By David Heighway, Hamilton County Historian
The railroad known as the Midland was a venture that began in high optimism and then struggled through 110 years of bankruptcies, reorganizations, and mechanical malfunctions. It was organized in 1871 as the Anderson, Lebanon, & St. Louis Railroad, with the board of directors having the grand idea of becoming one of the key east-west links in the Midwest. However, construction didn’t start until 1875. (For a complete history of the railroad, see The Central Indiana Railroad by Roger P. Hensley). The line did not reach Noblesville until 1877, just as a massive labor strike shut down railroads all over the United States. The first passenger run between Anderson and Noblesville was a Sunday School excursion in which people rode in freight cars built to haul gravel. No other work was done on the railroad for several years.
In 1881, the Monon Railroad finished its line between Chicago and Indianapolis, passing through the town of Westfield. Thirty years earlier, a railroad had been run north-south through Noblesville and was now called the Lake Erie and Western. The completion of the Monon was the impetus to create a section of track that connected the two towns. There were also hopes of going farther west. By this time, the Anderson, Lebanon, & St. Louis Railroad had been renamed the Cleveland, Indiana, and St. Louis Railroad.
Hamilton County Democrat – August 9, 1879
Construction began again when new money came into the company in July of 1885, when it was reorganized yet again and renamed the Midland Railroad. The first bridges over White River and Cicero Creek were probably wooden trestles which may have been destroyed in later spring floods. On October 2nd, 1885, the Republican-Ledger newspaper reported that “Iron for the road will be here today or tomorrow, and track-laying from this point east will begin as soon as it arrives”. Then on November 6th, the paper announced, “The Midland Railroad will begin business through to Indianapolis Monday. Trains will run by way of Westfield, leaving here at 8:30 a.m. and returning, reach here at 6:30 in the evening”. The 6.8 miles between Noblesville and Westfield were finished.
The Ledger – January 29, 1886
The railroad slowly continued westward, reaching Jolietville in November of 1886, Ladoga in 1887, Waveland in 1890, and Brazil, Indiana in 1891. That same year, the railroad went through another name change and became the Chicago & South Eastern. The C&SE continued the track eastward to Muncie and then sold it again. In 1903, the line got its final name of Central Indiana Railway (The Midland Route). No more track would be built. After 30 years, five names, and a number of governing bodies, the line ran a grand total of 117 miles.
The late 19th century natural gas boom in Indiana helped many railroads to be successful, but not the Midland. One event that did help was the construction of the Strawboard Plant in Noblesville along White River just south of the track. The factory manufactured cardboard that was used to make packing boxes at the Ball glass plant in Muncie. Many factory workers moved into the area around the plant, which, since it flooded every year, was known as “Johnstown”. Other Noblesville factories were the Model Milling Company and the Capital Furniture Manufacturing Company. Westfield was largely an agricultural area, so except for the Van Camp canning plant, the railroad was used mostly for shipping produce.
The Westfield end of this segment of the railroad reflected the peaceful Quaker town that surrounded it. Children from neighboring communities would ride the train to attend the Union High School in Westfield. The Noblesville end of the segment was very different. The crossing of the two railroads and the industrial nature of the area had made it a rough neighborhood. In the first decades of the 1900s, two of Noblesville’s most notorious brothels were located adjacent to the track. During Prohibition in the 1920s, a houseboat that served as one of the town speakeasies was anchored in White River immediately below the railroad bridge.
The Central Indiana Railroad had a reputation for unreliability. Even mail trains would be delayed because of breakdowns in equipment. After competing against the Interurban and, later, automobiles, the line stopped offering passenger service in 1922. In Noblesville in 1919, the Burdick Tire Company built a factory next to the track. This provided some business for the railroad even though the factory made, ironically, automobile tires. Burdick was eventually taken over by the Firestone Company.
The railroad continued to struggle until 1951 when a flamboyant businessman from Anderson named Ike Duffy became president. He was able to make it turn a profit until his death in the late 1960s. After that, it soon fell back into its old financial situation and was eventually absorbed into Conrail. The trains stopped running in the mid 1980s and the tracks were torn up. The grandiose thoughts of a western rail empire were finally laid to rest. The former right-of-way is now the Midland Trail. In fact, you are actually traveling along the old route when you use the new Pleasant Street bridge to cross the river.