INDIANAPOLIS (August 18, 2025) – Indiana Landmarks today announced the 10 Most Endangered, an annual list of Hoosier landmarks in jeopardy.
The list includes a rare polygonal barn; a historic Black social club; a picturesque one-room school; a popular high school fieldhouse; a rugged reminder of the industrial revolution; an early tribute to higher education; a historic Springs Valley hotel; a covered bridge; a classic high school gymnasium; and a threatened turn-of-the-century neighborhood.
Places that land on the 10 Most Endangered list often face a combination of problems rather than a single threat—abandonment, neglect, dilapidation, obsolete use, development pressure, or owners who simply lack money for repairs.
“Indiana Landmarks uses its 10 Most Endangered list in several ways. Sometimes it serves an educational role. It functions as an advocacy tool. And it can assist in raising funds needed to save a place,” says Brad Ward, president of the nonprofit preservation organization. “Each endangered place tells a distinct story, and each faces its own set of challenges. In all cases, when an endangered place lands on our list, we commit to seeking solutions that lead to rescue and revitalization,” he adds.
The 10 Most Endangered in 2025 include the following places [see addendum for more information on each]:
College Hall, Merom Camp & Retreat Center, Merom
Emily Kimbrough Historic District, Muncie
Kiwanis Field, La Porte
Mineral Springs Hotel, Paoli
Rudicel-Montgomery Polygonal Barn, Waldron
Shields Memorial Gymnasium, Seymour
Sollman School, Snake Run (near Fort Branch)
Sposeep & Sons Building, Wabash
Traders Point Covered Bridge, Indianapolis
West Side Recreation Club, South Bend
ADDENDUM – Background information 10 Most Endangered places 2025
College Hall, Merom Camp & Retreat Center
8555 Phillip Street, Merom
Generations of people have attended camps, retreats, classes, and special events at College Hall, a five-story brick building at the heart of Merom Camp and Retreat Center in western Indiana. The community affirmed its support for College Hall’s preservation after it appeared on Indiana Landmarks’ 10 Most Endangered list last year. Now, the towering landmark needs a fundraising boost as camp leaders prioritize repairs.
Constructed between 1859 and 1863 for Union Christian College, the hall’s design spoke to the founders’ lofty aspirations as one of the state’s earliest places of higher education, open to both male and female students. After the college closed in 1924, the Romanesque Revival-style building reopened as Merom Institute, a religious camp and retreat.
Since the building’s 10 Most listing last year, the nonprofit organization has secured a $24,500 grant from the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs to make improvements to College Hall’s theater, recognizing the building’s potential as a valuable community gathering space in the rural community. But urgent work is still needed to address crumbling and collapsed masonry, leaky windows and plumbing, and failing mechanical systems. Securing funding for a rehabilitation assessment to determine next steps is a top priority to safeguard the building and halt further deterioration.
Contacts for media use:
Tommy Kleckner, Director, Indiana Landmarks Western Regional Office, 812-232-4534, 812-249-3116 (cell), tkleckner@indianalandmarks.org
Beth Reed, Board Member, Merom Camp & Retreat Center, Inc., 812-243-1827, beth.reed1018@gmail.com
Emily Kimbrough Historic District
Bounded by Monroe, East Washington, Hackley, and East Charles streets, Muncie
Muncie’s Emily Kimbrough Historic District takes its name from the nationally known novelist whose Victorian home remains in the neighborhood. Established during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries following the city’s prosperous “Gas Boom,” the area retains a mix of high-style houses in Queen Anne, Classical Revival, Colonial Revival, and Prairie styles alongside more modest bungalows and cottages. It’s a rich architectural and cultural legacy that residents worry may be diminished by a proposal to install four roundabouts along State Road 32 in the heart of the neighborhood.
As a solution to improve traffic flow and reduce crashes, in 2023 the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) suggested installing roundabouts along Main and Jackson streets where they intersect with Madison and Hackley streets. Neighborhood residents believe the roundabouts would dramatically alter the character of the National Register-listed historic district, compromise its walkability, and undo decades of preservation efforts by local groups including the East Central Neighborhood Association, which maintains the Emily Kimbrough Home Museum.
