historic preservation

Preserve Historic LaPorte says it's excited that the LaPorte Community School board has agreed to work with them to study whether historic Kiwanis Field can be modernized while preserving its historic character.

The nonprofit Friends of Potato Creek State Park had pleaded with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources to delay their plans to demolish the historic barn. But the state agency refused to discuss the matter with them or the news media.

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources has said the law doesn't protect the historic Naragon Barn but the agency won't discuss the matter publicly or say when they plan to take it down.

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources has not announced their timeline for demolishing the historic Naragon Barn, which they now say stands too close to the $100 million inn and conference center under construction at Potato Creek State Park. The DNR initially told the community the barn would remain standing as part of the project.

Two nonprofits, Friends of Potato Creek State Park and Indiana Barns Foundation, want the state to delay the Potato Creek State Park barn demolition so they can try to raise money to save it.

Roxann Reasor's plan to move the 1892 Z. Crepeau Building a couple of blocks south would reunite it with a former neighbor.

The LaPorte Community School Corporation says they've made no decisions on what to do with historic Kiwanis Field and they're forming a community committee to explore options.

The Mayor James Mueller administration has said it won't spend city money to renovate the historic, long-neglected State Theater, but will look for private developers interested in taking on the project.

A locally owned hotel would fill the building's top two floors, restoring large windows that look across Michigan Street at The State Theater.