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BY NANCY HILLER

The story of Stinesville parallels that ofcountless rural settlements that once were thriv-ing centers of regional culture but fell on hardtimes when, for one reason or another, their cen-ters failed to hold. In Stinesville’s case, the bot-tom dropped out when the Hoadley LimestoneMill, the town’s primary employer, wasdestroyed by fire in 1916, casting the town into aclassic cycle of decline.

With the chief provider gone, subsidiarybusinesses left town or closed, and their employeesmoved away. The population, which had once

Bringing BackStinesville

IN THE WELL OF A LUSH VALLEY in the heartof limestone country, 14 miles northwestof Bloomington, lies the little town of Sti-nesville, Ind. Founded in 1855, Stinesvillewas a hub of the state’s stone industry for

decades. The quarrying, milling and carving thatsustained the town’s inhabitants and gave them adistinctive culture contributed to such Indianalandmarks as the 1902 State Soldiers and SailorsMonument, which stands at the center of Indi-anapolis, and Chicago’s Tribune Tower, complet-ed in 1925.

STINESVILLE, INDIANA

AMERICAN PLACES

THE LITTLE TOWN OF STINESVILLE, IND., LIES ON STINESVILLE ROAD (MAIN STREET, IN TOWN), OFF OF STATE ROAD 46,

14 MILES NORTHWEST OF BLOOMINGTON.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARK LONGACRE, EXCEPT WHERE NOTED

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reached a high of around 1,500, dropped sharply.Abandoned houses fell into serious disrepair;many eventually decayed and collapsed. Eventhose that were maintained suffered such indig-nities as trash skipping down the streets wherechildren had once played and junked carssprouting in abandoned kitchen gardens.

By the early 1990s, the population had sta-bilized at around 200. But, with its main-street “Merchantile,” a striking limestone store-front dating back to 1886, the town still had arecognizable center that embodied its twofoldheritage of quarrying and small-town Midwest-ern architecture.

When Jim and Kay Wright-Kaiser happenedupon the place in 1994, they fell in love with it.They bought a home and opened an eclecticwhole-foods restaurant, the Quarry Diner, in alimestone building across from the Merchantilethat had once been a gas station and grocery. Thediner offered such savory dishes as eggplantparmesan, quiches and hearty, wholegrain grid-dle cakes. The mix of good food and small-town

surroundings drew patrons from as far away asIndianapolis, an hour to the north.

In the words of the town’s longtime postmas-ter, though, “it wasn’t Stinesville food.” PamBayne, who with her husband, James, has ownedthe Merchantile store–cum post office since1992, says local residents have historically been“meat-and-potatoes folks” who, when offeredespresso, would politely decline. “They’d ratherdrink Folgers or Maxwell House,” she says. Aftera run of more than five years, the restaurantclosed; operating a service business in such arural location ultimately proved just too hard.

An Unexpected LegacyBut the Quarry Diner bequeathed Stinesville avaluable legacy: it had introduced the town tohundreds of outsiders — among them membersof Monroe County’s preservation group, Bloom-ington Restorations Inc. (BRI), whose affordablehousing committee is dedicated to seeking outpromising remnants of small-town culture.

WITH THE AID OF A LOW-INTEREST LOAN FROM BLOOMINGTON RESTORATIONS, INC. (BRI), A LOCAL PRESERVATIONIST RESTORED THE QUEEN

ANNE–STYLE CHURCH UP MAIN STREET FROM THE STINESVILLE MERCHANTILE.

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BRI was founded in 1976 as a not-for-profitfoundation dedicated to historic preservation in Monroe County. For most of its history, BRIhas been run by determined and industrious volunteers.

“Though the organization has faced morethan its fair share of challenges and opposition, ithas had some memorable successes,” says exec-utive director Steve Wyatt. “Members played akey role in saving the county courthouse, whichhad been slated for demolition and now, some 30years later, is cherished as Bloomington’s mostfamous architectural symbol. BRI also helped

restore Bloomington’s former Carnegie Library,which now houses the Monroe County HistoricalMuseum.”

For BRI, Stinesville invited dreaming: Whatif this enchanting little town could be broughtback to life? The Merchantile and the QueenAnne–style church a block away at the top of thehill could anchor the project, providing statureand coherence. Revitalizing the town would takevision, money and a lot of hard work, but theorganization’s preservation and housing special-ists believed it might be possible. Stinesville’shistoric poverty had kept most of its housessmall, which meant they could still be purchasedat (comparatively) modest prices. Although thecost of restoration would ordinarily make theproperties too expensive for low-income buyers(the town’s median per capita income in 2000was less than $12,000, while that of Indiana as awhole was just under $20,400), the houses couldbe kept affordable if BRI could obtain a stategrant designed to encourage such rehabilitation.

STINESVILLE

THE HOADLEY HOUSE, ABOVE CENTER,WHICH HAD BEEN THE HOME OF

THE OWNERS OF STINESVILLE’S LIMESTONE WORKS,WAS THE FIRST OF THE

TOWN’S HISTORIC STRUCTURES TO BE RESTORED (A SIMILAR HOUSE IS AT

LEFT).THE TOWN’S OLD DOCTOR’S OFFICE, NOW ALSO RESTORED,

(ABOVE, RIGHT) IS A DIMINUTIVE, 450-SQUARE-FOOT HOME THAT WAS

SOLD IN 2006 FOR $45,000.

