State Road 17 Index

1891 - The road (Lake Shore dr.) was not opened up to North until this year - it was done by the railroad -

The expenditure of ...over the previous year includes costs of litigation as follows:..; over opening roadway north of station at Marmont $567.25 - pgs. 38-40 Fourth-Fourth Annual Report of the President and Directors of the Terre Haute and Indianapolis Rail Road Company to the Stockholders for the Year Ending November 30 1891 By Terre Haute & Indianapolis Railroad Company

1927 - Oct 5 - Hard Surfacing of Burr OakCulver Road Finished Today

Today will see the completion of the hard surfacing of the Culver-Burr Oak road, the first paved road into Culver.

Now Culverites can travel to Detroit, Mich., without leaving paving, and if they care to take an out of the way route, they can do the same to St. Louis.

The agitation for this road was stanted February 7th by the road committee of the Culver Chamber of Commerce, and resulted in the securing of this paving at least one year sooner than would have been possible otherwise.

Today, the road force is putting the finishing touches on the Behmer corner, making fine broad turns at that junction point.

The Northern Indiana Public Service company has erected a strong light, which will burn every night and will illuminate the corner so as to minimize the danger of accidents.

The county road workers and the construction company have made a remarkable record in paving this road, and are to be heartily commended for their fine showing.

The Kyrock used in the paving is also coming in for its share of praise, and will probably be used more in the future in hard surfacing roads in this county. - Citizen

1931 - Feb 11 - JURY ALLOWS CHANGE IN LAKE ROADWAY $800 IN DAMAGES

Two Corners at South End of Lake Maxinkuckee to be Eliminated by Change.

Two sharp and dangerous corners are to be eliminated from the roadway at the south end of Lake Maxinkuckee according to the verdict rendered by the jury in the hearing of the remonstrance against the George Busart road petition.

The case was heard in the court at Plymouth for three days last week and the jury returned its decision late Saturday night.



Chole Houghton Livingston and husband, who own land affected by the change, remonstrated against the re-location because the new road would cut into land on which they wished at some future time to build a home for themselves. The jury allowed them $800 damages, which amount is said to be more than the appraisers had named in a former report.



However, the jury did deem the elimination of the two corners, which are near the L. G. Walker cottages, a public benefit and utility, and overruled the remonstrance.

A large number of witnesses appeared from Union township. W. O. Osborn and L. M. Lauer appeared for the petitioners and Kitch & Kitch for the remonstrators.

The members of the jury were as follows: Glen Rogers, Ora Reed, Milo Swihart and Henry Unsicker of Bourbon; James O. Johnson of Argos; Delbert Rockhill of Tippecanoe, Donald Gardner of Polk township, Alva Shairar of West township, Basil F. Nellans, John Kubley, Wm. Tillman and Jacob Lacher of Plymouth. - - The Culver Citizen Wed, Feb 11, 1931 ·Page 1

1931 - Petition state for North-South, -- Plymouth-Culver -Logansport State Road

The Bremen Enquirer Thu, Nov 19, 1931 ·Page 7

CULVER CLIPPINGS (From The Culver Citizen) The surveyors of Fulton, Cass and Marshall counties met at Rochester last week at which time plans were made for the routing of the proposed Culver-Logansport highway across the western part of Fulton county, which business organizations in the cities through which it passes hope the state highway commission will take over sometime in the near future.

James Chase, Cass county surveyor, was named to make a drawing of the three counties and the 1ocation of the road, Jesse Botset, of Plymouth, Marshall county surveyor, was the other engineer who met with Chase and Wilson, Fulton county surveyor.

The meeting of the surveyors followed a recent meeting at Kewanna.

The road proposed would pass from Logansport through Grass Creek, Kewanna, Delong, and Culver and terminate at Road 30, two miles east of Donaldson.

The idea is to have the road pass between Roads 29 and 31 and to give a direct road from Indianapolis to Lake Maxinkuckee.

1932 On 12 January 1932 the state announced the establishment of State Road 17 a North to South road - Plymouth to Logansport Road. It was a gravel based road to run through Culver from West Shore, Main Street and Lakeshore Drive. In the Culver Citizen:

• January 13 - Culver - Logansport road taken into state highway system.
• April 6 - Culver Logansport road designated as State Road 17

1934 - Jan 17 - State Road Head to Inspect Highway 17

The road committee of the Culver Chamber of Commerce has received a letter from James D. Adams, chairman of the Indiana Highway Commission, stating that he plans to inspect Road 17 soon and will include a visit of Culver on the trip. He also informed the committee that the commission hoped to place an oil mat on this road between Grass Creek and Logansport, and might be able to improve the road near Culver. This information was given at the meeting of the Chamber held Monday with the following members present:
W. T. Parish,
F. M. Annis,
C. L. Shively,
A. R. McKesson,
Earl Foreman,
Ben Oberlin,
Dr. C. G. Mackey,
C. Ferrier,
W. E. Friend,
C. M. Adams,
W. S. Easterday and
M. R. Robinson.

FAVOR M'NUTT INTERCESSION IN ROAD 17 PAVING

Adherents Plan Appeal from Highway Board Decision. Governor Paul V. McNutt probably will be asked to interest himself in the recent abandonment of state highway commission plans to pave State Road 17, from Logansport to Culver, it was learned today.

Paving of the road is of interest to a number of Indianapolis citizens who have summer homes on Lake Maxinkuckee.

Plans had reached a point where bids were received for the paving, but the contract never was Chairman James D. Adams of the commission announced that it is no longer being considered.

Based Decision on Survey

He explained the changed attitude of the commission on the grounds that a traffic survey disclosed that the pavement would not justified.

Plans for the pavement were completed by the former administration and got into the bidding before sufficient data had been procured by the present commission as to whether or not the improvement was needed, he said.

The traffic survey discovered that the daily average of cars on the road was but 273, he declared. That held only from Logansport to Grass Creek, one-third of the way to Culver, the charts show. Total distance is twenty-five or thirty miles. From Grass the Creek, junction into of State Culver, Road the daily average was but 197.

Part of Road Paved

Largest daily travel was a summer Sunday when the high point of 500 cars was reached, Mr. Adams asserted.

Daily average on roads used by commercial vehicles reach as high as 1,267 the surveys show.

Concrete pavement is already laid on State Road 17, for some distance out of Logansport. Then there is Adams terms "a good gravel road" and the last miles are oil mat.

Expenditure of $12,000 will establish a good dustless surface he declared and pointed out that rightof -way purchases, relocation, paving a and construction of three bridges would mean an "unjustified expense" of $325,000 if the paving program were carried out.

List Lake Home Owners

Active effort is being made to get the commission to reverse judgment in the matter.

Among the Indianapolis lake home owners are Norman Perry, Mrs. Elizabeth Marmon, the Vonnegut families, Mrs. C. C. Perry, Charles E. Coffin, J. M. Juda, Paul J. Krauss, R. C. Shaneberger, Arthur R. Baxter, Adams, Harvey Bradley, Halliday, Alfred Glossbrenner and Chester Albright. - - The Indianapolis Times Indianapolis, Indiana · Monday, January 15, 1934