Author: Raina Regan

preservationist / visual storyteller

Rust Belt Takeover of Indianapolis: September 28-30, 2018

Rust Belt Takeover of Indianapolis: September 28-30, 2018

Indy - 5

Preserve Greater Indy hosts the next Rust Belt Takeover of Indianapolis from September 28-30, 2018. The weekend will be centered around downtown Indianapolis and its surrounding historic neighborhoods, including Fountain Square, Lockerbie Square, Fletcher Place, Mass Ave, and the Old Northside. Registration is now open! Here is a summary of the planned weekend (all events are subject to change).

Friday, September 28th

Obscure Indianapolis – All weekend, Citywide

For those arriving early, pick up a copy of the Urban Times to find a guide on some lesser-known sites to check out on your own around downtown and beyond.

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Takeover Kickoff

6 p.m. Indiana City Brewing (24 Shelby St.)

Kick-off the Rust Belt Takeover with Preserve Greater Indy at a local craft brewery.

Mass Ave Bar Crawl

8 p.m. Massachusetts Avenue

Hear from the leaders of nearby historic neighborhood groups and take a stroll (and have drink or two) along the historic Mass Ave. corridor.

Saturday, September 29th

Indy - 6.jpgI-65/I-70 Panel Discussion & Advocacy, 10 a.m. McGowan Hall (1305 N. Delaware St.)

A panel of local leaders and neighborhood groups will share their perspectives on the potential impacts of proposed rehabilitation alternatives for Indianapolis’ downtown highway system in terms of social justice and the historic neighborhoods surrounding the interstates. Following the panel discussion, there will be resources on hand to write to elected representatives the express your views on how local infrastructure projects affect your community.

Lockerbie Neighborhood Tour, 2 p.m. Lockerbie Square

Lockerbie People’s Club will host a tour of Indianapolis’s first locally protected historic neighborhood. Preservationists had to take on the c.1965 “Lockerbie Fair” plan, which would have demolished most of the neighborhood to create a Disneyland-esque attraction around the James Whitcomb Riley house, home to the celebrated Hoosier poet.

City Market Catacombs Tour, 2 p.m. City Market (222 E. Market St.)

Join Indianapolis City Market and Indiana Landmarks on a guided tour into the 1886 City Market catacombs, the long-hidden ruin of Tomlinson Hall, which burned in in 1958 and now sits beneath City Market’s Whistler Plaza.

LGBT Sites Tour, 2 p.m. Downtown

Indy’s LGBTQ community saw dramatic change and notable events from the late 1970s into the early 1990s. Join our partner, Indiana Humanities, on an interactive tour of the critical places around Indianapolis and a historic reenactment of Nurse Safe Sexx — a character created in 1985 to raise money for AIDs relief. A shuttle will carry attendees to different sites.

Indy - 3Imbibe Game Room, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. Fountain Square Theater Building (1105 Shelby St.)

(21+) Join the takeover for a private reservation of the Imbibe Game Room in the historic Fountain Square Theatre Building. Food, brews, cocktails, and free plays of the games.

Virginia Avenue Bar Crawl, 8 p.m. Fountain Square/Fletcher Place

See Virginia Avenue’s historic buildings, bars, and nightlife in the Fountain Square and Fletcher Place neighborhoods.

Sunday, September 30th

Rubush & Hunter Architectural Tour, 10 a.m. Monument Circle

Join the Indiana Historical Society (IHS) on a walking tour through Downtown Indianapolis and dive into salacious stories behind one of Indianapolis’ most prolific architecture firms, which operated from 1905-1938.

Kessler Park & Boulevard System Bike Tour, 10 a.m. Near North Side (Meet on the north end of Mass Ave.)

Join PGI on a tour of Indianapolis’s National Register-listed Park & Boulevard System originally designed by George Kessler in 1909. The tour focuses on City Beautiful infrastructure and landscape architecture elements and how they have been incorporated into the contemporary city. BYOB or rent one from Indiana Pacers Bikeshare.

Takeover Wrap-up, 12 p.m. Mug-n-Bun (5211 W. 10th St.)

Lunch, wrap-up, and a look ahead to the next Rust Belt Takeover.

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Indiana Medical History Museum Tours, 2 p.m. Indiana Medical History Museum (3045 W Vermont St.)

Join the Indiana Medical History Museum and Preserve Greater Indy at the final event of the Rust Belt Takeover as we take a behind-the-scenes tour of the Old Pathology Building and grounds of the nineteenth century Central State Hospital campus.

