The 1861 Flanagan/Kincaid House has crept its way one-half mile to its new foundation on the grounds of Navient, a student loan processing firm in Fishers.
The house made its journey on October 4. I was in Auburn looking at old cars that day, so I didn’t see this house hoisted and rolled away. These photos come from Indiana Landmarks. But what a feat! With brick walls of more than a foot thick, this old girl weighs many, many tons. Every inch of the move stressed the structure — bending, twisting, compressing.
Indiana Landmarks photo
Yet in every improbable photo, the house looks as proud and upright as ever.
Indiana Landmarks photo
Under threatening weather, the house made it to its destination on the Navient grounds. I couldn’t find a photo showing its placement on its new foundation — how do you line it up just right? Does a giant nudging machine to inch it into place?
Indiana Landmarks photo
I spotted the house the other day as I whizzed by on I-69. My son drove, so I got as long of a look as I could at 65 MPH. It borders and faces the Interstate, but a row of trees partially obscures the home. A pity, because its bricks would glow proudly if the setting sun could light its face.
Seems a shame they had to move it. But what a feat of engineering. :) And I imagine it will look better in its new location than pressed up again who-knows-what, if it had been spared at all… which sounds most unlikely.
What kind of role will the building have moving forward (no pun intended), Jim, do you know?
I wish I could have seen this from start to finish. It would have been fascinating!
I gather that preservation groups are trying to figure out what to do with this house. For now, at least, it still stands. I’m content with that.
Glad to see they saved the old girl hopefully be there for another 100 years or more.
Absolutely! Here’s hoping they never have to expand the highway into this space.
Reblogged this on realest8man.
Glad they were able to make the move. Brick houses are generally harder to move than wood ones. I hope they are able to put it to good use. I don’t have any pictures, however there is a small neighborhood of ten or so old houses that were moved west of Savoy IL. Its been there for over twenty years now. At the time it was being formed it was pretty common to see some big old house moving along the road.
Wow, that many houses. Had to be a big, expensive project. Why were they moved?
I think most of them were going to be torn down if not moved. Some were moved from as far as 20 miles.