U.S. Route 33 in Indiana - History

History

The Lincoln Highway was planned from Illinois state line to South Bend to Fort Wayne and the Ohio state line, in 1913. In 1915, the highway open and passed through downtown Fort Wayne on its route through Indiana. In 1917, Main Market route number 2 was the given number to the Lincoln Highway in Indiana. In the early 1920s, the Lincoln Highway was moved farther south between Valparaiso and Fort Wayne, to what is now known mostly as Old US 30, passing through Plymouth and Warsaw. The route became SR 2 from Ohio state line to South Bend, SR 1 from South Bend to Michigan state line. Then in 1924, the sections of the road that was part of the original Lincoln Highway was paved. The next few years the rest of the route was paved across Indiana, then in 1937 US 33 was created.

In 1998, INDOT rerouted most of its maintained routes onto interstate highways around Fort Wayne, so US 33 was routed onto I–469 and I–69 around the south side of the city. Also in the same year, INDOT removed US 33 north of US 20 and the St. Joseph County portion became SR 933. In 2004, INDOT tried to return SR 933 to the local communities but they did not accept.