State recognizes two area historic buildings

The state will recognize Hoosier properties placed on the state and national historic registers in the past year, including two in Jackson County, on Thursday at the state fair.

Jackson County Courthouse and Carr High School are the newest members of the state and national historic registers, and their additions bring the total number of such properties in Jackson County to 17.

The list also includes the Joe Jackson Hotel in Vallonia, Seymour Commercial Historic District and Medora covered bridge.

The state Department of Natural Resources will recognize properties named to state or national registers or both between April 2011 and July this year during a ceremony at 1 p.m. Thursday in the department’s amphitheater next to the Natural Resources Building.

The ceremony is part of Hoosier Heritage Day at the State Fair, and this will be the second year the state has recognized new additions to the registers.

Chuck Darkis, a 1954 graduate of Medora High School, said Monday he and Paul Carr plan to attend the ceremony along with Mike Weir, who helped with efforts to place Carr High School on the registers.

Carr is a descendant of George W. Carr, who donated the land for Carr High School. The school was built in 1857, and classes began in March 1858. The last class held in the building was in 1934. The building is one of the oldest surviving high school buildings in Indiana.

The school is owned by the Weddleville Cemetery Association, which is restoring the building.

Jackson County Courthouse, built in 1873, earned listing on the National Register of Historic Places earlier this year as part of an initiative led by the Indiana Courthouse Preservation Advisory Commission.