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Anthony Wayne Expressway, late 40s/early 50s

By OSP

Fort Wayne Reader

2016-01-22

The idea of a thoroughfare cutting directly through downtown Fort Wayne was first proposed back in the late 40s (we think). This is an artist’s rendering of what that might have looked like.

You’re looking West in this picture. As far as landmarks go, the most prominent are probably the Lincoln Tower, which you can see on your right, and the rivers.

The Expressway never happened, of course. According to myth and legend, the project was quite controversial at the time — though federal dollars would have paid for a big chunk of it, people feared increased taxes, as well as more traffic downtown, loss of property and businesses due to the project, and (ahem) changing neighborhood demographics. Whatever reason or combination of reasons that people didn’t like it, the project was eventually rejected in a public referendum.

That’s the short version of the story.

We think this rendering comes from the very early 50s. We’re not sure. Jim Sack, our Political Animal columnist, got this one to us.