Indiana Landmarks Rescued & Restored

Indiana Landmarks: Rescued & Restored offers dramatic before-and-after photographs that show remarkable turnarounds for endangered places as diverse as the oldest house in Wabash—small and quirky—and Bush Stadium, original home of the Indianapolis Indians, reinvented as apartments.

The coffee table book features more than 50 landmarks across the state snatched from the wrecking ball or lifted from decades of neglect and restored to new uses. The magnificent West Baden Springs Hotel—featured on the cover—makes the heart soar, rising from ruinous collapse to fairy tale castle, a turnaround that lifted an entire regional economy. So does the Fowler Theater, a dark and downtrodden spot restored to a neon-lit, beloved community anchor.

In addition to individual landmarks, the book covers the transformation of entire historic neighborhoods. For example, Indianapolis’s Lockerbie Square in the 1970s was plagued by vacant and dilapidated buildings until Indiana Landmarks targeted the district, buying and reselling a third of the houses and attracting young families and retirees to downtown living.

While color pictures tell the tales, the accompanying text gives a thumbnail history of each landmark and how it was rescued and restored. The book may spark conversation, home-improvement projects, even travel plans to see some of the historic places in person (although many of the sites featured are privately owned and not open to the public). It may also fire the imaginations of youngsters with an interest in architecture and historic preservation.

Proceeds from the sales of Rescued & Restored support the work of Indiana Landmarks, a 60-year-old nonprofit organization, to save and revitalize more historic Hoosier places.

Tina Connor retired from Indiana Landmarks as Executive Vice President in 2018 after 42 years on staff. A graduate of Indiana University with a B.A. in English and an M.B.A., she managed marketing, publishing and promotion at Indiana Landmarks. She lives in Indianapolis.

Hon. Randall T. Shepard, who writes the foreword, is Senior Judge in the Indiana Court of Appeals and teaches law periodically at Indiana, Notre Dame and Yale. He earned a national reputation during his 25-year tenure as Chief Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court, from which he retired in 2012. The Honorary Chair of Indiana Landmarks and trustee emeritus of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, he grew up in Evansville and lives in Indianapolis.

Marsh Davis writes the introduction. He is the President of Indiana Landmarks and has served as a trustee of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Prior to being named president of Indiana Landmarks, he served as Executive Director of the Galveston Historical Foundation. An Indiana native, he grew up in Lake County and now lives in Indianapolis.