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Indiana Bicentennial Celebration 2016

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Legacy Projects > American House Stagecoach Hotel American House Stagecoach Hotel

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As Carroll County celebrates the State’s Bicentennial, they will be preserving an important building that played a role in the history of transportation in Indiana. The Burlington American House Stagecoach Hotel project is planned to restore the building to the mid-late 1800’s period as a stagecoach hotel.  It will become a legacy for Indiana future as it will be open for adults and children to come and learn about this period in our past. The hotel is highly relevant to Indiana’s history as it served as an important stop for travelers.  There was early stagecoach travel north and south on the Michigan road beginning in the 1830s. There was also stagecoach travel east and west so Burlington became an important intersection of stagecoach routes.

Q&A with Legacy Project Coordinator Bonnie Maxwell and Dennis Kern

What do you consider the key accomplishment of your Legacy Project?

  • During this year we have been able to buy the American House Stagecoach Hotel Building located at 215 S. Michigan St. in Burlington. The owner of the building had planned on taking the building down and using the lot for other purposes. We conducted a number of fund raising activities and were able to close on the house in July 2016. Since its purchase we have applied for listing it on the Indiana and National Register of Historic Places and have heard that our application has been well received and is awaiting final board action. The building which was built in 1848 is on the
    Michigan Road and the Michigan Road Association has considered listing it as a stop in their passport program. The committee has scraped and painted with two coats three sides of the building. Considerable work has been done to clear the overgrowth from the property as it is planned to provide it a parklike setting for visitors. A number of small grants have been obtained and we are working on putting in a HVAC system which the building never has had. A stagecoach has been donated to the hotel and first appeared in the Burlington Fall Festival.

Describe a highlight or most memorable moment related to your Legacy Project.

  • A yard sale money maker was held on the property the weekend of the Burlington Fall Festival. Although we do not have the house open yet for visitor tours a number of the people visited the property and viewed the house and the stagecoach which later went in the parade that weekend.

How/where are you preserving information and artifacts related to your Legacy Project?

  • At the American House in Burlington, Indiana

Total number of volunteers who participated.

  • 30

Estimated dollar amount raised.

  • $14,500

Estimated dollar amount spent.

  • $14,500

American House Committee

  • James Rich
  • Dennis Kern
  • Jon Russell
  • Al Auffart
  • Don Reef
  • Mary Blue
  • Sue Cope
  • Rick Cope
  • Mark Smith
  • Alan Jackson
  • Tommy Kleckner
  • Kurt Garner

Project Details

  • Organization: Promoting Wildcat Valley
  • County: Carroll
  • Contact: Dennis Kern, 765-566-3366, denniskern@yahoo.com
  • Type: Non-Profit
  • Project Number: IBC-HC-314

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