The history of thousands of communities across the USA revolves around a central corridor of commerce called Main Street. Zionsville is one of those many towns.
We’ve previously written articles about several businesses located on Main Street. We’ve also documented the Interurban rail line that ran down the center of Main Street, now commemorated by dark bricks, along with other aspects of Zionsville history.
The history of Zionsville’s Main Street goes back as far as the town itself, which was founded in 1852. In that year, the town’s first home was built on Lot 1 and its first store was built on Lot 4. These events are noted on a historical marker located at the south end of Main Street.
If you stroll along Main Street, you can find many other historical markers, signs, and artifacts on the commercial buildings on the south end of the street—and houses on the north end—which provide a glimpse into the street’s long-past and more recent history. You might also come across some of the shopkeepers who can expand on the street’s background.
One of those shopkeepers is Drew Kogan, whose parents Helen and Al opened Kogen Antiques, located at 195 S. Main St., in 1970. Drew has recently contributed a chapter in a new book, Tell Us More: Zionsville, Indiana Narratives by Janet Maloney, which contains personal stories about the village as told by longtime residents.
You can learn more about the history of Main Street, and all of Zionsville, by reading the articles The Village Heritage and The History of Zionsville. You May Be Surprised at How It Was Started. If you visit the P.H. Sullivan Museum, just two blocks west of Main Street, on the corner of Hawthorne St. & S. 2nd St., you can delve deeply into the town’s history, as well as purchase Tell Us More and several other books about Zionsville and Boone County.
Below is a photo gallery slideshow that shows some of the signs, architecture, and other sights to be seen if you walk north along Main Street from the corner of Sycamore Street up to Ash Street. Keep in mind that the history of Main Street includes days long gone right up to today. Every time you visit Main Street, you become a part of its history.
