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News Release June 2005:
Bloomington's Vinegar Hill Historic District has
been listed in the National Register of Historic Places effective June
17, 2005. The listing is the result of almost two years' worth of effort
on the part of the Housing and Neighborhood Development (HAND) Department,
neighborhood residents, an Indiana University class, and consultant, Joanne
Stuttgen"
Perhaps the most valuable aspect of this nomination
was the opportunity for people in the neighborhood to sort through their
memories and recover information about the neighborhood and its houses,"
said Nancy Hiestand, HAND Program Manager for historic preservation.
"The role that historic preservation plays in preserving
community history should always be acknowledged." The nomination was made
possible by a Historic Preservation Fund Grant administered through the
Indiana Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology.
This fund also assisted in the publication of Bloomington's
Historic Sites and Structures Inventory, the nomination of the Steele Dunning
Historic District and The Legg House. Interest in the Vinegar Hill area
was sparked by a book published 25 years ago, "Bloomington Discovered,"
by Diana Hawes and Karen Craig.
This book first identified the corridor along East
1st Street as an area unique in its illustration of the city's limestone
history. In the fall of 2003, students from IU's Department of Apparel
Merchandising and Interior Design course, taught by Marleen Lipsick-Newman,
gathered oral histories and photographs and culled the archives of the
Indiana Room for information about individual homes in the area.
Several neighborhood meetings were held at the old
Elm Heights School, now Harmony School. Neighbors were enthusiastic in
their support of the nomination and many volunteered to be interviewed.
As part of their research, the students were invited to tour several homes
and they took photographs and documented many unknown limestone artifacts.
Vinegar Hill now joins an inventory of seven Bloomington
historic districts and 20 buildings and sites listed in the National Register
of Historic Places. A lecture on Vinegar Hill's history by Joanne Stuttgen
featuring comments by several early residents aired on CATS-TV and is available
for replay on request.
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