Traders Point Barn at fairgrounds to be moved (again)

March 21, 2008
State Fairgrounds barn to be moved MondayBy Tom Spaldingtom.spalding@indystar.com
The famed 1930s-era, green-roofed Normandy Barn on East 38th Street in Indianapolis will be moved Monday from its current location to its new home inside the State Fairgrounds, the Indiana State Fair Commission announced. Wolfe House Movers of Indiana is handling the move and will transport the barn in one piece using remote-controlled dollies. The barn, a 35-foot-high structure originally built on the Pike Township farm of Indianapolis industrialist Herman Krannert for milking his prize dairy cows, has been at its current site since 1998. That space is being turned into parking.
Fair officials plan to pair the relocated barn with a second barn that will transform the north side of the fairgrounds into a year-round attraction. Both barns would figure prominently in plans for what fair officials are calling “the State’s Largest Classroom,” that promotes agricultural education and professional development throughout the year.
If you want to watch:The barn is expected to cross East 38th Street after the morning rush hour around 9 a.m. It will enter the fairgrounds through Gate 19 on the fairgrounds’ southwest corner and proceed north along the fairgrounds west end. The barn will then travel out Gate 16 onto East 42nd Street and head east before reentering the fairgrounds near its final destination west of the Pioneer Village area. The entire process should take less than four hours and be complete by noon.
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About Ross Reller

I am pleased you have expressed interest in learning more about the historic Traders Point area in Indianapolis, Indiana. From 1980 to 1982 I was employed in the PR department at Conner Prairie Museum in Hamilton County. There I learned about William Conner, an important figure in Indiana's pioneer days. A decade later I became interested in the history of the Traders Point area and was surprised to learn that William Conner had been the first land owner in the area. In 1823 he acquired, through the Federal land office in Brookville, a patent for an 80 acre tract carved by Eagle Creek and an Indian trail that was about to be named the first toll roadway through the township (Lafayette Road). Thirty years later a village took shape within this tract. A grain mill on the creek, houses, churches, stores, restaurants, and two gas stations would take shape here in the creek valley hamlet of Traders Point. By 1962 all improvements (except a farmer's co-op) had been removed by the Indianapolis Flood Control Board to make way for Interstate 65 and a new reservoir. This blog is dedicated to preserving evidence of this historic area but I will occasionally use it to discuss related topics. To activate this follow, simply click the confirm button below. If you don't want to follow, ignore this message and we'll never bother you again. I am also a member of the Old Pleasant Hill Cemetery, a non profit association still selling burial plots for those who would like to spend all eternity in Traders Point, and I am an officer in the Pike Township Historical Society and the Traders Point Association of Neighborhoods.
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