INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Landmarks has announced the 10 Most Endangered, an annual list of highly threatened Hoosier landmarks.
Places that land on the 10 Most Endangered list often face a combination of problems rather than a single threat—abandonment, neglect, dilapidation, obsolete use, development pressure, or owners who simply lack money for repairs.
The 10 Most Endangered in 2026 include the following places:
• Adams Mill, Cutler
• Ayres House, Fortville
• Castle Hall, Colored Knights of Pythias, Indianapolis
• City-County Building, New Albany
• First Church of Christ, Scientist, Evansville
• Plymouth Fire Station, Plymouth
• Kiwanis Field, La Porte
• Lincoln Pioneer Village, Rockport
• Shirk-Edwards House, Peru
• Tunnel Mill Scout Reservation, Charlestown
Built in 1911 by four local lodges of the African American Knights of Pythias, Castle Hall served as a vital cultural, social, and economic hub for Indianapolis’s Black community at a time when many public venues shunned Black visitors. Today, it remains one of the city’s most important landmarks connected to African American history, but its legacy is in jeopardy.
Located near Indiana Avenue, the historic heart of Black culture in Indianapolis, Castle Hall hosted conferences, community events, and fraternal activities while providing commercial space for Black-owned businesses and organizations. In 1914, Madam C. J. Walker hosted 200 guests at Castle Hall for a formal dance that the Indianapolis Recorder proclaimed unrivaled “in the social history of Indianapolis colored people.”
After the Knights of Pythias vacated in 1946, the building housed a storage and moving company for decades. Recognizing Castle Hall’s historical significance, its current owner purchased the property and began critical repairs to the masonry, roof, and structural systems, but funding shortages stalled the work.
Today, temporary scaffolding and structural supports remain in place, extending over the Indianapolis Cultural Trail.
