Historic
Preservation
History
Located directly west
of downtown Fort
Wayne, Indiana, the West
Central neighborhood developed
as
a residential area during the city’s canal era in the 1830s. Early on, the neighborhood was inhabited primarily by the working
class who could walk to their nearby workplaces. As Fort Wayne grew through the nineteenth
century and transportation systems improved, the West Central neighborhood
became favored as a residential area for the middle and upper class. Small, vernacular homes were replaced by larger homes that displayed
the fashionable architectural styles of the time, eventually representing
virtually all the styles that were popular between 1830 and 1950.
The area is home to early Greek Revival-style homes and arare Gothic
Revival residence. The district also contains the largest collection
of homes designed by
John F. Wing and Marshall Mahurin who formed one of the most successful
architectural firms in Indiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
On the north side of the
neighborhood, along fashionable Berry, Wayne, and Washington streets, was
where many of the city's prominent families built large, stylish homes. Early industrialists such as H.G. Olds, owner
of wagon and railroad car works; Ronald
T. McDonald, whose Jenney Electric
plant developed into the present General Electric plant on Broadway; William
Page Yarnelle, heavy hardware wholesaler; and Theodore
Thieme, owner of the Wayne Knitting Mills,
all resided in West Central. Prominent
downtown retailers Myron
Dessauer, L.O.Hull,
and Horatio Ward, state senator and attorney Robert
Bell, and John
Claus Peters, owner of the Wayne Hotel and grandfather of actress
Carole
Lombard, were other notable neighborhood residents.
On the south side of the neighborhood,
situated between Jefferson Boulevard and a set of railroad tracks, exists
a collection of modest, small-scale cottages arranged along narrow, tree-lined, brick streets.
The workers for the business owners and the various industries stretching
along the south side of the railroad corridor resided here.
The boundaries of the West Central Neighborhood Association (WCNA)
encompass a larger part of Fort Wayne than just the West
Central Historic District (formally known as the West End Historic District).
Portions of downtown are included as are additional
residential areas. The Landing and several
other individual properties and structures are listed on the National Register of Historic
Places or are local historic districts.
The works of many well-known architects,
other than Wing and Mahurin, are located in the area as well.
While historic designations puts greater attention on the identified
buildings, the WCNA continues to maintain an interest in preserving all the
homes and buildings within its boundaries.
In 1984, guidelines to be followed in the preservation of local historic districts were adopted by a city ordinance. Revised in 2009, the guidelines are meant to serve as a means of directing the aesthetics changes that can be expected to occur in local historic district areas. Anyone residing within the West Central Local Historic District must follow the guidelines when making any exterior changes to their property. The guidelines include information relating to such things as paint color, windows, doors, siding, landscaping, roofing materials, and other subjects. Copies of the guidelines are also available from the City of Fort Wayne Historic Preservation Department located on the Eighth floor, Room 800 of the City-County Building, One Main Street, Fort Wayne, Indiana 46802. Call 427-1140 for additional information.
Financial Incentives
In order to foster historic preservation, the federal
and Indiana state goverments have created financial tools to aid in the financing
of rehabilitating an historic structure. Some tools may be combined with others to increase
the incentive. Anyone who undertakes
a rehabilitation project involving a historic, or potentially historic, structure
may qualify. Structures in already
designated historic districts automatically qualify as being historic.