MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) — An eight-year effort to earn national recognition for a historic Muncie boulevard and its mansions has paid off with a listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
Now organizers of the effort to secure the status for Minnetrista Boulevard and its string of former Ball family mansions are weighing whether to seek status as a National Historic Landmark.
Karen Vincent, director of collections at Minnetrista, told The Star Press that Minnetrista personnel worked with the Ball State University Center for Historic Preservation starting in 2004 to win the historic designation for the boulevard, mansions and even some sculptures.
The work included research on the houses, their architectural styles, the families who lived in them and the history of Ball Corp., the famed maker of glass jars. Applications had to go to the city, state and federal levels.
The designation and accompanying national recognition are important for the community and its sense of place, Vincent said.
“We finally got it done,” she said. “It’s a good thing.”
She said officials are now considering petitioning to have the boulevard and its homes listed as a National Historic Landmark. That process will require more research, and an application could be a year away.
If granted, that designation would say that Muncie’s small but spectacular length of boulevard was significant on a national scale, something Vincent said seems reasonable to her.
“The Ball jar was pretty important,” she said.
