — than needed. Many farmers began the transition by taking a second job in a factory. *** While Indiana lost the race to become America’s automotive-making center, it emerged with several important manufacturing advantages: mechanical expertise, factory facilities,
access to major highways and close proximity to the auto-manufacturing winner — Detroit. Beginning in the early 1900s, the Hoosier state became home to factories for “upstream” vehicle parts and components. Other Hoosier-made products budded off auto-related manufacturers: trailers, mobile homes and recreational vehicles. Indiana continues to lead in auto-related products. Plus, the manufacture of complete vehicles (at least the assembly of component parts into vehicles) has come back to the state with the Fort Wayne Assembly plant (trucks), and plants for Honda, Toyota and Subaru. *** Revra DePuy began DePuy Manufacturing in Warsaw. The company made orthopedic appliances. Today, Warsaw is known as the “orthopedic capital of the world.” Col. Eli Lilly, a veteran of the Union army, started Eli Lilly and Company in Indianapolis, in 1876. Today the company is a worldwide leader in pharmaceuticals. Both orthopedics and
pharmaceuticals belong in a soft category of Indiana manufacturing known as “life sciences.” Currently, life sciences trail automotive-related manufacturers — but not by much. *** Indiana still profits from its central location. The state’s third-leading industry is “transportation.” This includes trucking, warehousing, and distribution. WalMart, Dollar General, Target, SuperValu and Kroger are among the large companies with distribution centers in the state. *** Relying on manufacturing presents problems for Hoosiers. Automotive and recreational-vehicle manufacturers ride the national economy like a bucking bronco. When money is tight, new-vehicle sales are the first to drop. Manufacturing and large-scale farming can cause environmental challenges. As more Hoosiers become aware of health risks and quality-oflife issues, they become less willing to accept pollution, climate change and habitat destruction.
NDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY
MANUFACTURING LIFE — Eli Lilly started the company that bears his name in Indianapolis in 1876. Along with DuPuy Manufacturing in Warsaw, Lilly falls into a new category of businesses — life sciences — that help make Indiana a U.S. leader in manufacturing.
Some manufacturing jobs can be low-paying. Workers who fill these positions pay less in taxes and need more social services, putting a strain on state resources.
And, finally, many manufacturing jobs are headed to other countries. The future for Indiana manufacturing remains unclear.
Steel giant sprouts in DeKalb County A former Nucor manager brought one of the nation’s top steel producers to DeKalb County. Keith Busse joined two colleagues in 1993 to form Steel Dynamics, and he wanted to bring
his operations to northeast Indiana, which had a work ethic he admired. Gov. Evan Bayh was at his side when he announced rural Butler would be the site in February 1994. Steel production was underway by the fall of the next year.
The plant first met with opposition from residents, voiced in a full-page newspaper ad. Increases in traffic, noise and pollution, and health concerns topped the list. County officials stood firm on their commitment to the
industry, however. Steel Dynamics started with a hot-rolled mill producing some of the lightest-gauge steel ever. A cold-rolled mill was added in 1996. The company added New Millennium Bulding Systems in 2000,
which catered to non-residential building needs with joists, girders, trusses and decking products. Steel Dynamics also is active in metal recycling with Omnisource. By 2014, Steel Dynamics did $8.8 worth
of business and employed almost 8,000 people at its operations throughout the United States. In 2015, the company was the nation’s fourthlargest steel producer and sold 7.7 million tons of steel.
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