GREENFIELD — Greenfield Historic Landmarks members invite those with an appreciation for historic architecture — or a penchant for piecing together clues — to attend the nonprofit’s annual meeting at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 28 in Greenfield.
Members will share a peek inside the nonprofit’s historic home database, seeking the public’s help in identifying some structures yet to be labeled.
Landmarks president Cathleen Huffman said a fellow member, Michael Ball, has spent well over 100 hours the past two years creating a comprehensive database of historic structures throughout Hancock County.
The database can be viewed at GreenfieldHistoricLandmarks.org.
“We’re hoping people will spend some time looking through these great photos and recognize some, then let us know what they know about them,” said Ball, who also invites the public to submit photos of historic structures not yet listed.
In addition to showcasing its online database, the landmarks group is also promoting its upcoming historic walking tour in downtown Greenfield, which starts at 2 p.m. May 5 by the Hancock County Courthouse.
Huffman said it’s an exciting time for the nonprofit, which will celebrate its 25th anniversary next year.
“We actually cover all of Hancock County, not just Greenfield … We’re excited to roll out the database at our annual meeting on Sunday and let people know how they can access it at home,” she said.
The information online is not just one database but a collection of nine databases featuring historic homes, schools, churches, businesses and other buildings from all over the county. The listings feature information like the type of architecture, year built and the various owners and purposes the buildings have served over the years.
“I think it’s a really powerful tool and that Michael has done an amazing job putting it together for the public to access,” said Huffman, who thinks the database is great for history buffs as well as those looking to restore historic properties.
“You can look up what your house or business used to look like back way back when, which is really interesting,” said Huffman, who thinks the cars, clothes and other historical elements in the photographs also provide a great peek into the past.
The database features a wide range of historic photos, documents and records, like a street directory from 1926 that lists all the homeowners at that time.
The collection also features insurance maps from the Sanborn Map Company, which are known to provide a detailed historical snapshot of American cities and towns.
“Those are incredibly fun to look at,” said Ball, who said the database features Sanborn maps from 1886 to 1914.
The database also features about 30 historic house drawings that appeared in the local newspaper in the early 1900s, alerting the public to which new residents were building and moving in.
It also includes past award winners honored by Greenfield Historic Landmarks over the past 40-plus years, as well as a collection of photographs by former Greenfield mayor Ora Myers, who served two terms between 1910 and 1921.
More than 100 photos are in a database labeled miscellaneous, “because that’s the one with photos we’ve received that have no identifying information yet. We’re hoping that by putting that information online, that people will visit it and recognize the homes or the people and then contact us to share that information,” said Ball.
His research got a big boost a few months ago when the family of the late local historian Rosalie Richards donated a large collection of historic records and photographs to Greenfield Historic Landmarks after she passed away in November.
“It was an amazing treasure trove, really,” said Ball, who said Richardson’s passion for history led her to become a founding member of both Greenfield Historic Landmarks and the Hancock County Historical Society.
Her historic documents and photographs now grace the database he has painstakingly created over the past two years.
“We find them incredibly interesting, and we hope others will too,” said Ball, who lives in a 19th century Victorian home he and his wife remodeled in Greenfield.
The couple won a Greenfield Historic Landmarks preservation award for the remodel in 2022, and Ball was awarded the Les Barr Memorial Award in 2023 for his work creating the nonprofit’s database.
Barr was one of the original founders of Greenfield Historic Landmarks, which was formed in 1980. An award is given each year in his name, recognizing a community member who has gone above and beyond to support local preservation efforts.
Ball just hopes the public enjoys looking through the historical photos and documents he’s amassed as much as he does.
“It’s a lot of fun to look at,” he said.
For a more up close view of historic architecture, Greenfield Historic Landmarks vice prescient David Schrank, encourages the public to take part in next month’s walking history tour, which winds through the main thoroughfares in downtown Greenfield.
“Quite a few of the buildings downtown are featured. We’ll share a little bit of the history of each building and show pictures of what each one used to look like over 100 years ago, along with the year built and architectural style,” he said. “A lot of the buildings are gone now, so we’ll show pictures of those too.”
Schrank said more than 20 people showed up for the nonprofit’s last historic walking tour last fall, and he’s hoping for another good crowd May 5.
He also encourages those interested in historic architecture to take the self-guided walking, which can be accessed at GreenfieldMainStreet.org/walkingtour.
The next guided historic walking tour of downtown Greenfield starts at the Hancock County Courthouse at 2 p.m. May 5.
The public is also invited to the nonprofit’s annual meeting at 2 p.m. this Sunday, April 28 at 275 Center St. in Greenfield.
For more information on Greenfield Historic Landmarks, visit GreenfieldHistoricLandmarks.org.
