Category Archives: Preservation Tales

adventures in historic preservation

Preservation Tales: The House No Longer a Home

Posted on March 29, 2023 by admin

Oh no. Not another one! I have written before about National Register buildings I have lovingly researched and gotten listed, only to see them threatened and even demolished years later. A listing will not save a historic structure, and we … Continue reading →

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Preservation Tales: “Progress” Goes Before a Fall

Posted on February 7, 2023 by admin

“It’s a historical building, but I guess it’s progress,” said Marv Blessing, an alumnus of Pine Village High School, in a recent interview with IndyStar.  After decades of work in historic preservation, little pains me more than this continuing assertion … Continue reading →

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Preservation Tales: Crying in My Beer

Posted on September 10, 2022 by admin

Some weeks ago I stumbled on the news that yet another building in South Bend listed in the National Register of Historic Places–this one was also a designated Local Landmark–was demolished. Someone had posted a video on a South Bend … Continue reading →

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Tales from the Road: Seeking the WPA in Historic Harrison County, Indiana

Posted on June 8, 2022 by admin

Some 34 years ago I traveled to the National Archives in Washington D.C. to go through Indiana’s WPA records. Perhaps the last WPA project was to compile the project records, each of which had an identifying index card, onto microfilm. … Continue reading →

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Tales from the Road: The Lincoln Highway in Illinois

Posted on May 11, 2022 by admin

Sometimes I just have to run off. And so, even though I had done little preparation, I headed out to hit the Lincoln Highway in Illinois. Actually, full disclosure, my original plan was to do Illinois and Iowa, but fate … Continue reading →

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Preservation Tales: I Thought This Was Saved!

Posted on March 22, 2022 by admin

Collier Lodge I first learned of Collier Lodge, originally built deep in the Kankakee Marsh along the river of that name, back in the 1990s at a historic preservation conference in South Bend. A fellow from Porter County gave a … Continue reading →

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