This story was updated at 2:10 p.m., Jan. 28, with additional information.
The Bloomington City Council considered proposals Wednesday night to designate two buildings as historical districts. The council recommended only one of the buildings be designated.
If one or both of the buildings were designated as a historical district, the Historical Preservation Commission would be authorized to issue a certificate of appropriateness allowing the changes before any building can be demolished or its exterior changed, according to city documents.
The council unanimously recommended the Kohr Hospital Building be designated a historic district by the council. It will receive a final vote next week. The building is part of the IU Health Hospital in Bloomington and was built in the early 1900s. It was used as a hospital after servicemembers returned from both World Wars. The City of Bloomington announced in 2018 it would buy the historic hospital site for $6.5 million after IU planned to move the hospital.
The hospital, including the Kohr Building, is scheduled to be demolished at the end of the year. The council debated maintaining the Kohr Building as a historical site.
One suggestion the city has for the building’s future is to refurbish it into a low-income housing unit. The city would first need to find a partner to help in the process.
The council unanimously recommended that they designate the building a historical district. If the city can find a partner to convert the building into low-income housing, it will not be demolished with the rest of the hospital later this year.
The Historic Preservation Commission also recommended Boxman-Mitchell Building, located at 424 ½ S. Walnut St., be designated a historical district. City Council members unanimously recommended the full council not designate it a historical district.
Councilmembers said they had concerns about structural issues and the building’s history. Conor Heterich, Program Manager for the Historic Preservation Commission, justified the historic status of the building by citing the legacy of Henry Boxman, a popular restaurant owner who operated a restaurant inside of the building. But his legacy included incidents of racial segregation and discrimination, according to some Bloomington residents.
The building was previously the location of Player’s Pub, which closed in 2018. Boxman’s Restaurant also existed there from 1929 to 1958.
“When it came to the part about excluding African-Americans from being able to eat at his restaurant, it seems as though we kind of brushed through it,” Bloomington resident Carven Thomas said. “My dad brought us here in ‘68 after Dr. King died in Memphis. Coming to this town, some of those things were still around. I don’t want to be a member of a community that says, ‘Well, let’s forget about it.’”
Heterich said he left out discussion of discrimination in his report to the council because he couldn’t find definitive evidence.
“What I’ll say about that is that many white-owned businesses in Bloomington during the 50s and before, restaurants included, they practiced de facto segregation,” Heterich said.
Bloomington Common Council President Jim Sims said while the allegations of segregation are not the only reason he recommended against the designation, they certainly warranted conversation.
“I wonder if Mr. Boxman’s [restaurant] was listed in the green book that listed restaurants where African-Americans were allowed to eat,” Sims said.
