Indiana Landmarks Awards Grants

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Indiana Landmarks has awarded more than $140,000 to help nonprofits and cities save meaningful places. The grants support efforts ranging from architectural assessments and repairs to digital walking tours and summer programs for youth.

“Indiana Landmarks offers grants to help spark community revitalization and bolster preservation projects around the state,” said Marsh Davis, president of Indiana Landmarks. “We’re extremely grateful that with the support of many generous donors we’re able to offer this critical support to local preservation groups.”

African American Heritage Grants

The grants help preserve and raise awareness of historic African American places in Indiana. The committee made four grants:

• Ball State University: $1,000 to co-sponsor a virtual lecture by Brent Leggs, senior vice president and executive director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund of The National Trust for Historic Preservation.
• Fox Lake Preservation Foundation, Angola: $2,500 for a state historical marker at the African American resort community.
• Freeman Army Airfield Museum, Seymour: $2,000 for a state historical marker recognizing the 1945 uprising by African American soldiers against a segregated White officers club.
• Madam Walker Legacy Center, Indianapolis: $2,000 for general support at the 1927 Madam Walker building.

Efroymson Family Endangered Places Grants

Efroymson Family Endangered Places grants aid architectural and structural assessments, rehab cost analysis, reuse studies, and fundraising planning. Indiana Landmarks made 14 grants totaling $36,100.

• Baugo Community Schools, Elkhart: $2,500 to study the feasibility of rehabbing the 1929 Jimtown Gymnasium as a community center.
• City of Muncie: $2,500 for a conditions assessment that will help Big Four Rail Park, Inc., prioritize rehabilitation needs at the 1920 Big Four Freight House.
• City of Muncie: $2,500 for a feasibility study that will help Old West End Neighborhood Economic Redevelopment determine whether the c.1910 house at 719 W. Charles St. can be rehabbed as affordable housing.
• City of Union City: $2,500 for a feasibility study and restoration plan at the 1869 Governor Isaac Gray House.
• Daviess County Historical Society, Washington: $2,500 for a feasibility study at the Daviess County Museum, located in the 1868/1888 Masonic Temple.
• Destination Georgetown, Georgetown: $2,500 for a feasibility study and conditions assessment at the endangered 1835 Wolfe Hotel.
• Fountain County Landmarks, Inc., Attica: $3,500 for a structural analysis at the 1854 Cades Mill Covered Bridge near Veedersburg, Indiana’s oldest covered bridge on its original site.
• Greene County: $2,500 for a structural analysis at the 1883 Richmond-Plummer Creek Covered Bridge, which suffered damage from an arson fire.
• Henry Henley Public Library, Carthage: $1,600 for a feasibility study at the 1902 Carthage Public Library.
• Indiana Manufactured Housing and Recreation Vehicle Legacy Foundation, Seymour: $2,500 for a feasibility study at the 1940 Shields Memorial Gymnasium, an entry on Indiana Landmarks’ 2021 10 Most Endangered List.
• Richmond Neighborhood Restoration: $3,500 to study the feasibility of rehabbing the c.1890 building at 720-724 East Main Street as a mixed-use development.
• Town of Oolitic: $2,500 to update a 2007 structural assessment of the 1919/1936 Oolitic High School.
• Town of Milltown: $2,500 for a feasibility study at the 1905 First National Bank, which houses town hall.
• Zoar United Methodist Church, Dubois County: $2,500 for a feasibility study of a one-room school built in 1897.

Historic Preservation Education Grants

Indiana Landmarks and Indiana Humanities jointly award grants to nonprofits for programs and materials educating the public about historic places. The organizations awarded $33,285 to fund 14 projects:

• Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site, Indianapolis: $2,500 to update the Historic Delaware Street Walking Tour brochure highlighting the history and architectural styles of still-standing and demolished buildings along Delaware Street between 12th and 16th streets.
• Beverly Shores Depot Museum and Art Gallery, Beverly Shores: $2,360 to develop a heritage trail with markers at significant historic sites, with QR codes providing information about each site’s history and importance.
• City of LaPorte Historic Preservation Commission, LaPorte: $2,250 to produce a coloring and activity book featuring historic sites in LaPorte for distribution among area schools.
• City of Madison: $2,500 to create QR codes and a brochure providing history and photos of 11 historic sites throughout the community.
• Downtown Angola Coalition, Angola: $2,500 to install plaques and produce a walking tour brochure sharing the history of downtown buildings.
• Fox Lake Preservation Foundation, Angola: $925 to develop a brochure sharing the historic African American resort community’s history, highlighting its historic buildings, and sharing information about the foundation.
• The History Museum, South Bend: $2,500 to develop programming to educate the public on electrical upgrades completed at the historic Oliver Mansion in 2019.
• The Heart of Lebanon, Lebanon: $2,500 to create a self-guided digital tour highlighting historic properties on the town’s courthouse square.
• Indianapolis Museum of Art/Newfields, Indianapolis: $2,500 for development of a self-guided digital tour of the museum’s historic Lilly House.
• Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library, Indianapolis: $2,500 for a public event celebrating the unveiling of the museum as a literary landmark, with free tours of the museum’s building to share its history and the significance of the surrounding Indiana Avenue neighborhood where it is located.
• Landmark Columbus Foundation, Columbus: $2,500 to help create a website and event to raise awareness of the design history and preservation needs at the 1942 First Christian Church.
• Marian University, Indianapolis: $2,500 to create an online repository about landscape architect Jens Jensen’s work at Riverdale, the Allison family estate on the college campus, as well as the architect’s other Indiana landscapes.
• Michigan Road Historical Association, Plymouth: $2,500 to develop a traveling exhibition telling the story of the historic byway.
• The Quilters Hall of Fame, Marion: $2,500 to create a virtual tour of the museum, located in the historic home of twentieth-century quilt designer Marie Webster, educating visitors about her work and home.

Marion County Historic Preservation Fund

• Aspire Higher Foundation, Indianapolis: $5,000 for a preservation plan for the 1897 former Indianapolis Fire Station #9.
• Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis: $5,000 for commercial real estate appraisals for vacant parcels of land in the 700 block of Indiana Avenue.
• Great Towns, Inc., Indianapolis: $5,000 to support a demonstration project by the Great Towns Preservation Corps, a program introducing historic preservation to students.
• Indiana Landmarks: $9,000 to assist with interior rehabilitation at the 1922 Willis and Beulah Kinnear House in Indianapolis.
• Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation, Indianapolis: $5,000 grant to assist with restoration of the 1898 Deitch Gate—decorative iron entry gates to the southside Jewish cemetery.
• Irvington Historical Society, Indianapolis: $4,000 to replace the front doors at the 1903 Bona Thompson Memorial Center with alternates that more closely match the original bronze doors long missing from the historic building, originally Butler University’s library.

Sacred Places Indiana Grants

Indiana Landmarks’ Sacred Places program provided $32,500 to congregations for architectural studies, repairs, and rehabilitation at historic houses of worship:

• Brazil First United Methodist Church, Brazil: $25,000 for repairs at the 1900 church.
• Saint Rita’s Catholic Church, Indianapolis: $7,500 for a feasibility study at the 1959 church.