The association and other advocates are calling for INDOT and the City of Muncie to conduct an updated review of local traffic data, believing lane reductions installed since the initial study have already reduced crashes. Residents also want greater community input on changes to the streetscape, seeking design solutions that protect the district’s walkability and retains its distinctive character.
Contacts for media use:
Amanda Arcidiacono, Director, Indiana Landmarks Eastern Regional Office, 765-478-3172, 240-447-3133 (cell), aarcidiacono@indianalandmarks.org
Tom Collins, Board President, Muncie East Central Neighborhood Association, tdcollins@bsu.edu
Kiwanis Field
901 E Street, La Porte
For 75 years, students, parents, and fans have gathered at La Porte’s Kiwanis Field to cheer on the local high school’s football team, the mighty Slicers—named for a local meat-slicing equipment company that supported construction of the original school in the late 1800s.
La Porte’s Kiwanis Club spearheaded construction of the stadium in 1950, and architects O’Keefe and Keil delivered a striking Streamline Moderne fieldhouse, with locker rooms tucked under a sloping grandstand.
After decades of hard use by home and visiting teams, the stadium needs repairs and improvements to meet modern standards. Recently, school officials have suggested that building a new football stadium elsewhere would be more cost-effective than investing in the old facility. Indiana Landmarks and Preserve Historic La Porte have offered to pay for an engineering study to determine the cost of renovating Kiwanis Field, but so far, the school board has declined to accept.
More than 750 community members have signed a petition in support of rehabbing the fieldhouse to incorporate updated locker rooms and athletic facilities while preserving it as the high school’s signature sports venue. The school board has offered no further comment on the facility or shared any plans to address deferred maintenance. Left unattended, repairs will only become more costly.
Contacts for media use:
Todd Zeiger, Director, Indiana Landmarks Northern Regional Office, 574-232-4534, 574-286-5765 (cell), tzeiger@indianalandmarks.org
Mark Kurth, President, Preserve Historic La Porte, 773-315-6667, markkurth@gmail.com
Mineral Springs Hotel
124 South Court Street, Paoli
In southern Indiana, recent events have propelled a former 10 Most Endangered entry back into the spotlight. The Mineral Springs Hotel is one of the most architecturally distinctive buildings on Paoli’s courthouse square, but damage from spring storms has heightened the need for urgent action to secure the structure and identify a plan for its future.
Hoping to boost local tourism and compete with nearby resorts at French Lick and West Baden Springs, a group of local businessmen constructed the Mineral Springs Hotel in 1895. At a time when the town had no electricity, the hotel offered the luxury of electric lighting in each room, courtesy of a steam-powered generator in the basement, and guests could bathe in local mineral waters from a well piped directly into the hotel.
With an opera house in the lobby, a billiard hall, ballroom, bowling alleys, and even a Greyhound bus stop, Mineral Springs served as the community’s social and recreational center for decades. The hotel closed in 1958, though various businesses continued to occupy its ground floor until recent years.
More recently, the vacant hotel has been taking on water through a leaky roof and broken windows. In March 2025, strong storms blew a temporary roof off the building, and heavy rain soaked the upper floors, accelerating the decline.
Reviving the Mineral Springs Hotel could be the catalyst for rejuvenating an entire courthouse square, but it needs someone with the creative vision and financial resources to give it new use.
Contacts for media use:
Greg Sekula, Director, Indiana Landmarks Southern Regional Office, 812-284-4534, 502-216-8998 (cell), gsekula@indianalandmarks.org
Terry Cornwell and Brenda Cornwell, Saving Historic Orange County, 812-797-3311, plantsnobin@frontier.com
Rudicel-Montgomery Polygonal Barn
County Road 700 South at 400 East, Waldron
Historic barns are iconic representations of Indiana’s agricultural heritage, but as changing farming practices leave many barns without use or incentive for maintenance, they are disappearing at an alarming rate. In Shelby County, the 12-sided Rudicel-Montgomery Polygonal Barn is an exceptional example and a repeat entry on this year’s 10 Most Endangered list.
