Muncie Driving Park

Location: S. Pierce Street intersections of 9th and 11th Streets.

Year Constructed: Late 19th Century

Current Use: Integrated into current street layout

The Muncie Driving Park was a horse driving track built sometime after the Civil War and active through much of the rest of the 19th century.[1] The track was built on the farm of Dr. Robert Winton, one of Muncie’s most prominent physicians at the time, whose land was adjacent to the farm of the Ross family (from whom the Ross Center gets its name).[2] The track was used to host local horse races, and later automobile races, with prizes being awarded in cash.[3] At the time, it called itself “The Best Half-Mile Track in Indiana.”[4] In 1874 a residential suburb, Winton Place, was platted around the track.[5] While most of the track and accompanying facilities have long since been demolished, the curvature of the original track can still be seen on the turns from South Pierce Street onto 9th and 11th Streets.[6]

[1] Muncie Driving Park, 1881, 1978, MSS-232, Box 2, Folder 3, Fred Graham circus collection, Stoeckel Archives, Ball State University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections.

[2] “Dr. George Green Called Beyond,” The Star Press, January 25, 1920; Muncie Driving Park, 1881, 1978, MSS-232, Box 2, Folder 3, Fred Graham circus collection, Stoeckel Archives, Ball State University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections.

[3] Muncie Driving Park Program, 1878, MSS-211, Box 4, Folder 45, Wiley W. Spurgeon Papers, Stoeckel Archives, Ball State University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Chris Flook, “ByGone Muncie: Old Avondale and the Shedtown Bloody Run,” The Star Press, January 16, 2023, https://www.thestarpress.com/story/life/2023/01/16/bygone-muncie-old-avondale-and-the-shedtown-bloody-run/69792494007/.

[6] Muncie Driving Park, 1881, 1978, MSS-232, Box 2, Folder 3, Fred Graham circus collection, Stoeckel Archives, Ball State University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections.