A number of buildings in downtown Loogootee that helped the city land on the National Register of Historic Places. Provided photo
LOOGOOTEE— A large chunk of downtown Loogootee is now on the National Register of Historic Places. The area covers around 14 acres on either side of JFK Boulevard. The designation came as the result of the downtown organization Community Action Leading Loogootee (CALL).
“We are so excited. We are now officially listed as the Loogootee Commercial Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places,” said CALL President Tim Brown-Salsman.” It’s really an honor. It now puts on the list of outstanding locations for historic architecture in America.”
“I feel good that we have done it. I hope it can help promote our downtown,” said CALL Board Member Nancy Jones. “We have some students from IU who are going to help us establish a walking tour. It took a while and it is finally accomplished.”
Community leaders says the initial interest in the downtown architecture came from someone who was looking for old Metzger buildings and found several in Loogootee. This was all mail order. Customers picked out what they wanted and had it shipped in and then installed them. Metzger buildings were predesigned structures from Evansville that allowed a building owner to choose certain design elements like doors and windows and decorative items and have them premade and delivered to the construction site for installation.
“We found we had some specific features in our downtown buildings through some architects that is when we found we had more than one building,” said CALL founding member Teresa Nolley.
“I am super excited about this. I have more interest than some because I have owned a business in that district for 28 years,” said Brown-Salsman. “I thought it was just a beautiful building. I didn’t think much about it until a researcher came to town and located six Metzger buildings from the turn of the century including mine.”
Those findings led to a study that discovered that Loogootee was filled with historic buildings. The Loogootee Historic Commercial District contains approximately 50 buildings in the commercial blocks surrounding the public square and includes St. John’s Lutheran Church, the Knights of Columbus Hall, the historic high school gym and post office. The district’s historic period of significance spans nearly 100 years, from 1880 through 1969, dating from the earliest to latest contributing structures in architectural styles that range from Italianate, Queen Anne, Neoclassical, Craftsman and the International Style.
To put the pieces together and submit the application CALL used a grant from the Martin County Community Foundation that covered the cost for a consulting firm, Garner Consulting.
“I wrote a grant to the community foundation to get us enough money to hire someone to do all of the leg work and paperwork so that we could receive this accreditation,” said Jones. “He had done several before us and knew how to get us in an historic district.”
A spot on the national register does do a few things for Loogootee and the people who own buildings in that corridor.
“There are opportunities for federal grants to help update the facades. They are really strict about what you do with their money. There is not a lot. It is more of an honor for the city to be recognized.
“There are opportunities for federal grants to help update the facades. They are really strict about what you do with their money,” said Brown-Salsman. “There is not a lot. It is more of an honor for the city to be recognized.”
“I know the city is working on a comprehensive plan and this can be included in the city’s plan for the future,” said Nolley. “Also when the Mid-States Corridor began discussion, we wanted something to help us identify as a thriving community and help generate interest in our area in the event the new road bypassed the town. We thought this might help persuade people to turn right.”
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