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Brews on Tues: Indiana Bars and Brewpubs

By Emily Laborde Hines – Preserve Greater Indy

In Indiana, we’re spoiled, as we have no shortage of tasty local beer. Even better, many of the homegrown breweries have made their home in historic buildings throughout the state. Besides breweries, there is a plethora of cool beer bars and brewpubs too. Here are a few of my favorites


TomTap
Tomlinson Tap Room, Indianapolis

The Tomlinson Tap Room is located on the second story of the Indianapolis City Market in the heart of downtown Indy. This place is a prime stop for beer lovers, especially if you’re visiting and don’t have time to make the rounds to all of the breweries in Indiana (we have over 120). They only serve Indiana beer (awesome) and there are plenty of local vendors to get a bite from downstairs. The tamale stand is the jam. The bar is a gorgeous period piece salvaged specifically for the tap room.

rath
The Rathskeller, Indianapolis

Located inside the 1893 Athenaeum on Mass Ave, the Rathskeller is an experience. The Rathskeller is an Indy favorite for the huge outdoor beer garden, but the interior is also very unique. This is not your hipster beer bar with a careful juxtaposition of industrial cool and wooden farm tables. It’s got an old school, almost Hogwarts-like vibe, transporting you to old Bavaria for a few hours. They serve German fare and beer, of course, but they have a small rotation of other craft beers as well.

18th St

One of my favorite Indiana breweries, 18th Street Brewery of Gary, Indiana, opened up their second brewpub in Hammond, Indiana earlier this year. Located in an old furniture warehouse, the brewery was able to grow their brewing capacity to approximately 7,000 bbls per year while offering a tasty menu featuring locally-sourced foods. While en route to Chicago, I stopped by the brewpub to grab a snack and a beer. The building is enormous with the brew house, kitchen, and tasting room on the ground floor. If you’re in Chicago or on your way there, make sure you stop at 18th Street. Get the chili rubbed chicharrónes and a walking taco. Doesn’t matter the beer; they’re all great.

Coming Soon…

Upland Brewing Co. is an Indiana institution with its headquarters located in downtown Bloomington, Indiana. They produce excellent ales and lagers and excel at unique sour ales like their Persimmon sour ale aged on whole Indiana persimmons. Upland is opening their latest pub in Columbus, Indiana inside the historic Columbus Pump House on July 1 and I can’t wait! The Pump House was built in the 1880s and was once home to the city’s water works and a hydroelectric plant. The brewery has spent many months renovating the interior adding a kitchen, stone fired pizza oven and an outdoor patio overlooking the river. It’s going to be the perfect place to grab a pint after the Columbus Architecture Tour.

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The Columbus Pump House

Bio of the author: Raised in the South with a love of Spanish moss, craftsman bungalows and front porches, I am Emily Hines, writer, dreamer and beer drinker. You can find me strolling down a century old city block snapping iPhone photos of colorful facades and searching for flea market treasures. Check out more of Emily’s adventures at emsontheroad.com.

#LoveYourHD: A Recap!

By Raina Regan – Preserve Greater Indy

For May, we asked you to share why you #LoveYourHD. We loved seeing participation from around the Rust Belt and all the great historic districts that protect and preserve our built environment. Instameets were held in Wheeling, Indianapolis, Toledo, and Columbus in local historic districts to celebrate #LoveYourHD during Preservation Month. Here’s a few of our favorite moments from the month of May that celebrate why you #LoveYourHD!

German Village, Columbus, Ohio

In German Village, eighth grade students gave some actual love to the local historic district at a workshop. We love seeing youth involved in hands-on activities in preserving historic places. This asks a good question: For what types of activities could you use student volunteer help in your local historic district?

Indianapolis, Indiana

One of Indy’s finest examples of Art Deco, the former Coca-Cola bottling plant, is about to be redeveloped. Thanks to its local designation, the project will have to obtain approvals from the Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission before altering this one-of-a-kind terracotta façade.

Wheeling, West Virginia

Local designation preserves distinctive places until the right new use and owner comes along. We’re glad to hear this Wheeling gem will be turned into apartments.

