Indiana Landmarks Awards $215K in Grants

(photo courtesy of the Indianapolis Opera)

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Indiana Landmarks has awarded more than $215,000 in 2020 to help save meaningful places around the Hoosier state. The organization says the grants support efforts such as architectural assessments and repairs at historic houses of worship as well as digital walking tours and workshops.

“Indiana Landmarks offers grants to help get the ball rolling on preservation projects and help spark community revitalization around the state,” says Marsh Davis, president of Indiana Landmarks. “We’re extremely grateful, especially in these challenging times, that we’re able to continue to offer this crucial support to local preservation groups.”

The grants and recipients are listed below.

African American Heritage Grants

• Indiana Historical Bureau, Indianapolis – $1,475 to help obtain a historical marker for Evansville’s Lincoln Gardens, the first New Deal-era public housing project built specifically for African Americans.

Efroymson Family Endangered Places Grants

• City of Hobart – $1,175 for an engineering study of a historic nineteenth-century commercial building after it suffered a partial collapse.
• City of Knox – $2,500 for a feasibility study and rehabilitation plan for the nineteenth-century commercial building at 8 South Main.
• City of South Bend – $2,500 for a feasibility study of the threatened Walker Field Shelterhouse, which was built by the Works Progress Administration in 1938-39.
• City of Union City – $2,500 for a feasibility study for rehabilitation of the 1898 Kerr Block in the downtown historic district, a project in partnership with Ball State University.
• Clark County Museum, Jeffersonville – $400 for engineering assessment of the c.1825 Thomas Jefferson Howard House.
• Downtown Evansville Community Development Corp. – $1,800 for an engineering assessment to determine the feasibility of preserving the c.1880 façade of the Atlantic Building.
• Friends of the Ohio Theatre Inc., Madison – $2,500 for a feasibility study for the restoration of the 1938 theater in Madison’s historic district.
• Heritage Preservation Society of Putnam County, Greencastle – $3,500 for a feasibility study on an 1872 commercial building in the Bainbridge Historic District.
• Howard County Historical Society, Kokomo – $2,500 for an engineering assessment of the porte cochere at the 1890 Seiberling Mansion.
• Marengo Big Springs Old Town Church, Marengo – $2,500 for a feasibility study of the 1856 church, providing a plan for its rehabilitation.
• Martin County Historical Society, Shoals – $2,500 for a rehabilitation plan for the county museum, formerly the 1876 Martin County Courthouse.
• People Engaged in Preservation, LaPorte – $3,500 for a rehabilitation study of the 1915 LaCrosse High School in LaCrosse.
• Ruthmere Foundation, Elkhart – $2,500 for an architectural and engineering analysis of the fire-damaged historic stable at the Havilah Beardsley House.
• Spencer Pride Inc. – $2,500 for a structural assessment of the rear façade of the Spencer Pride commUnity Center, located in the 1880/1898 Improved Order of Redmen building.
• Switzerland County Historical Society, Vevay – $2,500 for a feasibility study examining improving accessibility to the upper floor of the society’s museum, located in the 1860 Vevay Presbyterian Church.
• Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts, Warsaw – $2,500 for a feasibility study for rehabilitation of the 1934 Zimmer House, a Tudor Revival landmark used for housing staff and/or performers.
• Washington County Historical Society, Salem – $2,500 for a conditions assessment of buildings on the society’s campus, including the 1830 National Register-listed birthplace of John Hay, private secretary to Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of State under Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt.

