Jasper’s downtown square, referred to as Jasper’s Downtown Historic District, has been formally recognized by the United States Department of the Interior and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The city received official notice of the listing on June 12th.
The application to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places was submitted in 2014 through the City of Jasperí’s Department of Community Development & Planning with the help of the consultants RATIO Architects of Indianapolis.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic sites deemed worthy of protection. The program aims to support public and private efforts to preserve historic resources in the United States.
To be placed on the list is an honor for the City , and potentially qualifies the district for state historic preservation grants. It also qualifies property owners within the Jasper Downtown Historic District, an area bounded by 9th Street, Clay Street, 3rd Avenue, and Mill Street, to use rehabilitation tax credits for certified rehabilitation projects.
Since it is on the National Register of Historic Places, the Jasper Downtown Historic District receives certified recognition and a degree of federal protection. Additionally, the district is a part of the Indiana Register of Historic Sites and Structures administered by the Department of Natural Resources Historic Preservation and Archaeology.
The Jasper Downtown Historic District has served and continues to prosper as the center of Jasper’s commerce and local government. The District represents the county’s largest and best collection of late-nineteenth and early to mid-twentieth century commercial architecture.
The Jasper Downtown Historic District has many prominent buildings within its boundaries, many of which were constructed in the late-nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries. Some notable buildings include the Gutzweiler building, the Dubois County Annex building, the Astra Theatre, and The Herald building among many more.
Some styles of architecture featured in the district include Italianate, Neoclassical, Twentieth Century Functional, and Art Deco. The Jasper Downtown Historic District joins the Dubois County Courthouse, Soldiers and Sailors Monument, and the G. H. Sturm Hardware Building on the National Register of Historic Places.
The application, including the map, photos, and more information on the history of the Jasper Downtown Historic District is available at http://www.in.gov/dnr/historic/files/hp-jasperdowntownhd.pdf.
