COA APPLICATION #2020-0302: NORTHERN INDIANA HISTORIC SOCIETY INC. V. SOUTH BEND HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION

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Part 2: Proposed Homestead Plan Background In 2010, owing to concerns about security in Lee per Park East and a desire to increase its utilization by bringing the cabin closer to the museum campus, the Society began, through purchase and donation, acquiring derelict and abandoned properties on the west side of its campus (South Laurel Street). By 2019, all properties needed forthe campus expansion had been secured. Over $250,000 has been raised to fund the property development needed to create a site for the cabin. Due to his experience in moving houses, buildings, and historic structures, Tim Lykowski at Lykowski Construction, Inc., has been engaged to confirm the feasibility and cost of moving the cabin from Leeper Park to the museum campus. Property surveys have been completed, and in 2018, the landscape architecture firm of Lehman & Lehman was engaged to develop and advise on a site plan. In 2019, The History Museum was awarded a grant in the amount of $25,000 from Visit South Bend/Mishawaka to support moving the structure in 2020. Benefits The History Museum is seeking a Certificate of Appropriateness to move the historic Navarre Cabin from its present location in Leeper Park East to an experiential pioneer homestead on the museum campus. The goals of this project Include: 1. Improved interpretation The new site of the cabin will provide a much more historically accurate context with mature vegetation, outbuildings, and other features, improving the breadth of a visitor's educational experience. Utilizing first -person interpreters and informational signage about the complex, the homestead area will provide flexibility for programming that will not only teach guests about Pierre Navarre and his home, but lifeways of early pioneer settlers. Open spaces will provide opportunities to build seasonal Native structures and learn about the area's first peoples as well as a place for demonstrations such as pioneer games, crafts, and foodways. A visual barrier, as well as landscaped properties west of Laurel Street already owned by the Society, will block views of surrounding structures, completing the illusion of traveling back in time to Navarre's homestead. 2. Maximized visitor exposure The Navarre Cabin's remote location in Leeper Park means that it can be used only infrequently for historical programming. Once located on the museum campus, the homestead will be included as an integral part of The History Museum's existing daily operations, dramatically broadening the audience served by the cabin and its surroundings. In 2019, the cabin saw 670 visitors— on its new site the cabin will be included with each of The History Museum's 45,000 annual visitor experiences. The site will be designed to be Inclusive and accessible to people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities. The associated green space allows for broad public programming, from tours of a few guests to large festivals. 3. Increased security In the last two decades, the Society's Board of Directors has expressed increasing concern for the safety of the Navarre Cabin. The structure has been vandalized and forcibly entered several times, necessitating the installation of heavy shutters along with 35