Historic Preservation Education Grants

• Center for Independent Documentary/For Goodness Sake Productions, Valparaiso – $2,500 to produce Walkable USA, a documentary about efforts to revitalize downtown Hammond through walkable urban design and historic preservation.
• Crown Point Chamber of Commerce, Crown Point – $2,500 for a self-guided walking tour of downtown, utilizing QR codes linking to photos, videos, and interviews telling stories of the city’s history and architecture.
• Decay Devils, Gary – $2,500 for a booklet and online guide explaining the historical significance of downtown buildings and highlighting murals in the downtown district.
• Embassy Theatre Foundation, Fort Wayne – $2,000 for programming teaching students about the history of the 1928 theater, its preservation, and the role it plays in Fort Wayne’s cultural life.
• Franklin Heritage Inc., Franklin – $2,000 for production of educational videos highlighting the organization’s preservation efforts, including the 1922 Artcraft Theatre.
• Historic Fall Creek Pendleton Settlement Inc., Pendleton – $2,500 to film a five-day cemetery restoration workshop in Pendleton’s Grove Lawn Cemetery and create educational videos outlining the need for cemetery restoration and proper techniques.
• Historic Madison Inc., Madison – $2,127 for a program educating participants on historic window styles and a workshop providing hands-on instruction on repairing and maintaining wood windows.
• Historic Urban Neighborhoods of Indianapolis – $2,500 to assist a project to digitize walking and biking tours highlighting historic architecture and prominent leaders in the city’s historic neighborhoods.
• The Indiana Album, Indianapolis – $2,500 to develop and publish a searchable online directory of nineteenth- and twentieth-century architects who worked in Indianapolis, as well as two public workshops highlighting information collected.
• Indiana Barn Foundation, Indianapolis – $2,500 to publish an educational brochure about historic Indiana barns describing their various types, uses, and evolution.
• Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis – $2,500 to produce exhibit Lost Landmarks of Indianapolis exploring lost architecture in the city and its significance to Indianapolis history.
• Indiana Lincoln Highway Association, South Bend – $1,720 to develop and install historical panels at up to 10 locations near historic control stations along the Lincoln Highway through northern Indiana.
• Pulaski County Historical Society, Winamac – $2,500 for workshops teaching participants how to research the history of their historic houses.
• Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, West Terre Haute – $2,500 to develop an exhibit for the Swope Art Museum on architecture and preservation at the college’s historic campus, and for reprinting a brochure highlighting the campus’s historic buildings.
• Sheldon Swope Art Museum, Terre Haute – $500 for a summer program for students ages 9-13, focused on art and architecture in historic Terre Haute buildings.
• Wabash County Historical Museum, Wabash – $2,249 to update and digitize printed historic walking guides by the Wabash County Historical Society.

Indiana Automotive Grant Fund

• Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum, Auburn – $2,500 for a design and engineering plan for replacing the roof on the museum’s 1930 Art Deco showroom.
• Indiana National Road Association, Cambridge City – $2,000 for development of a digital driving guide highlighting communities, historic sites, museums, and other cultural attractions along the historic byway.

Indiana Modern Grant Fund

Indiana Modern, part of Indiana Landmarks, awards planning and rehabilitation grants that help preserve twentieth-century architectural and landscape design. In 2020, the group awarded a $1,000 grant to help list the 1955 William Davis House in Rockville in the National Register of Historic Places.

Marion County Historic Preservation Fund

• Englewood Community Development Corp., Indianapolis – $4,500 for structural analysis of a historic smokestack at the former PR Mallory Campus, built in 1921.
• Historic Urban Neighborhoods of Indianapolis – $4,000 to assist a project to digitize walking and biking tours highlighting historic architecture and prominent leaders in the city’s historic neighborhoods.
• Indianapolis Opera – $5,000 for an architectural assessment of the Frank and Katrina Basile Opera Center, located in the 1960 Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, to support use of the center for more arts and cultural events.
• Joy of All Who Sorrow Orthodox Church, Indianapolis – $1,000 for construction of a porch overhang to prevent rain from infiltrating the interior of the early twentieth-century church.
• St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church, Indianapolis – $1,500 to help nominate the c.1950/1969 church, including its Evans Woollen III-designed sanctuary, to the National Register of Historic Places.
• Friends of Brookside and Spades Park, Indianapolis – $5,000 for rehabilitation of the 1903 Nowland Avenue Bridge, designed by prominent bridge engineer Daniel Luten.

Sacred Places Grants

• Allen Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Indianapolis – $25,000 for roof repairs on the 1927 church.
• Grace Episcopal Church, Muncie – $25,000 to rehabilitate part of the 1867 building to become a commercial kitchen supporting a downtown feeding program.
• Trinity United Methodist Church, Madison – $25,000 for repairs to the roof, flashing, and guttering on the 1873 church.
• Temple Beth-El, South Bend – $7,500 for an architectural study examining ways to adaptively reuse the 1950/1980 building for community programming.
• Turner Chapel AME Church, Fort Wayne – $7,500 for a feasibility study for the 1920 church.
• Unity Church, Indianapolis – $25,000 to restore exterior panels, remove a late-addition canopy, and create a new entrance on the 1955/1963 church.