Indiana I-69 extension route runs near 1830s foundry site

BLOOMINGTON — An Indiana University researcher worries that the Interstate 69 extension route runs too close to what remains of an 1830s iron foundry that was among the state’s first.

Sandstone blocks covered with moss are all that remain from the Randolph Ross & Son’s Virginia Iron Works in a rural area southwest of Bloomington. IU archaeology researcher Cheryl Munson tells The Herald-Times she wants the area preserved as a park, but the I-69 plans would have a “big, noisy highway” nearby.

The Virginia Iron Works Archaeological District is all on private land. The state’s I-69 plan says the highway corridor was shifted 800 feet to minimize any impact on the area’s archaeological sites.

Munson wants the Monroe County Plan Commission to seek greater protection of the area.