Bourbon Township
Explore the multi-district redevelopment of the Bourbon Township
Bourbon Residential Historic District
The Bourbon Community Building-Gymnasium is located on the northeast side of Bourbon on the campus of the consolidated Triton School Corporation. The gym, constructed in 1928, was built as both a gymnasium and community building appended to an earlier school building constructed in 1917-1918. While the school building has been razed, the old gym has been maintained as an important part of the community. The building has elements of the Colonial Revival style, but is generally a 20th century functional building with a large barrel-vaulted roof. The site contains a low brick wall and steps at the edge of the sidewalk and street. A fountain composed of stones is centered in front of the building near the sidewalk, and a bell from the old school is centered between the building’s front entries in the lawn.
The Bourbon Community Building-Gymnasium was used for entertainment and recreation, as well as other community functions associated with the school. School plays were held in the building using a stage built into the east wall. Usually two plays a year were held: a school play and a senior play. Graduation commencements were also held in the gym. Prior to its construction, the community often used opera houses in the downtown or church sanctuaries for commencement programs and other entertainment functions. It appears the first graduation commencement ceremony held in the gym occurred in 1931. A program for the event indicates the location as the “Community Hall”. The new building also included a projection room from which moving pictures could be shown to a large audience. The new community hall/gymnasium had filled a previously unmet need for a facility large enough to accommodate such social activities.
The most pervasive use of the building was for athletic purposes, and more specifically for basketball. With the growing popularity of basketball at the turn of the century, communities typically found large open halls in the upper floors of downtown buildings in which to play the sport. Bourbon was no different. In 1915, basketball was played in the Davis Opera House, a facility that also served as a site for graduation ceremonies. The Bourbon teams were called the “Comets”. A girls basketball team was formed in 1918. In 1928, with the construction of the community hall/gymnasium, the community had a new facility in which to play the sport. The Bourbon boys basketball team won the Marshall County championship game over Plymouth in 1940. They won sectional titles in 1943, 1950, and 1962. The 1962 sectional title was won in a close game over the Bremen Lions with a final score of 56 to 55. After consolidation in 1963, the corporation’s team names were changed to the Triton Trojans.
Argos Izaak Walton League
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7184 E. 16th Road
Park Rustic/Craftsman, 1935-1937
William Foker, stonemason
The Argos Izaak Walton League property is a total of 17 acres of constructed fishing ponds, structures, and buildings developed as a fish hatchery and meeting hall for the organization dedicated to the conservation of natural habitat for wildlife. In 1929, they purchased and developed the first two acres of the property. In 1934, the remaining 15 acres were purchased. Through an agreement with the United States Bureau of Fisheries a clubhouse was constructed under the New Deal projects of that era. The building was constructed under the direction of local stone mason William L. Foker in 1935-1937, with glacial stones in the Craftsman style. Some of the period structures on the property include a stone gateway, two artesian wells, three stone picnic tables/benches, and a sluice; these date to the New Deal construction on the site.
Spearheaded by avid outdoorsman Wilferd M. Harley, the Argos Chapter of the Izaak Walton League of America was created by Charter No. 68 on January 25, 1926; the initial name of the organization was Tippecanoe Fish Hatchery. Harley and seven other men who were anglers had made application to the State Department for minnows to be distributed in adjacent lakes and streams in an effort to replenish the rapidly depleting local supply of desired fresh water fish. The men began discussions in 1925 regarding the formation of a local chapter of the Izaak Walton League. William Foker, the stone mason, worked in both cut and uncut stone. In both methods he hand selected stone blending colors and shapes to provide a very aesthetically pleasing form to his creation. He is arguably one of the most accomplished masons in Indiana during the 20th century.
The Argos Downtown Commercial Historic District comprises approximately three of four blocks of the original business district, laid out in 1851. The town is situated along the north-south alignment of the Michigan Road. Original free-standing frame structures have given way to generally continuous facade lines of masonry constructed commercial structures built from 1883 to 1942. With few exceptions, the buildings retain a high level of character defining features of their original appearance. As with most historic commercial structures, the upper story facades are generally intact with a smaller number of storefronts retaining their historic appearance. A downtown revitalization effort in 1998 resulted in restoration style lighting, street trees, and partial brick sidewalks along Michigan and Walnut Streets. The Argos Public Library conducted an adaptive-reuse of the Schoonover Building at 118 N. Michigan St into its new home in 2008.
With the period of significance ranging from 1867 to 1942, the building styles are principally Italianate and 19th and 20th century functional, with some individual examples of other traditional Midwestern styles of the period also existing. The northernmost blocks were developed first and appear mostly as they did during the period of significance. One exception is the bank's acquisition and renovation of a 1920s era cafe for expansion space to the north in 1962. The corner lot on which the bank building is located was the original site of a frame flouring mill constructed in 1863. This structure was moved to the railroad when the bank was built and is still in existence. Just outside of the district, two frame buildings were demolished at the north end of the east side of North Michigan Street; one was the original two bay fire station with hose tower.