A piece of history: Pieces of old Martinsville railroad uncovered by construction workers
Editor's note: In 2022, both Morgan County and the city of Martinsville will celebrate their bicentennial. This year, the Reporter-Times is publishing a series of stories in celebration of the 200th birthdays for both Morgan County and Martinsville. This story is the sixth part in that series.
MARTINSVILLE — In a world filled with virtual meetings, self-driving cars and luxury space travel, it's easy to forget that living history often lies just beneath our feet.
That's what construction workers discovered recently as they were digging up Martinsville's South Street as part of an Indiana Department of Transportation project to reconstruct the roadway to improve traffic flow and pedestrian safety.
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The crews discovered an old section of the Fairland, Franklin & Martinsville Railroad when their backhoe dug into something that refused to budge, according to Darrell French, a local historian who wrote and researched a book on the old railroad.
An Indiana University student conducting a folklore study of old railroads in central Indiana happened to be in town that day to interview French as part of that project when he came across the finding, French said.
"It was a coincidence the crew had just uncovered it" while the student was in town, French told the Reporter-Times.
The serendipitous finding hardly phased French, who researched and published a book in 2018 documenting the extensive history of the Fairland, Franklin & Martinsville Road.
French, who also serves as president of the Morgan County History Museum, first became interested in the railroad after purchasing a piece of property west of Morgantown in 2010.
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After visiting the county library and discovering there was little information about the railroad, he decided to take it upon himself to chronicle its history in central Indiana.
In 1846, a group of local businessmen in Martinsville enlisted the help of like-minded individuals in Franklin to build a railroad connecting the two locations to allow for quicker transportation of cattle, goods and people. The entrepreneurs got the idea for the railroad after learning that the Madison & Indianapolis Railroad Co. intended to extend their own railroad from Madison to Indianapolis.
They struggled to pay for its construction, however, and subsequently declared bankruptcy in 1859.
The line remained out of commission until after the Civil War, when it was purchased by General Ambrose Burnside, a native of Liberty, Ind., who extended it to Fairfield in Shelby County. In 1889, a group known as the Big-Four Co. became the full owners until it was purchased by the New York Central Co. in 1930.
By the late 1930s, many railroad companies had consolidated, and the Martinsville railroad was deemed inefficient compared with existing tracks. The U.S. also needed steel to help with the war effort, aso many of the tracks were removed.
The railroad's last scheduled run to Martinsville occurred on Feb. 27, 1943, according to a newspaper article.
The last company to hold ownership of the railroad was the Penn-Central Co., acquiring it in 1968 before disbanding it in 1973.
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Not all of the tracks were removed, however, and some pieces are still visible in Martinsville.
French's book, "The Fairland, Franklin & Martinsville Railroad, 1846-1973," is available on Amazon and at the Morgan County Public Library, 110 S. Jefferson St., Martinsville.
Contact reporter Peter Blanchard at 765-346-2942 or pblanchard@reporter-times.com. Follow him on Twitter @peterlblanchard.
This article originally appeared on The Reporter Times: Pieces of Martinsville railroad uncovered by construction crews
