Indiana's 10 most endangered landmarks of 2025

INDIANAPOLIS - History sits on street corners all around us. But if we don't act fast, it will crumble into the lost annals of time.




Every year, Indiana Landmarks sounds the alarm on the most endangered sites in Indiana and calls upon Hoosiers from the Ohio River to the shores of Lake Michigan to stand up and help preserve these generation-spanning structures where history exists outside of a textbook.




From dilapidated schools to gymnasiums haunted by the ghost of yesteryear, these are Indiana's 10 Most Endangered Landmarks of 2025.

Shields Memorial Gymnasium - Seymour

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The shot clock is running out.




James M. Shields Memorial Gymnasium was one of Indiana's largest high school gyms when it was built by Works Progress Administration workers in 1941. The gym served as home court for the Seymour Owls until the school closed in 1970.




While the old high school, which was built in 1910, was demolished after a local family purchased the property in 1996, the gym has remained as the last tangible tie to the old guard of Seymour Owls.

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 could soon be auctioned to the highest bidder, but with no assurances that the gym will be protected from demolition.

Indiana Landmarks Top 10 Endangered Sites of 2025

Rudicel-Montgomery Polygonal Barn - Waldron

A rare survivor.




Shelby County's Rudicel-Montgomery Polygonal Barn returns to the most endangered list. A rare surviving breed that showcases the changing times of Indiana's agricultural heritage, this 12-sided barn is one of 67 polygonal barns built in Indiana between 1850 and 1936.




Built in 1910, the Rudicel-Montgomery Polygonal Barn used 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.

Indiana Landmarks Top 10 Endangered Sites of 2025

Sollman School - Snake Run (near Fort Branch)

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Education on verge of deterioration.




The Sollman School in Snake Run was built in 1875 and was once one of hundreds of country schoolhouses dotting the Indiana countryside. Now, it is among the last survivors.




Closed in 1927, the old schoolhouse served as a woodshop for local families for some time before being left to decay into a picturesque snapshot of history.

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.

Indiana Landmarks Top 10 Endangered Sites of 2025

Sposeep & Sons Building - Wabash

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A site stained by the sweat of the Industrial Revolution.




Another repeat entry on the endangered list, the Sopseep & Sons building is one of the oldest commercial buildings in Wabash. Dating back to 1890, this rugged beige building is constructed of limestone cut from the banks of the Wabash River.




The building served as a scrap business and a recycling business throughout its life before closing down in 2018. The City of Wabash has since acquired the site with the Wabash Redevelopment Commission 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.

Indiana Landmarks Top 10 Endangered Sites of 2025

Traders Point Covered Bridge - Indianapolis

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A bridge into the past.




Tucked away from the hustle and bustle of the city is a relic of the past. Located off 82nd Street, local bridge builder Josiah Durfee constructed the Traders Pointed Covered Bridge in 1880 as a covered way to cross the Fishback Creek.




The bridge was nearly demolished in 1959 as construction on W. 86th Street pushed traffic toward the newly constructed Interstate 65. Farmer DeWitt Brown saved the bridge by moving it onto his nearby land, 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.

Indiana Landmarks Top 10 Endangered Sites of 2025

Mineral Springs Hotel - Paoli

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Check out is fast approaching.




A spring storm has propelled this one-time endangered southern Indiana historic hotel back onto the list.




The Mineral Springs Hotel, situated on Paoli's courthouse square, was built in 1985 in an attempt to compete with nearby popular resorts in French Lick and West Baden Springs. Thanks to a steam-powered generator in the basement, the Mineral Springs Hotel was one of the first buildings in Paoli to offer electric lighting while also piping in local mineral water so guests could bathe.




The luxurious hotel boasted an opera house in the lobby, a billiard hall, a ballroom, bowling alleys, and even a Greyhound bus stop. While the hotel closed in 1958, 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.

Indiana Landmarks Top 10 Endangered Sites of 2025

Kiwanis Field - La Porte

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A Hail Mary pass.




For 75 years, the city of La Porte has gathered at Kiwanis Field to watch their mighty Slicers football teams.




Constructed in 1950, Kiwanis Field is a striking Streamline Moderne fieldhouse with locker rooms tucked under a sloping grandstand. But decades of rollicking football games have eroded this gridiron guardian and left the historic fieldhouse in dire need of modern improvements.

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.

Indiana Landmarks Top 10 Endangered Sites of 2025

Emily Kimbrough Historic District - Muncie

Walking through centuries past.




This historic neighborhood in Muncie takes its name from the Victorian home of the famous novelist Emily Kimbrough. Established during the city's "Gas Boom" during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, this historic district features houses in Queen Anne, Classical Revival, Colonial Revival, and Prairie styles alongside more modest bungalows and cottages.




The architectural legacy may be diminished as the city plans to install four roundabouts along State Road 32 in the heart of this historic neighborhood. Residents argue this decision will dramatically alter the character of the National Register-listed historic district, compromise its walkability, and undo decades of preservation efforts by local groups.

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.

Indiana Landmarks Top 10 Endangered Sites of 2025

West Side Recreation Club - South Bend

Black heritage teetering on the edge.




Built in 1912 as a dry goods store, the West Side Recreation Club found its calling in 1929 as a gathering space for African American social clubs during the era of segregation. While meetings eventually stopped in the 1980s, the building continued to serve the community as a food pantry before finally 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.

Indiana Landmarks Top 10 Endangered Sites of 2025

College Hall, Merom Camp & Retreat Center - Merom

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The high hall and the slow fall.




A five-story brick building at the heart of Merom Camp and Retreat Center in western Indiana, College Hall was constructed between 1859 and 1863 for Union Christian College with the lofty aspirations of becoming a state leader in higher education.




While the college closed in 1924, the Romanesque Revival-style building continued to serve the area as the 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.

Indiana Landmarks Top 10 Endangered Sites of 2025

Indiana Landmarks

For more information on Indiana Landmarks and their mission, visit their website.




Click here to see the previous year's top 10 list for most endangered landmarks in Indiana.





via: https://fox59.com/indiana-news/indianas-10-most-endangered-landmarks-of-2025/