INDIANA – Indiana Landmarks works to revitalize historic structures that give communities visible connections to their past and lend irreplaceable visual character to the streetscape.
Once a year, Indiana Landmarks announces the 10 Most Endangered, a list of historic places on the brink of extinction and too important to lose.
The list includes a beloved but deteriorating church, a rare polygonal barn, a historic Black social club, a picturesque one-room school, a rugged reminder of the Industrial Revolution, an early tribute to higher education, an architect-designed industrial building, a threatened Victorian neighborhood, historic fraternal lodge buildings, and a former movie palace.
Bethlehem Healing Temple, 700 Jefferson Street in Gary, suffers a plight shared by many historic churches: a decreasing and aging membership struggling to maintain a large historic structure in desperate need of repair.
The 12-sided Rudicel-Montgomery Polygonal Barn, at County Road 400 East in Waldron, is a rare survivor. Today, it stands mostly vacant and needs prohibitive repairs.
Gibson County leaders want to save the county’s last one-room Sollman School at 4214 State Road 158 in Fort Branch. The rural community with limited resources says raising money will be a significant challenge.
The Sposeep Building on West Water Street in Wabash has vast potential for reuse, but the compounding effects of a century of hard use are hindering its prospects.
The centerpiece of the Merom Camp and Retreat Center, College Hall at 8555 Phillips Street in Merom, needs immediate repairs that exceed what the nonprofit organization can afford.
The former West Side Recreation Club’s neglected condition offers little clue to the important role it once played as a political and social hub for South Bend’s Black community. The club is located at 1415 West Washington in South Bend.
Preservation advocates want to ensure that any new use respects the International Harvester Engineering Building at 2911 Meyer Road in Fort Wayne, which is of architectural significance and plays an important role in the city’s manufacturing history.
Richmond’s Starr Historic District, bounded by North A Street, North E Street, North 10th Street, and North 16th Street in Richmond, was once considered one of the Midwest’s best-preserved Victorian-era neighborhoods. Today, it’s better known for its ongoing decline.
Participation in fraternal organizations is steeply declining statewide, leaving hundreds of significant historic buildings at risk.
Since including lodges on last year’s 10 Most Endangered list, Indiana Landmarks has helped save previously threatened lodge buildings in Vernon, North Vernon, and Bedford. However, other sites remain imperiled, including Prince Hall Masonic Temple in Indianapolis.
After attempts to redevelop and reopen Anderson’s historic State Theatre at 1303 Meridian Street, stalled, the former movie palace sits vacant and deteriorating.
For more information on the Indiana Landmarks 10 Most Endangered, a list of historic places click here.
