Franklin Heritage awarded grant for new historic districts

The story is told in the well-worn brickwork, the curly-cue brackets and the gingerbread woodwork.

Gabled roofs, wrap-around porches and colonnades speak to a lovingly preserved history. The spirit of the past remains alive.

Downtown Franklin is as well-known for its historic buildings as its eateries, events and boutiques. The city’s courthouse square and commercial district have been designated on the National Register of Historic Places — and soon, more areas around the city’s center may have that designation.

Franklin Heritage, a local historic preservation group, has been awarded a $25,000 grant to support applications to add sections of the north, east and south sides of the city to the National Register of Historic Places. With funding in place, Franklin Heritage staff and volunteers will start surveying, cataloging and documenting three specific neighborhoods this summer, then complete the lengthy application process to get on the register.

“It’s definitely a big deal. We were competing against other preservation projects all across the state, and Franklin hasn’t gotten one of these Historic Preservation Grants in a long time,” said Glenn Faris, preservation coordinator for Franklin Heritage.

If the applications are approved, those areas will not only be recognized for historic significance, but offer homeowners benefits in the form of grants and tax credits.

“To be able to use those credits to make improvements to your house, you have to be in the state or national register,” Faris said. “Every little bit helps people. The more available funding you can get for them, the better it is for them.”

The money comes from the National Park Service’s Historic Preservation Fund, a federally funded program that is administered in Indiana by the state Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology.

Awards announced in May totaled more than $635,000 and went to communities from South Bend to Bloomington to Fort Wayne. Four were given for projects in Indianapolis.

Through the program, applicants can apply for competitive matching grant opportunities for projects such as historic structure reports, public education programs, archaeological surveys, rehabilitation of eligible properties and National Register of Historic District nominations, according to Malia Vanaman, grants manager for the Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology.

“Listing in the National Register gives properties publicity and prestige since they are recognized for their architecture, history, and integrity,” Vanaman said in an email. “Listing also provides property owners potential for financial assistance through grant or tax credit programs that require National Register designation and can provide some protection from federally-assisted projects.”

Numerous sites throughout Johnson County have been included on the register, including parts of Old Town Greenwood, the Edinburgh commercial district and Martin Place in Franklin.

The courthouse square in Franklin was designated a historic district in 1981, while the commercial district — composed of East and West Court Streets, and parts of Jefferson, Monroe and Main streets surrounding the courthouse — were approved in 1989.

But local preservation leaders have been hoping to extend the historic designations to other districts, Faris said.

“We only have that one residential district in Martin Place, which is that one street. So the idea is to get some residential properties on the register,” he said.

A historic district represents a contiguous area of a community that shares a history of development, architecture type, and period of significance that collectively embody distinguishing characteristics, even though individual properties might lack specific distinction, Vanaman said.

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In Franklin, they focused on areas to the north, east and south of the courthouse square.

The Franklin Northside Historic District would stretch from Madison Street to Adams Street, and from Main Street to Crowell Street. Within its borders are about 100 properties, primarily homes built in the Greek Revival, Italianate, Queen Anne, and Gothic Revival styles, as well as several churches, Vanaman said.

The Franklin Eastside Historic District features about 60 properties, mostly homes built in the Greek Revival, Italianate, and American Foursquare styles, plus a Gothic Revival style church and a bakery warehouse, Vanaman said. The district would be from just east of Crowell Street to Hurricane Street all the way north to Adams Street.

For the Franklin Southside Historic District, the borders would be from Jefferson Street to Monroe Street along Home Street, as well as portions of Monroe Street. The district is a small neighborhood of about 30 properties that were built in various styles from the 19th to early 20th centuries, plus a Romanesque Revival church, Vanaman said.

“The neighborhoods that are the focus of the project contain the oldest housing stock in Franklin and with it, the history of the founders and early-settlement life in the area,” she said.

In addition, the Franklin Commercial Historic District would be extended down Main Street to Adams Street.

In 2023, Faris helped oversee the application for the Historic Preservation Fund grant, with the goal to provide education and promotion of historic preservation to the community.

“(The Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology) appreciated their goals to directly educate the public on what preservation is, what it offers to the community, how downtown redevelopment relates preservation, and how people can get involved at the local level,” Vanaman said.

The grant is set to fund staffing and resources to complete the lengthy National Register application process, which will begin in July.

“We’ll have to survey all three of the new districts, and every property is going to be listed as contributing or not contributing,” Faris said. “It will be boots on the ground, looking at properties and rating them based on our industry standards. Then a lot of it is filling out applications — probably about 400 hours of application-filling time.”

At that point, Franklin Heritage has to wait for the applications to be processed and to see if they are approved. That could take a year to two years, Faris said. Projects have to be done by June 30, 2026 at the latest.

AT A GLANCE

New Franklin historic districts

What: Franklin Heritage, a nonprofit preservation group, was awared a $25,000 Historic Preservation Fund grant. The money will be used to apply for three new historic districts to be added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Where are the districts:

Franklin Northside Historic District — from Madison Street to Adams Street, and from Main Street to Crowell Street.

Franklin Eastside Historic District — from just east of Crowell Street to Hurricane Street all the way north to Adams Street.

Franklin Southside Historic District — from Jefferson Street to Monroe Street along Home Street, including portions of Monroe Street.

When will the process of applying start: Franklin Heritage plans to start surveying and identifying properties in those areas in July.