The Department of Natural Resources helps strengthen Indiana’s historical and cultural heritage through annual federal matching grants it awards to communities and not-for-profit groups to assist local preservation projects.
This year, the DNR Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology will award 12 federal Historic Preservation Fund grants totaling more than $656,000 for historic preservation and archaeology projects in Indiana communities across the state.
“These grant awards make it possible for communities and nonprofits to take on preservation projects they might not be able to tackle alone,” said Beth McCord, the division’s director. “They positively impact irreplaceable landmarks that define who we are as Hoosiers.”
In most cases, these grants require a dollar-for-dollar match of local or private funds, for a total projected investment of more than $1.2 million in these important cultural resource projects. All buildings to be rehabilitated are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Funding comes from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service which distributes federal funds to the states through its Historic Preservation Fund Program. These projects are considered federal undertakings, and therefore consulting parties have an opportunity to comment on projects under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (54 U.S.C. § 306108) and 36 C.F.R. Part 800. Each proposed scope of work has been reviewed by DHPA staff who have determined these projects will have no adverse effect on historic properties. To be a consulting party or provide public comments for any of the projects listed below please contact the DHPA by December 31, 2026. Send a request to Malia Vanaman, mvanaman@dnr.IN.gov, and specify the project(s) for which you are requesting to be a consulting party, and further information for the project(s) will be provided to you.
Rehabilitation Projects
South Bend (St. Joseph County): A $75,000 grant to Saints Casimir and Adalbert Parish will assist with masonry repairs and repointing on three buildings of the St. Casimir campus: the 1898 school, the 1901 rectory, and the church built in 1924. The project will address the worst areas of exterior brick and limestone deterioration and mortar loss, helping keep water out of the three buildings.
Cannelton (Perry County): Perry County Grows will receive a $51,423 grant for repairs to the former St. Michael School in the Cannelton Historic District. The organization intends to reuse the building as a community hub for local food access, nutrition education, wellness programming, and rural entrepreneurship support. The grant will assist window rehabilitation or replacement; gutter, soffit, and fascia repairs; replacement of damaged brick or limestone masonry units, and repointing areas of missing or eroded mortar.
Terre Haute (Vigo County): A $75,000 grant to the City of Terre Haute will assist with masonry repairs at three buildings in Highland Lawn Cemetery. The elaborate entry arch and tower, gatehouse, and chapel date to the 1890s and are all constructed of rusticated limestone blocks in the Romanesque Revival style. The scope of work consists of resetting shifted stones, repairs to damaged stones, gentle cleaning to reduce biological staining, and repointing areas of missing or eroded mortar.
Plymouth (Marshall County): A $75,000 grant to the City of Plymouth will assist repairs at the 1875 Fire House-City Hall building. The city has applied for an Office of Community and Rural Affairs grant to assist with rehabilitation of the exterior brick masonry. This smaller project will focus solely on rehabilitation of the tower cupola, and includes shingle removal, decking repair, installation of new faux slate roofing; a new rubber membrane to seal the cupola floor, and repairs to woodwork and the tower’s rose window.
Richmond (Wayne County): A $72,258 grant to the City of Richmond and the Reid Center will assist upgrades to life-safety systems in the former Reid Memorial Presbyterian Church. The building is being repurposed as a local cultural and performing arts venue. Public assembly use of the building requires meeting specific building codes, so work will include installation of fire detection and sprinkler systems.
Lafayette (Tippecanoe County): The Haan Museum of Indiana Art in Lafayette will receive a $75,000 grant to help stabilize the carriage house on the property. Grant-assisted activities include structural repairs to the foundation and floor supports, strengthening roof joists, and reinforcing a roof beam. Exterior repairs include repointing brick masonry, replacing eight corroded steel window lintels, and rehabilitating nine wooden windows. The repaired building will provide flexible learning spaces for school groups and community engagement programming.
Oxford (Benton County): A $40,000 grant to Oak Grove Heritage House, Inc. will assist with exterior masonry rehabilitation of the former Oxford Presbyterian Church. The project will address missing or eroded mortar, step cracks in the brick walls, and damaged bricks and limestone elements. The upper section of the bell tower is a particular concern for public safety; it requires limited brick replacement and repointing inside and out.
Muncie (Delaware County): A $48,600 grant to the City of Muncie and the East Central Neighborhood Association will assist exterior rehabilitation of the historic Emily Kimbrough house. Work includes significant woodwork and roofing repairs to the front and rear porches, repairing the clapboard siding, repairing the brick foundation, removing a small rear chimney, and repainting the house.
Archaeology Projects
Harrison County: Indiana University will receive a $35,000 grant to carry out reconnaissance-level investigation of the Alice Dean shipwreck in the Ohio River and a nearby land feature in Harrison County connected with Morgan’s Raid in 1863. The underwater archaeology will employ non-invasive and remote-sensing technologies, including magnetometry, side-scan sonar, and multibeam bathymetry to document hull remains, machinery, and the surrounding debris field. The nearby investigation on land will focus on stacked-stone features at Tobacco Hill, which may be the remains of a defensive position associated with the raid. Methods will include systematic pedestrian surveys, GIS mapping, and detailed photographic documentation. The resulting data will help evaluate the vessel’s site integrity and information potential, and the stone feature’s relationship to Morgan’s crossing at Morvin’s Landing.
Monroe and Morgan counties: Ball State University will receive a $50,000 grant to assist a phase I-a survey of shovel test probes across 60 acres of forested stream valley and uplands known as Deadman Hollow in Morgan-Monroe State Forest. The project goals are to better understand pre- and post-contact use of the area and provide data to aid in interpretation and resource management planning.
Preservation Planning Projects
New Harmony (Posey County): The Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites Corporation will receive a $50,000 grant to prepare a cultural landscape report for the New Harmony National Historic Landmark District. The Indiana State Museum manages seven historic properties within this district. The study will document historic landscapes surrounding these sites, evaluate features that define the historic setting, and examine historic pathways and common spaces that linked these resources. The Indiana State Museum will use the report to develop a more cohesive visitor experience that highlights their sites within the town’s historic landscape.
Fort Wayne (Allen County): A $9,234 grant to the City of Fort Wayne will assist preparation of a nomination to the National Register of Historic Places for the St. Jude/Sharon Terrace Historic District, plus an individual property nomination for the Phyllis Wheatley Center. In addition, the project includes hiring a graphic designer to visually update the City’s revised historic district design guidelines for publication and posting online.