View this post on Instagram

#wyp member @adambedway took this pic from his tour of the Boury Warehouse on Saturday. The Boury Warehouse is apart of the Wheeling Warehouse Historic District. It sat empty for years but is now being turned into apartments by the WODA Group, Inc. Don't miss another historic building tour and join the Friends of Wheeling. You can find them on facebook. Membership is $10 a year. Their monthly news and event letter alone is worth that! #wheelove #thisplacematters #deserve2preserve #wheelingwv #wheelingfeeling #loveyourhd #wyp #wheelingwestvirginia @adambedway's original caption: ・・・ Touring the Boury building in downtown Wheeling this morning. WODA is redeveloping the building into residential units that range from 600-1200 sq. ft. These are the kind of projects we need in this town. #preservation #wheelingwv #wheeling_shooters #thisplacematters #downtownwheeling

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Cleveland, Ohio

The Cleveland Restoration Society featured Cleveland historic districts along with updates from the Cleveland Landmarks Commission. We know that attending your local commission meeting and being a local advocate is important to show our elected officials and appointed boards that preservation is important in our communities!

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

We’re thankful that the use of local historic districts prevented the unnecessary demolition of so many historic resources in our community. To think this beauty could have been lost


Fort Wayne, Indiana

Our local historic districts preserve the historic neighborhood fabric so, instead of demolition, our historic resources can wait until someone is able to show them love and invest in their future. This before and after in Fort Wayne shows the potential every historic property has to come back to life.

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#SavingPlaces #FortWayne #ThisPlaceMatters #LoveYourHD

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Toledo, Ohio

Local historic districts protect outstanding architecture in our communities. This house could never be built today. We’re glad to hear it’s being restored by a sympathetic new owner.

Thanks to everyone who tagged photos with #LoveYourHD! We encourage you to continue spreading the good work of your local historic districts and built support for their value to your community. Check out the #LoveYourHD tag on Instagram for even more historic district goodness!

#LoveYourHD

#LoveYourHD

This May, join the Rust Belt Coalition of Young Preservationists to celebrate the benefits and assets of our local historic districts with the social media campaign #LoveYourHD. After threats to local historic districts in Michigan and Wisconsin, we want to raise the level of debate and discussion of the value historic districts provide in planning and economic development for our communities. If these threats to historic districts arise in the other states of the Rust Belt, we hope to rally our combined forces to prevent legislatures from making these catastrophic changes!

Need post ideas? Myth-bust those frequent misconceptions of historic districts in your community. Demonstrate local historic districts play an important part in affordable housing, sustainability, economic development, and heritage tourism. Showcase new businesses that opened in a local historic district. The ideas are limitless!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BEYwfvPEXsb/?tagged=loveyourhd

During Preservation Month May 2016, promote your favorite local historic districts on social media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and more! We encourage your captions to highlight specific ways a local historic district has positively impacted your community. Use the #LoveYourHD hashtag in every post. We’ll repost our favorites to the @RustBeltYP instagram and twitter accounts.

Even better, organize an instameet in your favorite district to explore and promote historic districts to a broader audience. In Indianapolis, Preserve Greater Indy is teaming up with the instagram community @archi_ologie to host the #OldNorthsideLove instameet in conjunction with #LoveYourHD. Let us know if you’re planning an instameet, we’ll share it with the rest of the RBCoYP!

Here’s a great sample of a few before and after photographs from a local historic district in Indianapolis. When the Old Northside was locally designated in 1979, the neighborhood was full of vacant lots and houses in need of reinvestment. Almost forty years later, the Old Northside is an extremely stable neighborhood with high property values. This early commitment to preserving an area allowed the neighborhood to be preserved for future generations. We used current photos, contrasted with photos from the Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission in 1975, to show this amazing transformation of houses on 13th Street in the Old Northside.

521 E. 13th St., Gerstner-Dalrymple House, 1975 [Photo from Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission]
521 E. 13th St., Gerstner-Dalrymple House, 2016
Butler-Bradbury-Vonnegut House 1975
Butler-Bradbury-Vonnegut House 2016

We know‹ the power of local historic districts in creating sustainable and vibrant communities. Let’s make sure they can continue their work to save our neighborhoods, commercial nodes, and distinctive places!

RBCoYP Summit Update: Events!

If you’ve registered for our Pittsburgh summit, you should have received an email on Thursday outlining all the great tour options available next weekend. We want to recap these options and share with those who are unable to attend what we’ve planned for our first meetup!

Friday, April 8
Rust Belt Coalition of Young Preservationists Launch Party!

boggs mansion
The Inn on the Mexican War Streets, photo by Dan Speicher
With the help of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Mexican War Streets Society, the RBCoYP is launching the PGH Summit with a bang at the Inn on the Mexican War Streets Bed & Breakfast! The Inn is housed in the historic Boggs Mansion (1888) in Pittsburgh’s Northside.

