Downtown Hartford City punches far above its weight from an architectural standpoint. Much of that impact comes from the 160-foot-tall Blackford County Courthouse, which dominates the skyline and announces the town long before you reach the square. Fortunately, it isn’t standing alone: among Hartford City’s most prominent structures is the old Ingram Hotel. It’s impressive in its own right.
Continue reading “Hartford City’s Hotel Ingram”
A decade or so ago, my girlfriend’s mom lived off of County Road 1200-North in rural Delaware County. I was there all the time! I don’t have much reason to travel the old Dunkirk and Moore Pike past it today, but someone let me know that the old Poor schoolhouse there was in dire straits. Sure enough, it is- the roof of its porch has absconded.
Continue reading “This Poor schoolhouse is falling apart”
Back when my dad lived up north, we made the Fort Wayne-to-Goshen run on U.S. Route 33 like clockwork every other weekend. We’d roll through little towns like Kimmell without a second though, but what changed the day Dad caught wind of something you don’t see every day: the intersection of Lincoln and Hitler Streets. For a guy wired for history, the intersection was irresistible! Next thing we knew, we followed his curiosity and saw it for ourselves.
Continue reading “At the corner of Lincoln and Hitler”
From the 1940s through the sixties and seventies, AT&T built thousands of Long Line towers as part of its transcontinental microwave communications network. It’s been decades since they were used for their original purpose, but one still stands near the Morgan County community of Morgantown.
Continue reading “Morgantown’s old Long Line Tower”
I’ve started to notice a pattern here: I keep showing up just in time. Not at the height of things, and not long after they’re gone, but in that narrow window when a place is still standing, still recognizable, and just beginning to slip away. Indiana’s old county homes seem especially prone to that timing, and that’s exactly how I found the old DeKalb County Home.
Continue reading “Indiana’s DeKalb County Home”
A while back, I shared a map of the tunnels under the oldest part of Ball State I created using a 1950s Sanborn fire insurance map. A few weeks later, I posted an updated map after a friend sent me an underground schematic from 1982. Several days ago, someone sent me the official map! I’m not going to post it here, but it appears as though mine was pretty accurate.
Continue reading “Someone sent me Ball State’s official tunnel map. The one I made was pretty accurate”
I had never heard of the Indiana community of Weaver before an acquaintance of mine brought it up a few months ago. As soon as he did, I knew I had to visit: about all that remains of the place is the acre-wide Weaver Cemetery, but it’s full of history.
Continue reading “Grant County’s Weaver settlement cemetery”
There used to be a website that tracked buildings that were once obviously Pizza Huts. There may still be one today, but there used to be, too. As it turns out, Fort Wayne has its own version of that game: instead of pizza joints, it’s pyramids. Four of them scattered across the city all share the same unmistakable shape! Each started its life as a bank.
Continue reading “Fort Wayne’s pyramid banks”
The superior courthouse in downtown Elkhart is being demolished. Honestly, it’s not exactly a tragedy: the building isn’t historic, and it is appallingly ugly. What stings a little is what’s going with it: a piece of the old Elkhart High School tacked onto its west side.
Continue reading “Elkhart’s courthouse is coming down”
Despite America’s reputation for the wrecking ball, we’re actually pretty good at second acts. All across the country, old buildings quietly slip into new roles. Some transformations are so seamless you’d never suspect a thing. Others practically shout their former lives from the rooftop. New Castle has a perfect example in Victory Church. It used to be a Marsh Supermarket!
Continue reading “Not fooling anyone: this church in New Castle used to be…”