Connersville

Understand

Connersville is like the American industrial Rust Belt darling that imploded, not to say that it was the only one. From its origins as a fur trading post belonging to John Conner and platted in 1813, it grew up to be this unlikely industrial giant, with operations varying from air turbines to furniture and buggies. When the automobile age arrived, it became known as "Little Detroit" for all the inputs it had on automobile manufacturing there, including as a provider of components for major auto production centers nearby. This all translated into about 150 years of light industry for Connersville up until 1990, when deindustrialization that was all too common for Rust Belt towns hit home. Connersville's industrial scene largely collapsed, and the city nearly fell into bankruptcy by 2014.

Despite the spate of impoverishment these days, you can still find some interesting things to do here.

Get in

By car

Connersville is about 55 miles east of Indianapolis along US Route 52 and state highway 44, or 15 miles south of Interstate 70.

By train

• Route stopping in Connersville:

• Cardinal operating three trips weekly between Chicago and New York City with stops in Dyer, Rensselaer, Lafayette, Crawfordsville, Indianapolis, Connersville, Cincinnati, Ashland, Huntington, Charleston, Hinton, White Sulphur Springs, Staunton, Charlottesville, Culpeper, Manassas, Alexandria, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Wilmington, Philadelphia, Trenton, and Newark.

By plane

Mettel Field (CEV) is a general aviation airport. It is 3 mi north of the city.