Service Area · Alexandria, Indiana
Excavation & Demolition in Alexandria, Indiana
Alexandria is a city of about 5,100 in northern Madison County, roughly 24 miles from our Arcadia shop out SR 28 past Elwood. It was platted in 1836 on the promise of a canal that never arrived, then grew tenfold in a single decade when the gas boom hit in 1887. That 1890s building spree is still the city's bones: century-old housing over century-old utilities, on a flat townsite that Pipe Creek crosses just south of downtown. Our Alexandria work leans accordingly toward demolition, drainage, water lines, and foundation care.
About 24 miles northeast of the shop, out SR 28 through Elwood.
What we do in Alexandria
The services this town actually calls for, and the local reason why.
Know your town
The history under Alexandria and why it matters when we dig.
A canal town without a canal
Alexandria was platted in 1836 expecting the Indiana Central Canal to be extended to it. The canal never came, and the town idled for half a century until gas was struck in Madison County in 1887. Then it went from 715 people in 1890 to 7,221 in 1900, a 910 percent jump in one decade. Nearly everything old in Alexandria dates to that sprint, which is worth knowing before you dig next to it.
Indiana's first interurban
In 1898 the first interurban railway line in Indiana began running between Alexandria and Anderson, and a state historical marker at Harrison and Church streets records it. Interurban lines and boom-era rail spurs are exactly the kind of infrastructure that disappears from maps but not from the ground. Old corridors mean compacted grades and buried surprises, and we treat them with respect.
The world's largest ball of paint
South of town, Michael Carmichael and his son dipped a baseball in house paint in 1997 and never stopped. The ball now carries more than 30,000 coats and weighs over 11,600 pounds, a recognized world-record roadside attraction. We admire the commitment. It is the same principle as drainage work: keep applying the right material long enough and you end up with something permanent.
Alexandria Permits
Who issues what inside Alexandria limits, and when the county takes over.
Alexandria permits its own work through the Building Commissioner at City Hall (765-724-4633), who issues building, demolition, fence, and sign permits and handles inspections along with unsafe-structure enforcement. Right-of-way work on city streets goes through the city Street Department, and the city runs its own Storm Water Department, so drainage-touching projects get city review. Alexandria also operates its own water and wastewater utilities, which means taps and main-side questions route through city departments while the owner-side trenching is contractor work. Approaches onto SR 9 or SR 28 are INDOT's jurisdiction, and county roads outside the city line use the county Highway Department. Septic permits stay with the Madison County Health Department. We sort the routing for your parcel before anything is filed.
Not sure which office has your parcel? The free address checker reports the exact permitting jurisdiction for any Central Indiana address.
Alexandria FAQs
Who issues a demolition permit in Alexandria?+
The city Building Commissioner at City Hall (765-724-4633), with a dedicated demolition permit form. The same office handles unsafe-structure enforcement, so if you own a building the city has flagged, the conversation and the fix can run on one track. We pull the permit, disconnect utilities properly, and leave a lot that is ready for what comes next.
Pipe Creek floods the low corner of my property every spring. What is the permanent fix?+
On flat ground the water needs help leaving. The permanent fix is usually some combination of regrading and buried drain lines with a legal outlet, sized for the spring load rather than the average day. Alexandria has its own Storm Water Department, so city review applies where the work touches public drainage, and we coordinate that. What we do not do is regrade water onto your neighbor, because that fixes nothing and starts a feud.
My house went up during the gas boom. What does that mean for excavation?+
It means the ground around it has been worked before, fast, by people in a hurry. Alexandria grew 910 percent in the 1890s, and boom construction left old foundations, cisterns, fills, and utility lines that no current map shows. We run locates, probe where records are thin, and keep trenches tight around old masonry. Century-old basements deserve a careful neighbor.
Who handles the water line from the street to my house?+
The city utility owns the mains, and the service line on your side of the connection is owner territory, which is where we come in. We trench, replace, and connect owner-side lines and coordinate the tap and shutoff work with the city Utility Office so the outage window stays short. If your line is original to a gas-boom house, replacement is a matter of when rather than if.
Can you put a new driveway onto SR 9?+
Yes, with INDOT's blessing. SR 9 and SR 28 are state routes, so a new or widened approach on them is INDOT's jurisdiction rather than the city's, and we confirm current requirements for your frontage before quoting. City-street cuts go through the Alexandria Street Department instead. Either way the culvert and apron get built to the owning office's spec.
Nearby towns we serve
Ready to break ground in Alexandria?
Our shop is minutes away in Arcadia. Straight answers, real equipment, done right.