District History
The State of Indiana created the first New Harmony Memorial Commission in 1937 to help preserve and protect the community’s history. Following the restoration of several historic properties, the state interpreted the site as the New Harmony State Memorial, which was later renamed the New Harmony State Historic Site. In 1965 a study completed by the National Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings identified New Harmony as a place of national significance. That same year, New Harmony was designated a National Historic Landmark district by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
A second New Harmony Memorial Commission, established in 1973, assisted with further preservation and development efforts. Between 1974 and 1980, Historic New Harmony, Inc., a private, nonprofit organization with grant funding from The Lilly Endowment, Inc., acquired and restored additional properties of historical significance. In 1977 National Park Service historian Joseph Mendinghall prepared a nomination for 19 properties with ties to the Harmonist/Owenite era, 1814 to 1867. These properties, spread throughout the community, were listed in the National Register of Historic Places on November 12, 1977; however, additional resources, including the original grid plan of the town and the site of the original Harmonist churches were not included in the nomination.
In 1985 the University of Southern Indiana partnered with Historic New Harmony to preserve and maintain the town’s historic structures and to offer educational and cultural programs. In 1991 Historic New Harmony combined its resources with the state-owned New Harmony State Historic Site to establish a “unified program” of the University of Southern Indiana and the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites. The state’s New Harmony Memorial Commission oversees the efforts of the two groups.
A National Register of Historic Places nomination with an expanded boundary for the New Harmony Historic District was published on May 3, 2000. The boundary increase included resources dating from 1825 to 1867, the period when New Harmony was purchased by Robert Owen until the Owenite influence on the town waned after the American Civil War. As of May 2012, the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites operates and preserves several properties within the New Harmony Historic District: Community House Number 2, Thrall’s Opera House, Fauntleroy House, Harmonist Cemetery, Harmonist Labyrinth, and Mattias Scholle House. Other sites within the district include Philip Johnson's Roofless Church; New Harmony's Atheneum, an award-winning contemporary design by Richard Meier, completed in 1979, that serves as the visitors center for touring the historic district; and Maple Hill Cemetery.
Read more about this topic: New Harmony Historic District
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