Indiana Landmarks

🍂 Indiana Landmarks' guided tours of the Athenaeum are back for the season in Indianapolis!

Discover Indy's German roots and trace the late nineteenth-century building's evolution from German clubhouse to hub of modern urban life. You'll enjoy unique architectural features throughout the National Historic Landmark, while learning how they reflect the founders’ “sound mind in a sound body” ethos, and hear about the site's connection to the Vonnegut and Lieber families, influential in the city in the early 1900s.

➡ Learn more: https://www.indianalandmarks.org/event/athenaeum-building-tour/

📷: Kelly Harris

In Indianapolis, two manor estates representing the height of early twentieth-century opulence—The Lacy-Berger Mansion (photos 1-3) and Laurel Hall (photo 4)—achieved listing in the National Register this June.

The National Register of Historic Places recognizes properties the federal government considers worthy of preservation because of their significance in American history, architecture, archaeology, engineering, or culture. Having a property distinguished by this listing conveys the honor of national recognition and may make owners eligible for certain tax credits and grants.

➡️ Read more: https://www.indianalandmarks.org/2026/08/historic-indianapolis-estates-added-to-national-register/

👏 Congratulations to Indiana Landmarks' 2026 preservation award winners, recently honored for their transformative work in historic preservation at Indiana Landmarks' Annual Meeting.⁠
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🏆️ AP Development LLC won the Cook Cup for Outstanding Restoration for transformation of Crawfordsville's Ben-Hur Building (Photos 1-2)⁠
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🏆️ Save Our Stories, Inc., won the Sandi Servaas Memorial Award for its work to safeguard and raise awareness of Marion’s architecture and heritage, including the local legacy of Samuel Plato, one of Indiana’s first licensed Black architects. (Photos 3-4)⁠
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🏆️ Wabash High School's Pathways to Career and Postsecondary (P-CAP) Class won the Sandi Servaas Memorial Award for its student-led work to envision a new use for the community’s historic Sposeep Building in downtown Wabash. (Photos 5-6)⁠
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🏆️ Marjorie Kienle of Indianapolis won the Williamson Prize for outstanding leadership in historic preservation. (Photos 7-8)⁠
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🏆️ City of Lawrenceburg Redevelopment Commission and Dan McCabe’s Thigmotrope LLC won the Renaissance Award for the transformation of Lawrenceburg's Liberty Theater. (Photos 9-10)

🎼 VISITING VIRTUOSOS AT INDIANA LANDMARKS CENTER
Thursday, September 24, Indianapolis

In partnership with City Chamber Orchestra and Visiting Virtuosos, Indiana Landmarks presents an evening of special music with cellist Arkady Orlovsky and pianist Tamara Orlovsky featuring works by Fauré, Boccherini, and Mozart in Indiana Landmarks Center's acoustically stunning Grand Hall.

The event is the first in a series of Visiting Virtuosos performances at Indiana Landmarks Center designed to celebrate exceptional artistry and serve the community through music, education, and engagement.

➡ Learn more: https://www.indianalandmarks.org/event/visiting-virtuosos-at-indiana-landmarks-center/

📷 : Photos of Indiana Landmarks Center by Susan Fleck Photography and Mark Dickhaus

⚠️ 10 Days of — sites in imminent jeopardy on Indiana Landmarks' 10 Most Endangered List in 2026. Day 10: Tunnel Mill Scout Reservation in Charlestown

For nearly a century, Tunnel Mill Scout Reservation in Charlestown has provided generations of Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts opportunities for camping, hiking, fishing, leadership development, and outdoor education. The 142-acre property, owned by the Lincoln Heritage Council, faces an uncertain future after the council announced plans to sell the camp, citing declining attendance and rising maintenance costs.

Tunnel Mill’s history dates to 1804, when John Work purchased 100 acres along Fourteen Mile Creek. Around 1811, he built his home and later established a grist mill nearby. To increase water flow necessary to power the operation, Work blasted a tunnel through a nearby limestone bluff and constructed a dam. Today, the Work House, tunnel, mill remnants, and family cemetery remain as reminders of the site’s history.

Following a fire that destroyed the mill, the property became a Boy Scout camp in 1928. The camp retains a collection of historic buildings constructed from the 1930s to 1950s, including rustic log cabins built in 1933 inspired by the vision of local scout leader H.A. Meyer, who proposed a “Pioneer Village” as the camp’s centerpiece.

Concerned that potential residential development could erase the site’s history, Friends of Tunnel Mill Scouting Heritage Society launched a fundraising effort to acquire the camp, but the Lincoln Heritage Council turned down their initial purchase offer. The friends group continues to raise money in hopes of acquiring the site, aiming to preserve and share its story while broadening the camp’s availability for all youth, as well as making it available for public events and venue rentals. It’s an ambitious financial and operational undertaking for the nonprofit, all-volunteer group, but one that supporters believe is essential to ensuring Tunnel Mill’s legacy endures.

