July 2023
The last two INDOT employees with ties to a subdistrict building that was sold in 1996 recently visited their old stomping grounds for the first time in 27 years. They discovered that it’s now an eatery, but the owners have kept much of the building’s past charms.
Built in the 1930s, the old Monticello Subdistrict on U.S. 421 in White County was converted in 2017 to Kopacetic Beer Factory and The Scoreboard restaurant. A replacement subdistrict building was built nearby in 1996. INDOT’s Kim Banes and Mark Kelly, the last two employees with links to the old building, never set foot inside the brewpub/restaurant. Until now.
They discovered that not only was the “State Highway Garage” exterior engraving on the front of the building preserved, but also much of the interior. The 7,000-square-foot building features many of the original doors that still serve their purpose; the same single-pane first-floor windows; original, yellow-painted lines on the concrete floor; several wall signs; and much more.
The second-floor single-pane windows were modernized, but the owners repurposed them to serve as décor for dividers that separate the restaurant and brewery sides of the establishment. Two original drafting plans of the INDOT building from the mid-1930s are framed on the walls.
“This is like a trip back in time,” said Banes.
“They did a tremendous job keeping as much of the building intact as possible,” said Kelly.
“This was a wonderfully stout old building with character, and we knew it would be a perfect fit for our brewery-restaurant concept,” said Kopacetic/Scoreboard’s Patrick Manahan, who coowns the establishments with his brother, Mike, and son, Sean.
