The Starke County Historical Society is being helped to complete a portion of a project they hope will revitalize the Henry F. Schricker home.
The local history group was awarded a grant by the Indiana Historical Society for $5-thousand. According to information included in a newsletter, Starke County was awarded funds to help conduct a study of the home’s structure.
In the first round of grant funding, 21 Indiana counties received money for projects ranging from research to archive building. Starke and Marshall County were included in that list.
Grants are donated courtesy of the Indiana Historical Society through the Lilly Foundation as a way of supporting county and municipal history organizations. Those monies aim to address high-priority needs such as capacity building, collections stewardship, innovation, and collaboration. Heritage Support Grants will award about $500-thousand in cycles through 2019, according to the organization’s webpage.
The grant awarded to Starke County about two weeks ago will be used to hire an architect to make an assessment of the Schricker home, and develop a restoration plan that reflects the family’s residence at the height of their political hey-day in the 1940’s.
Henry F. Schricker was born in North Judson and resided in Knox, but served as Indiana governor for two non-consecutive terms.
According to Starke County Historical Society Board Member Rodger Smith, architects are currently being interviewed for the job of enhancing the 100-year-old building. Once a hire has been made at the end of this month, and the restoration plan has been completed, the Starke County Historical Society intends to apply for the residence to join the National Register of Historic Places.
Smith led the application process for the initial grant funds. He says the organization will apply for a second Heritage Support Grant in year three of the grant cycle consisting of about $50-thousand. Those funds will look to actually restore the home. The Starke County Historical Society says they are anticipating Heritage Support Grants may not be the only source of funding for the project.
Once the work has been completed, the Historical Society hopes to be able to open the home to the public as an interpretive center on the Schrickers.
Smith says this should be considered a multi-year project.