Between 1850 and 1936, 67 polygonal barns were built in Indiana, prized for their efficiency and cost-effective design before round barns eventually outpaced them in popularity. In 1910, George Rudicel worked with local carpenters Roy and Earl Henderson to build a polygonal barn, using the lower level to pen livestock and the upper level to store hay and straw. Today, the barn is vacant and believed to be one of a dwindling number of polygonal barns that still dot Indiana’s rural landscape. Though its appearance on the 10 Most Endangered list last year attracted admiration and interest in rehabilitating the site, it needs significant investment.
In 2024, Indiana Landmarks, Indiana Barn Foundation, and Shelby County’s Blue River Community Foundation funded a study by a timber restoration specialist to assess the barn’s condition and rehabilitation needs, estimated to range from $80,000 for stabilization to $125,000 for full restoration. The community foundation has announced plans to support fundraising for the Rudicel-Montgomery Polygonal Barn, but until full funding is secured, the barn’s future remains precarious.
Contacts for media use:
Mark Dollase, Vice President of Preservation Services, Indiana Landmarks, 317-639-4534, 317-650-1650 (cell), mdollase@indianalandmarks.org
Rachael Ackley, Executive Director, Shelby County Tourism & Visitors Bureau, 317-398-9623, rachael@visitshelbycounty.com
Shields Memorial Gymnasium
400-418 West 5th Street, Seymour
Seymour’s Shields Memorial Gymnasium returns to the 10 Most Endangered list after first appearing in 2021. Though local support for saving the gym remains strong, the clock is counting down on prospects for its reuse. The gym’s owner has indicated that the property may soon be auctioned to the highest bidder, but with no assurances that the gym will be protected from demolition.
In other areas of the state, historic high school gyms have found new use as community recreational centers, event centers, and restaurants. Shields Memorial Gymnasium occupies a city block in the National Register-listed Walnut Street Historic District, surrounded by open land that gives it potential for reuse while also making it a target for developer who might want to demolish the existing structure.
One of Indiana’s largest high school gyms when it was built by Works Progress Administration workers in 1941, Shields Memorial served as home court for the Seymour Owls until the school closed in 1970. A local family purchased the long-vacant property in 1996 and later had to demolish the seriously dilapidated 1910 high school nearby, leaving the gym as the last tangible tie to the site for many Seymour alumni.
Contacts for media use:
Greg Sekula, Director, Indiana Landmarks Southern Regional Office, 317-283-4534, cell 502-216-8998, gsekula@indianalandmarks.org
Stacy Brooks, 812-528-0344, sjbrooks522@gmail.com
Sollman School
4214 IN-168, Fort Branch
At one time, hundreds of country schoolhouses dotted the Indiana landscape. Today, they are a rarity, which makes efforts to save one such landmark in Gibson County even more important.
A repeat entry on this year’s list, the Sollman School in Snake Run was built c.1875, a modest white frame building with simple classical details and belltower. Beyond serving as the local school, the building also functioned as a venue for events and civic gatherings for the surrounding community.
The school’s tenure ended in 1927 when Sollman consolidated with the nearby Fort Branch system. Local families continued to use the site as a woodshop, but decades later the former school now stands vacant.
Picturesque even in decay, the landmark continues to be a favorite in the community. Since the school first appeared on the 10 Most Endangered list, county officials have identified a plan to move the building to Hopkins Family Park in nearby Francisco, Indiana, and restore it as field trip destination. But in a rural community with limited resources, funding the project continues to be a significant challenge.
Contacts for media use:
Stephanie Richard, Director, Indiana Landmarks Southwest Field Office, 812-423-2988, 812-449-8928 (cell), srichard@indianalandmarks.org
Eric Heidenreich, Executive Director, Gibson County Visitors and Tourism Bureau, 812-305-0075, eric@gibsoncountyin.org
Sposeep & Sons Building
55 West Water Street, Wabash
In spite of local support for saving it, one of Wabash’s oldest commercial buildings remains at risk. The Sposeep Building, a repeat entry on this year’s list, is a highly visible landmark on Water Street at the edge of the city’s historic commercial district.
