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Saturday, June 21, 2025

Endangered Species

▲ The rare 1925 patented above-ground pool, Anderson Athletic Park Pool, designed by engineer Wesley Binz allowed dressing rooms under the structure. Postcard courtesy of Evan Finch.

A cool pool in Anderson, a Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired home in Greenwood, and a diminutive home in the Rosedale neighborhood of Evansville — a Usonian home — all have made Indiana Landmark’s 10 Most Endangered places list for 2014 of Hoosier landmarks in jeopardy. The statewide preservation organization, with a field office in Evansville, announced the list in April at their annual “Rescue Party.”

▲ The Mills house designed in 1955. Photo credit: Indiana Landmarks.

The list carries no legal weight, but it’s a way for preservationists to sound the alarm. Of the 99 historically significant structures that have made the list since 1991, 48 have been restored; 14 others are either being restored or have at least been stabilized. In 2010 and 2011, Evansville’s Washington Avenue historic corridor made the list.

▲ The Peters-Margedant home in 1934-35. Photo credit: Indiana Landmarks.

Also on the list, since 2012, is the Harmony Way Bridge over the Wabash River from historic New Harmony to Illinois. It’s a 1930 iron toll bridge on the National Register. It shut down, deemed unsafe, in 2012. A study commissioned by Indiana Landmarks indicates the span could be reopened with minimal investment.

The Peters-Margedant House, at 1506 E. Indiana, made the list for the first time this year, though preservationists — local and statewide —have been watching it for years. This 1935 house likely ranks as the first Usonian house in the nation, predating even Frank Lloyd Wright’s inaugural Usonian home built in 1937. William Wesley Peters, who was Wright’s first apprentice at Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin, designed it.

▲ The Peters-Margedant home in 2014. Photo credit: Indiana Landmarks.

Indiana Landmarks reports that a local person has optioned the home and plans to move it to Warrick County unless advocates raise the money necessary to buy it and relocate it to the campus of University of Evansville. The architect Peters grew up in Evansville and attended Evansville College before graduating from MIT. He designed the home in two weeks for a family member. I will keep you posted.

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Kristen K. Tucker
Kristen K. Tucker
Kristen K. Tucker formed Tucker Publishing Group, Inc., along with her husband, Todd, in September 1999 and published the first issue of Evansville Living in March 2000. Kristen, publisher and editor of Evansville Living, holds a bachelor’s degree in public relations and English from Western Kentucky University and a master’s degree in liberal studies from the University of Southern Indiana. Kristen has recently served on the board of directors of The Catholic Foundation of Evansville, the Board of Advisors for the IU Medical School Evansville, and Indiana Landmarks. In 2007, she helped found the Women’s Fund of Vanderburgh County. She also is a member of the 125-year-old Social Literary Club. Kristen is the 2003 Athena Award recipient and the 2006 recipient of the Indiana Commission for Women’s Torchbearer Award. Tucker Publishing Group, Inc., magazines have won dozens of awards through the years from the City & Regional Magazine Association, the Advertising Federation of Evansville, the Evansville Design Group, and the Indiana Society of Professional Journalists. A native of Des Moines, Iowa, Kristen moved with her family to Evansville, her father’s hometown, in 1971. She attended Caze Elementary School, and Castle Jr. and Castle Sr. High Schools in Newburgh, Indiana. Kristen and Todd have two adult sons, Maxwell and Jackson. Kristen enjoys walking, travel, Pilates, and reading.

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