Rising Sun, In. — Indiana Landmarks today announced the 10 Most Endangered, an annual list of Hoosier landmarks in jeopardy. The list includes a college campus, an eccentric estate, an unusual barn, a basketball palace, and more.
“We put places on the endangered list to raise awareness and find ways to save them,” says Marsh Davis, president of the nonprofit preservation organization. “Indiana Landmarks has been able to solve problems, forge partnerships, and create revitalization strategies that wrest these sites from the brink of extinction,” he adds.
Demolition has claimed only 16 of the 131 Most Endangered sites listed since 1991, while 84 places are completely restored or no longer endangered.
The 10 Most Endangered in 2018 includes one site repeating from last year’s list and nine new entries [see addendum for more information on each]:
Cannelton Historic District, Cannelton
Commandant’s Row at Indiana Veterans’ Home, West Lafayette
The Courtyard Inn, Rising Sun
The shuttered Courtyard Inn is made up of five buildings—four connected—that represent the earliest links to the Ohio River flatboat industry that put Rising Sun on the map. Shadrach Hathaway replaced his two-story log structure in 1827 with a brick building at the corner of Front and Fourth streets that he operated as a general store. In the 1830s, Pinckney James and Able C. Pepper constructed row houses adjacent to the mercantile, fillingout the block facing the river.
Cravenhurst Barn, Madison
Marion National Bank Building, Marion (repeat entry from 2017 list)
Muncie Fieldhouse, Muncie
North Christian Church, Columbus
Old Masonic Hall, Knightstown
Rocky Edge, Terre Haute
Saint Joseph’s College campus, Rensselaer
Places that land on the 10 Most Endangered list often face a combination of problems rather than a single threat—abandonment, neglect, dilapidation, obsolete use, unreasonable above-market asking price, owners who simply lack money for repairs, remote location.
“Indiana Landmarks confers 10 Most Endangered status on important historic places that have reached a dire point, like the Newkirk Mansion in Connersville on the 2017 list. The vacant hilltop mansion suffered a leaking roof, vandalism and an arson fire in the carriage house. We developed a strategy that included price negotiation, optioning the property, and a national search for a new owner willing to restore the house. We found an ideal buyer in the Sparks family who immediately began addressing the structural needs and embraced the protective covenant we attached to the deed,” says Davis.
To find out more about each of the 10 Most Endangered, and check out some 10 Most success stories, click here or contact Indiana Landmarks, 317-639-4534 or 800-450-4534.