We’re starting at 7pm, so join us when you get to town (no rush!) to learn about the mansion’s rich history and meet your newest preservation friends! With 70 people from 6 states attending RBCoYP’s Pittsburgh Summit, this party will be a great time to relax and mingle before a weekend exploring all Pittsburgh has to offer.

AND THAT’S NOT ALL! In honor of the craft breweries and distilleries that are playing a role in the revitalization of cities large and small throughout the Rust Belt, we are holding the first ever #beersavesplaces Rust Belt BYOB Craft Beer Competition!

Learn more about the competition and how you can feature your favorite brew (be it beer, cider, or soda) from your home town!

And if you opted to take care of your own lodging for the weekend and still haven’t booked accommodations, please consider the Inn on the Mexican War Streets! RBC attendees are being offered a special rate of $135/night, which includes breakfast.

 

Saturday, April 9
A Mexican War Streets Walkabout, 11a – 1pm

mexican war streets

Join all the Rust Belt Coalition Summit attendees for a walk around the Mexican War Streets, one of Pittsburgh’s favorite National Historic Districts.

The neighborhood dates back to 1848, around the time of the Mexican War, and many of the streets – Buena Vista, Monterey, Palo Alto, Resaca, Sherman, and Taylor – are named after battles or generals of the war. You’ll see some of the best examples of Pittsburgh row houses, wonderful community gardens, a firehouse that will be converted into a craft brewery, a sanctuary for endangered writers across the world, and a local gem known as Randyland.

Afternoon Breakout Tours!!

We asked, you responded! Thanks to all who took our survey, and here are our winners! If you are joining us in PGH, register today to reserve your spot! Sadly, you can only go on one of these three tours. Unless you’ve invented time travel… in that case, we have many more questions for you!

“Crossroads of the World”: A Hill District Foot Tour / 2:30pm – 5:30pm

From jazz musicians to photographers to playwrights, Pittsburgh’s Hill District neighborhood provided a cultural melting pot where artistic genius was fostered. Today, demolition by neglect and redevelopment threaten many culturally important sites throughout the Hill.

Terri Baltimore, Director of Community Outreach at the Hill House Association, will take us on a walk through the neighborhood highlighting and telling stories about the buildings and (more importantly) the people of “Little Harlem.” Space for this tour is limited to 18 people, so register today!

Northside -> Downtown -> Mt Washington Bike Tour / 2:30pm – 5:30pm

Downtown. Central Business District. Golden Triangle. Whatever you want to call it, we’re going to bike it! And when we’re finished, we’ll take a furnicular up to the top of Mount Washington and see the best-known view of the city.

We’re renting bikes so you can leave yours at home, but don’t forget your bike helmet! You can expect to bike about 6 miles on this tour, and don’t worry – we’re staying in one of the few flat areas of Pittsburgh! Space for this tour is limited to 20 people, so register today!

Steppin’ Out: An Urban Hike on the City Steps / 2:30pm – 5:30pm

The system of Pittsburgh City Steps are the city’s most unique form of transportation, and offer some of the most stunning views of the surrounding areas.

You can expect to hike and step about 3 miles on this adventure. We’ll end at Wigle Barrelhouse and Whiskey Garden, where we’ll get a tour of the Barrelhouse and soon-to-open Ciderhouse. Many thanks to Young Preservationists Association of Pittsburgh for sponsoring the tour!

Pick your favorite of the three and register today!

 

Sunday, April 10
A Sunday with Carrie / 11am – 1pm

carrie furnace
Carrie Furnace, photograph by David DiCello
The Carrie Blast Furnace is one of the few still-standing furnaces from the days of Big Steel. Part of the Homestead Steel Works (of Homestead Strike Fame), it was one of the largest mills in the United States and one piece of Andrew Carnegie’s steel empire.

Join all of the Rust Belt Coalition Summit attendees on a tour of the Furnace, led by Rivers of Steel’s knowledgeable guides. Cost is $15 per person and can be paid at time of registration or at the door. Please register here for this special event.

After the tour, those who can’t get enough of the RBCoYP can join us in Braddock at Brew Gentleman for a little weekend wind-down.

Packing List

  • A rain jacket, umbrella, or both! Let’s get real here people; it’s April in Pittsburgh.
  • A 6-pack or growler of your favorite local beer, cider, or soda!
  • If you want to go on the bike tour, bring your helmet! We’ll have some extra on hand just in case.
  • Bring fun, because we won’t have any!

