On Monday afternoon, Danny Mitchell stops to take a photo of the plaque which marks the original location of Evansville founder Hugh McGarry’s log cabin.
It’s on the side of the WNIN building. He and his family , including wife Karen, are on a historic walking tour of downtown Evansville.
“(I’m) just wanting to get more of the history of town (more) than the older buildings and things,” he said. “I've lived here all my life, and never have really done anything like this.”
Said Karen, “I like to get to know the people whose names we know from the city and you know, schools or roads are named after them, and to understand where they fit in our history.”
May is Historic Preservation month which highlights local history especially the history of places and buildings.
The Indiana DNR’s 2025 Historic Preservation Month theme is “The Faces of Architecture.”
Ashley Thomas with the DNR said such interest in local history is what gives importance to places. Historic buildings can show how society has evolved.
“…also, I think it contributes a lot to the feeling of a community and what makes it feel like home to people,” she said. “You have memories of going to specific buildings as a child and coming back and seeing those buildings — it kind of provides that connection of home, and it gives different communities kind of their own character and their own personality. And I think that's really important.”
That theme “The Faces of Architecture” refers to actual faces carved in limestone that grace many public buildings.
“A lot of Midwest states have very similar architecture in general,” Thomas said. “But Indiana does have a much higher concentration of limestone buildings than most other states do, and that's because of Bedford and the Bedford region. It's kind of, it's known as the limestone capital of the world.”
She said they want to draw attention to such craftsmanship that has stood the test of time — “and it adds so much character to the buildings. And we just personally as a staff, we love them.”
These limestone faces can be seen at the Indiana DNR website. There’s also a historic preservation photo contest.
Back in downtown Evansville Joe Engler with the Vanderburgh County Historic Society is leading the walking tour of downtown Evansville.
“We're kind of actually getting a little bit more context and putting it in the history of when Evansville was founded, over 200 years ago; how it grew up. So it's really delving into the old part of it,” he said.
He likes starting the tour at the corner of Main Street and Riverside Drive. The Ohio River is just a stone’s throw away. He said he can feel the city’s connection to the river at this spot.
He mentioned how small the city used to be.
“One thing to note is the town originally was from here to Third Street. So Riverside, first, second, third. You're talking three blocks that way, and you were at the end of town.”
To explore the history of the city there’s also an upcoming Old Courthouse exterior tour this Saturday and an “Evansville Then and Now” presentation next week. See Historic Evansville on Social media.
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