Constructed of rugged beige limestone cut from the banks of the Wabash River, the building dates to 1890, when Russian immigrant Simon A. Cook built it as a warehouse for his scrap business. Abe Sposeep & Sons took over the recycling business in 1924 and operated out of the building for nearly a century before closing in 2018. The City of Wabash acquired the site, and now the Wabash Redevelopment Commission is marketing the property for reuse.
A century of hard use has taken its toll, but with rough-hewn stone walls, exposed wooden beams and columns, and original plank floors, the Sposeep Building presents a picturesque backdrop for any number of adaptive new uses. Tall ceilings and a vast open floor plan offer possibilities for retail, entertainment, restaurants, offices, or mixed development.
City officials hope to see the landmark preserved and adapted for new use, but the building’s prime location near the city’s thriving downtown also makes the site attractive for new construction. If no viable reuse plans emerge soon, officials will consider demolition to clear the site for redevelopment.
Contacts for media use:
Paul Hayden, Director, Indiana Landmarks Northeast Field Office, 260-563-7094, 574-289-8861 (cell), phayden@indianalandmarks.org
Tenille Zartman, Grow Wabash County, 260-330-3730, tenille@growwabashcounty.com
Traders Point Covered Bridge
91 West 82nd Street, Indianapolis
In the 1830s, Indiana’s early settlers began putting the state’s abundant timber to practical use creating covered bridges to cross its waterways. As modern roads and bridges supplanted them over time, the wooden structures became widely endangered, falling victim to deferred maintenance, arson, and natural disasters. In Marion County, Traders Point Covered Bridge stands as a rare survivor that needs intervention to halt its decline.
Local bridge builder Josiah Durfee constructed Traders Point Covered Bridge c.1880, originally located over Fishback Creek in northwest Marion County. The bridge first faced demolition in 1959, when the state highway commission began making improvements to West 86th Street to feed traffic onto a newly built Interstate 65. To save the covered bridge, farmer DeWitt V. Brown bought and moved it to his land nearby, where it remains on private property today.
Of more than 600 covered bridges believed to have been built in Indiana during the nineteenth century, only 90 are estimated to remain. Around the state, revitalized covered bridges are tourist attractions and picturesque sources of local pride, a role local advocates believe Traders Point Covered Bridge could play if it was relocated to Eagle Creek Park. In 2022, Indiana Landmarks funded a study that showed rehabilitating and moving the bridge would cost an estimated $2 million, a significant fundraising challenge to save one of the state’s iconic landmarks.
Contacts for media use:
Mark Dollase, Vice President of Preservation Services, Indiana Landmarks, 317-639-4534, 317-650-1650 (cell), mdollase@indianalandmarks.org
Jane Elder, CEO, Traders Point Creamery, 317-313-4048, janeek3@icloud.com
West Side Recreation Club
1415 West Washington Street, South Bend
On South Bend’s West Washington Street, a vacant commercial building offers little clue of its legacy as a political and social hub for South Bend’s Black community in the early twentieth century.
Built c.1912 as a dry goods store, the building became the West Side Recreation Club in 1929. In an era of segregation, it quickly became a gathering space for many African American social clubs, as well as a place where Black professionals could socialize and rent office space. The club housed offices for attorney and politician J. Chester Allen, attorney Zilford Carter, and dentist Dr. Bernard Streets, all leaders in efforts to desegregate the nearby Engman Public Natatorium. The West Side Recreation Club stopped meeting at the location in the 1980s, and the building later served briefly as a food pantry before becoming vacant. A repeat entry on Indiana Landmarks’ 10 Most Endangered list, it is one of the last commercial remnants of a once-thriving Black business district.
Water continues to infiltrate the building through holes in the roof, damaging masonry and compromising the structure. Members of an Indiana Landmarks Black Heritage Preservation Program task force in South Bend are collaborating with the owner in developing a vision for the site’s reuse. In the meantime, without swift action to repair the roof and flashings, the building’s upper walls are at risk of collapse, putting the notable Black landmark in imminent jeopardy.