That’s about it! We can’t wait to see you next weekend! And if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us at rbc@youngpreservationists.org

#beersavesplaces

#beersavesplaces

By Caitlin Poe – Preserve Greater Indy

In 2015, Preserve Greater Indy kicked off Preservation Month with a whirlwind tour of Indiana craft breweries, highlighting how their commitment to historic preservation and community revitalization has transformed Indiana’s urban landscape and breathed new life into rural communities. Indiana craft beer is driven by a creative, dedicated, and collaborative group of small business owners who are, without a doubt, passionate about their trade as well as their impact on their local communities. Most importantly, they’re saving authentic places and revitalizing communities. Check out these examples that span our state from north to south and we think you’ll agree.

Crown Brewing – Crown Point
Crown Brewing takes its name and imagery from a regional brewery that called Crown Point home during pre-prohibition times. This craft brewery is located in the former Lake County Jail’s boiler and mechanical building (hence the smokestack). The jail, built in three separate stages, dates back to 1882. The site, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, includes the former sheriff’s county residence, prisoner cell blocks, jail staff quarters, warden’s residence, prisoner cell blocks, and jail yard. One of the FBI’s most wanted gangsters, John Dillinger, escaped from this jail when he was jailed there in 1934. Crown Brewing has won numerous accolades, including two World Beer Cup awards, and hosts many annual events, including their Crown Beer Festival which attracts brewers and attendees from three states. Cheers to Crown Brewing for their dedication to preserving our past, community revitalization, and crafting outstanding local beer.

Indiana City Brewing Company – Indianapolis
During and after prohibition, Indiana (and America) lost a great number of breweries and brewery buildings. Indianapolis is lucky to have Indiana City Brewing Company, whose dedication to historic preservation led the team to repurpose this late 1880’s building, which was originally home to The Home Brewing Company. Owner Ray Kamstra was quoted as saying, “Opening Indiana City Brewing in The Home Brewing Co. Bottling House brought beer back to one of Indy’s few remaining pre-prohibition era brewery buildings and provides the best atmosphere for fulfilling our mission of adding to Indy’s craft beer culture by celebrating the creative community within.” This is a must-see preservation story and something we in Indianapolis are proud to call our own.

Tin Man Brewing Company – Evansville
Located in an 1869 beauty, Tin Man Brewing Company repurposed a historic building and revitalized an entire section of Franklin Street. Tin Man Brewing is known locally for their robot themed logo and canned beer, and credited nationally for their dedication to environmentally sound business practices and as the third brewery in the country to use a mash filter. This is an essential stop for anyone visiting Evansville.

Join the celebration and recognize local craft breweries that have saved authentic places and revitalized your community by tagging #beersavesplaces. Cheers!

beersavesplaces
#beersavesplaces

What’s Happening in 2016: Preserve Greater Indy

What’s Happening in 2016: Preserve Greater Indy

By Raina Regan – Preserve Greater Indy

Although we are still less than a year old, Preserve Greater Indy is pushing ahead with many great projects and events for 2016. As our name suggests, Preserve Greater Indy allows our group to reach not just Indianapolis, but historic communities within about an hour’s drive, with events and attendees from as far as Muncie and Bloomington. And although we don’t have “young preservationists” in our name, we model ourselves after other young preservationist groups. Our mission is to connect and engage advocates of preservation in Central Indiana, and we hope to do this through social events, service projects, education programs, and more!

 

A little history on Preserve Greater Indy


Our official kick-off was May 2015 with #beersavesplaces and a Happy Hour at Indiana City Brewing. Since then, we’ve had happy hours at historic bars, participated in two service events, road tripped to Franklin for the holidays, and most recently, completed a heart bombing campaign in Muncie.

We’ve certainly had growing pains in our first year and have been fortunate to connect with other young preservationists groups through this Coalition to share ideas on how to structure and focus our organization. Our first major item for 2016 is restructuring our organization – we’ve moved from committee work to a board that will plan and implement programs. Our board members will be empowered to plan programs and events that interest them and our Preserve Greater Indy audience.

Being a young organization also means we’re working on regular communication through our social media channels and starting an e-newsletter. We’re just launching our first e-newsletter this week and hope to continue this e-newsletter once a month. We’d love our other young preservationist friends from around the Rust Belt to sign up!

Several programs and events are in the works for 2016. For social events, we hope to host at least one happy hour. We have two instameets in the works to highlight historic architecture. We’re planning a painting for preservation event with the Rivoli Theater, one of our favorite sites in Indianapolis. Lastly, we hope to soon host an “Ask an Architect” social hour that will allow young preservationists to meet with young architects in Indianapolis, providing us an opportunity to collaborate between our fields. We have many more ideas, so keep an eye on our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to see what we’re planning!