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Beginning AgainAs it turned out, they did get the funding —from the Indiana Housing and CommunityDevelopment Authority. BRI completed its firstStinesville project with the restoration of thehistoric Hoadley House, which had been con-structed near the end of the 19th century for thefamily whose limestone works had contributedso centrally to Stinesville’s one-time prosperity.

“We chose to do the Hoadley House firstbecause one of our volunteers, Peggy Shepherd,had seen that it was for sale and almost decidedto buy it herself, then decided instead to bring itto our attention,” says Steve Wyatt, BRI’s exec-utive director.

Peggy, a hard-working preservationist whodied last summer in her mid-50s, introducedmany people to Stinesville (and the QuarryDiner) over the years. She moved from one oldhouse to another, restoring each building’sstructural fabric and creating interiors that werealways sensitive to the houses’ architecturalcharacters. Her most recent project entailed dis-mantling an old timber-framed barn and movingit to the countryside close to Stinesville, whereshe had it reassembled, then transformed it into an energy-efficient home — still perfectly

recognizable foremost as a barn — that stands asa monument to the historic architecture of ruralIndiana. (See photo, below.)

“Peggy knew that the Hoadley House wasexactly what we were looking for — a landmark

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historic property in need of substantial repair,”says BRI’s Steve Wyatt. Guided by a 1912 photograph, the BRI team created a diminutivethree-bedroom home that today, with its artfullyrebuilt front porch, positively shines in the morn-ing sun.

BRI also managed the restoration of thetown’s old doctor’s office. A tiny frame structurewith kicked eaves and a cozy front porch thatonce functioned as an outdoor waiting room, theoffice was built in the 1890s. After being restored

and made habitable, the 450-square-foot cottage wassold to a local social-serviceworker in 2006 for $45,000.

BRI then stepped in tosave the Queen Anne–stylechurch, whose congregationhad long since moved on, bybuying it then turning aroundand putting out the call forsomeone else to buy andrestore it. That call wasanswered by Mark Stoops, alocal preservationist. Withthe aid of a low-interest loanfrom BRI, he converted thestructure into an open-planresidence. He left the groundfloor close to its original lay-

out, partitioning off just enough space for a smallbathroom (furnished with a salvaged clawfoottub and pedestal sink) and kitchen. He commis-sioned a local metalsmith to weld up a space-saving circular staircase and created a bedroomloft overlooking the church’s main floor. In 2006,with most of the work complete, a young couplebought the property.

BRI’s affordable-housing effort in the townincludes an ambitious infill development thatwill feature three small bungalows designed byBloomington architect Marc Cornett, a longtimeadvocate of the bungalow as a worthy genre fornew construction. (Cornett’s bungalow designswere used for the South Dunn Street develop-ment in Bloomington, reported on in AB No. 52,Winter 2006.) Like the other homes, these newones will be sold to buyers with incomes at orbelow 80 percent of the county median.

STINESVILLE

THE BIG CREEK LIMESTONE COMPANY, ABOVE, CONTINUES STINESVILLE’S

HISTORIC QUARRYING HERITAGE. A NEW BUNGALOW, LEFT, IS ONE OF THREE

THAT MAKE UP A SMALL INFILL DEVELOPMENT OF AFFORDABLE HOMES.

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Reviving the “Merchantile”Like so many others, James Bayne found Stines-ville by chance. A young insurance agent with asizable region to service, James decided one dayin 1976 to look for a shortcut between clientsthrough a couple of northwest Monroe Countytowns. His route took him through Stinesville,and he was instantly taken with the little villagewith its quaint homes and impressive countrystore. When he and his betrothed, Pam, married,they settled here.

In 1992, the Postal Service offered earlyretirement to the Merchantile’s then-owner andpostmaster, and he put the building up for sale.The Baynes, who had fantasized about owningthe building when they first came to Stinesville,bought it, and Pam took over as postmaster. Theystill operate it today.

The two-story Merchantile itself has beensubstantially restored, but the adjoining single-

story storefronts still awaitrehabilitation. While pursuingits residential projects, BRIhas been using the results of anIndiana Department of Com-merce Community Focus FundPlanning Grant to work withthe town council and a groupknown as Stinesville Renais-sance to fix up the group ofbuildings for adaptive reuse.

Signs of RenewalDowntown, gardens of shrubsand flowers have replacedjacked-up cars. Encouraged bythe unmistakable signs ofrenewal, several individualshave privately worked their

own transformations. One family restored a smallcottage, now painted sage green with burgundydoors and cream-colored trim. A neighbor up thestreet chose red with spruce-green trim for herQueen Anne cottage. In a world where claims of“New!” and “Better!” are almost deafening,Stinesville’s quiet renewal after nearly a centuryof decline is proof that new isn’t always better.Sometimes, old can work.

Furniture maker and writer Nancy Hiller lives in Bloom-ington, Ind. Her last article for American Bungalow,“Miracle on South Dunn Street,” appeared in the Winter2006 issue.

PAM AND JAMES BAYNE STAND IN FRONT OF THE STINESVILLE MERCHAN-

TILE STORE AND POST OFFICE WITH THEIR DOGS LUCY AND STUBBY.THE

MERCHANTILE AND THREE ADJOINING STOREFRONTS ARE UNDERGOING

RENOVATION.THE COTTAGE BELOW IS ONE OF AN INCREASING NUMBER

OF HISTORIC HOMES THAT STINESVILLE RESIDENTS HAVE RESTORED ON

THEIR OWN, ENCOURAGED BY SIGNS OF THE TOWN’S RENEWAL.

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