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Last updated on Wednesday, December 27, 2017
(LIBERTY) - Downtown Liberty once again has won a state grant that will help with the cost of work at the historic Bertch Hardware building.
Pal-Item reports, Liberty's award was one of seven properties in Indiana receiving funding from the Historic Renovation Grant Program.
Franklin County received a $100,00 grant for work on the Valley House.
Attorney Mae Hubbard, who successfully received a grant last year for work on the Liberty building, wrote the grant for the Bertch building, said Melissa Browning, Union County's economic development director.
Paperwork for the most recent grant was more complicated this time, Hubbard said, but she and Browning didn't give up on the application.
"Melissa would check with them and we'd continue to work on it," Hubbard said. "We answered all the questions. You just have to jump through all the hoops. It must be handicapped-accessible as well as historic, which makes it more complicated."
The historic building at the corner of Union and Main streets is getting a new roof and new windows on the west side, Hubbard said. The work should make some space more available for use, Hubbard said. The grant requires a 35-percent match.
The business opened in 1866, just after the Civil War ended, and the current building opened in 1881. In those days there were were offices upstairs, including a dentist, an attorney and a newspaper.
Until 2013, the business was always operated by a Bertch.
Current owner Scott Ramey has combined his plumbing business with the hardware store, and he was busy Friday taking care of a plumbing cal.
"Maintaining Indiana's historic fabric and character is vital to growing the state's economy and the Historic Renovation Grant Program can ensure a future for vacant and neglected commercial properties that might otherwise be lost," Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch said in a statement. "Preservation efforts such as the Historic Renovation Grant Program can ensure a future for vacant and neglected commercial properties that might otherwise be lost."
A total of seven Indiana communities received funding in this round, including Batesville, Greendale, Lebanon, Madison and Paoli.
Now in its second year, the Preservation Grant Program is designed to incentivize downtown economic development and the preservation of historic structures.
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