The past still has deep roots in this city, which are on full display. In fact, the U.S. Department of the Interior recognizes 81 individual structures and nine districts in Evansville as historic places. During Historic Preservation Month, here are five ways to explore a few structures and streets that serve as the foundation of the River City.
Baptisttown Tour
After its long-awaited addition to the National Register of Historic Places in 2023, the historically Black neighborhood is on the map. Visit the Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library’s Central branch at 1 p.m. on May 16 to hear a presentation on the neighborhood’s influence and culture. Then take a tour. Key sites in the neighborhood include the historic Lincoln School, the site of the former Cherry Street Library, and the Evansville African American Museum, built on the Lincoln Gardens housing development.
Evansville Public Library West Branch Tour
History also was made at the EVPL’s West branch, which — along with the Cherry Street Library — was built with funds donated by 19th-century industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. The 113-year-old structure will be on display from 4:30-6:30 p.m. on May 18 for a tour of the auditorium that serves as a library history lesson, highlighting its significance to the West Franklin Street neighborhood.
World War II Sites Tour
Explore the city’s most significant World War II sites, including major manufacturing locations, on a 90-minute yellow school bus tour with the Evansville Wartime Museum. May’s tour takes place at 10:30 a.m. on the 23rd, and organizers advise attendees to arrive 15-20 minutes before departure.
Reitz Home Museum and Peters-Margedant House Open Houses
Step inside these two historic properties: one a French Second Empire home built by John Augustus Reitz and the other built by Frank Lloyd Wright protégé William Wesley Peters, displaying an early example of Usonian architecture. Both will host open houses from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on May 23.
Saint Boniface Church and Grotto Tours
Beneath this late-1880s place of worship at 418 N. Wabash Ave. is a grotto modeled after Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto in Lourdes, France. Explore this sanctuary during public tours from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. on May 24 and 31. There also is an opportunity to tour the church, rebuilt after a fire in 1902, at 6 p.m. May 28.
Want more history? Tours of Bosse Field are available whenever the ballpark is open and are $5 per person, or take a self-guided tour of Evansville’s historic neighborhoods.
