Past DHPA Involvement: Northwest Region

Abbreviations Used:

• NHL - National Historic Landmark
• HI - Hometown Indiana
• HPF - Historic Preservation Fund
• HTI - Historic Theater Initiative
• NRHP - National Register of Historic Places 
• SR - Indiana State Register
• TC - Rehabilitation Tax Credits
• UGRR - Underground Railroad Initiative
• WRHC - Wabash River Heritage Corridor

Covington

Fountain County Clerk’s Building (NRHP, HPF)
1842 building originally located on the courthouse square and was the office of Lew Wallace for a period of time. It was moved to its current location in 1857. The grant paid for exterior rehabilitation. The Fountain County Arts Council will use it as a local history museum.

Crown Point

Lake County Sheriff’s Residence and Jail (NRHP, HPF, HI)
1882 Second Empire residence and 1926 jail that underwent a major renovation/restoration. This is the jail that John Dillenger escaped from in 1934. Grant funding went for masonry repair and a new roof for both buildings. Restoration is on-going.

Fowler

Fowler Theater (NRHP, HTI, HPF)
The Prairie Preservation Guild, a local non-profit organization, purchased the 1940 Art Deco/Art Moderne theater in 2001 and has been successfully showing movies since December 2001. They have received an HPF grant to restore the façade and marquee.

Gary

Palace Theater (NRHP, HTI)
One of five remaining atmospheric theaters in Indiana, the 1925 Palace has been vacant for approximately 30 years. The HTI has been working with local officials in Gary, Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation to stabilize the building and create a feasibility study in an effort to save the building from demolition.

Lafayette

Fort Ouiatenon Blockhouse (NRHP, WRHC)
1930 replica of the 1717-1791 Fort Ouiatenon Blockhouse. Grant funding paid for exterior stabilization and minor interior systems. It is owned and operated by the Tippecanoe County Historical Museum.

Lafayette Theater (NRHP, HTI, HPF)
A group of Lafayette businessmen pooled their resources to restore the Lafayette Theater, a 1938 Art Deco theater. The grant paid for façade and marquee restoration. The restoration will be complete in late 2005 when the building will open as a restaurant/performance venue.

Lawrie Library (NRHP, WRHC)
C.1895 former Commissary for the Indiana State Soldier’s Home. Vacant since 1980, the building was in danger of collapsing. The grant paid for a new roof and repair of the masonry walls. Wabash Valley Trust for Historic Preservation wants to use the library to house approximately 200 oil portraits of Civil War generals painted by Captain Alexander Lawrie, a former resident of the Soldier’s Home.

Lowell

Buckley Homestead Main Barn and Silo and Hog Barn (NRHP, HPF)
1916 main bank barn and silo is considered the “Cadillac of barns”. The grant paid for stabilization of foundation, drainage piping, tuck-pointing, tile blocks of silo, roof. Foundation repairs and grading were completed on the 1917 hog barn. The entire farmstead was donated to the Lake County Parks and Recreation Department in 1977 and is a living history farm.

Halsted House (NRHP, HI)
1850 home of Melvin Halsted, founder of Lowell and one of the oldest buildings in Lake County. The grant paid for exterior masonry repair and new roof, gutters, and downspouts. Restoration is on-going but the house is now a house museum operated by the local historical society.

Remington

Fountain Park Chautauqua Hotel (NRHP, HPF)
1898 hotel on the grounds of 17 acre Chautauqua that still meets every summer. A large covered porch surrounded the entire front of the hotel and faces the open expanse of lawn in the middle of the camp. Awarded in 2005 this grant is for structural stabilization of the hotel.