➡️ Visit our website to see all the 10 Most Endangered: https://www.indianalandmarks.org/10-most-endangered/

📸: Evan Hale⁠
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⚠️ 10 Days of — sites in imminent jeopardy on Indiana Landmarks' 10 Most Endangered List in 2026. Day 9: Shirk-Edwards House in Peru

The Shirk-Edwards House is distinguished by its grand architecture and its connection to Marie Stuart Edwards, a nationally recognized leader in the women’s suffrage movement. Today however, the property’s legacy is increasingly threatened by deterioration, including peeling paint, a leaking roof, and a porch perilously close to collapse.

Real estate investor and banking magnate Elbert Hamilton Shirk added onto an earlier structure to create the Italianate residence c.1862, but its association with later owners Richard Elbert Edwards and Marie Stuart Edwards represents an equally important chapter in the house’s history. In 1921, the Edwards hired Indianapolis architect Merritt Harrison to give the house a Neoclassical makeover, including a new stucco exterior. Marie Stuart Edwards lived in the house from 1914 to 1970, using it as a base for her advocacy on women’s rights, civic engagement, and social reform. As a leader of Indiana’s Women’s Franchise League, she also played a key role in the formation of the National League of Women Voters.

Today, an absentee out-of-state owner holds the vacant property and has yet to take action to address the house’s growing list of code violations or the City’s direct requests for repairs. Meanwhile, the Shirk-Edwards House is at a critical turning point, in need of urgent investment to preserve its architectural and cultural legacy.

➡️ Visit our website to see all the 10 Most Endangered: https://www.indianalandmarks.org/10-most-endangered/

📸: Evan Hale

⚠️ 10 Days of — sites in imminent jeopardy on Indiana Landmarks' 10 Most Endangered List in 2026. Day 8: Lincoln Pioneer Village in Rockport

In Spencer County, Lincoln Pioneer Village tells the unique American story of Abraham Lincoln’s formative years in southern Indiana and the community that has worked for nearly a century to honor that history.

The vision for Lincoln Pioneer Village originated with George Henry Honig, a nationally acclaimed sculptor born in Rockport in 1874. Inspired by Lincoln’s legacy he imagined a place where visitors could learn about the president’s Indiana experience and the realities of pioneer life. Built through the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression, the project provided jobs, attracted tourists, and united locals who donated timber, heirlooms, and labor to bring the Village to life.

Today, the site is in danger of falling into neglect, threatened by funding challenges, aging structures, and the loss of people with specialized knowledge needed to care for it. Preserving the nationally significant landmark will require sustained investment, dedicated stewardship, and renewed efforts to share its rich history.

➡️ Visit our website to see all the 10 Most Endangered: https://www.indianalandmarks.org/10-most-endangered/

📸: Evan Hale⁠
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⚠️ 10 Days of — sites in imminent jeopardy on Indiana Landmarks' 10 Most Endangered List in 2026. Day 7: Kiwanis Field in La Porte

In 1950, La Porte’s Kiwanis Club spearheaded construction of a new stadium for the local high school’s football team. Architects O’Keefe and Keil delivered a Streamline Modern fieldhouse, with locker rooms tucked under a sloping grandstand where students, parents, and fans have gathered for more than 70 years to cheer on the Slicers.

The stadium landed on the 10 Most Endangered list last year after school officials suggested that building a new football stadium would be more cost effective than investing in repairs and updates to the aging facility. Preservation advocates mobilized quickly, with more than 750 community members signing a petition in support of rehabbing the landmark and preserving it as the high school’s signature sports venue.

Since then, school officials have partnered with Indiana Landmarks’ affiliate Preserve Historic La Porte to explore possibilities, commissioning a study assessing renovation options. Armed with the results, the committee identified a plan that would rehabilitate the existing fieldhouse and locker rooms.

However, the school board must still approve the proposal and determine how it will be funded. With community support, a workable rehabilitation strategy, and broad collaboration already in place, preservation supporters hope the stadium can remain a centerpiece of La Porte High School athletics.

➡️ Visit our website to see all the 10 Most Endangered: https://www.indianalandmarks.org/10-most-endangered/
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📸: Evan Hale and Todd Zeiger⁠
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⚠️ 10 Days of — sites in imminent jeopardy on Indiana Landmarks' 10 Most Endangered List in 2026. Day 6: Plymouth Fire Station

Built in 1875, the historic Plymouth Fire Station originally served as home to both the city’s fire department and city hall. Its arched bays and bell tower reflected its civic importance, supporting firefighting operations for over a century until a new station was built in 1980. Since then, the building has continued to serve in various roles, including housing the city’s ambulance service, visitors’ bureau, preschool programs, and art exhibits. The original city hall chamber and fire pole remain, pointing to the firehouse’s heritage.

When exterior brick showed signs of accelerating deterioration, a study estimated much-needed repairs would total over $1 million. A recent grant from the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs is a great step toward preservation, but the City of Plymouth will need additional funding to ensure the firehouse’s longevity.

Around the state, historic fire stations have been repurposed as restaurants, coffee houses, an antiques store, a community center, and even a private residence. As one of the state’s oldest surviving fire stations, the historic Plymouth Fire Station deserves a similar positive outcome.

➡️ Visit our website to see all the 10 Most Endangered: https://www.indianalandmarks.org/10-most-endangered

📸: Evan Hale