If you have driven along 42nd Street on the north edge of the State Fair Grounds, you may have noticed a large white and green barn with the name “Normandy Barn” painted on its northern end. If you haven’t seen this before, you probably aren’t the only one. I had not noticed the barn until earlier this year when finding an alternate route back from the GoldLeaf restaurant at 46th and Norwaldo.
The Normandy Barn as it is known, is not an original resident of the Indiana State Fair grounds and is actually a transplant from the north-side of Indianapolis near Trader’s Point (or near New Augusta, depending on the source you are reviewing). The barn was originally constructed on the farm/estate of Herman and Ellnora Krannert. Herman was the president of the Inland Container Company in downtown Indianapolis (the box company will be the topic of a future blog post) and had amassed a fortune since the company's founding in 1925. The Krannert’s had established the farm, which at its greatest size was in excess of 600 acres, in 1935, on land northeast of the present day Eagle Creek Reservoir. The Normandy Barn was also built at that time, as were other farm related buildings, with others being added later. The images below show the main farm complex on the southwest corner of 79th Street and Marsh Road in 1956, 1986, and in 2024. The Normandy Barn is marked in red, except in the 2024 image. The Krannert house was located farther to the west of these images, with a large ornate arched entrance off of 79th Street. The house, and the entrance arch, still stand, although the original Krannert homestead is now surrounded by newer, subdivided home sites.
The couple's plan was to create a breeding program for Guernsey dairy cows, and to improve the Guernsey breed and the quality of milk products obtained from the cows. Ellnora Krannert reportedly named the farm after the Normandy region of France. By the 1940s the Krannert's and Normandy Farms were regularly receiving press and acknowledgement for the quality of the cows being raised on the farm, and their milk, and for the research being conducted at the farm. Also note din local press were reports about the parties and receptions the Krannert’s would host for friends, and business associates, including those in town on farm related business.
In 1960 the Krannert's donated the majority of the farm to Purdue University for agricultural research, while reserving a portion of the property for their own residence. This was part of a greater philanthropy plan for the couple, who would give large gifts to various cultural organizations, as well as institutions of higher learning in Indiana, including at Indiana University, Purdue University, present day University of Indianapolis, and Butler University. The University of Illinois at Urbana, Herman's alma mater, was also a recipient of several gifts from the couple. The partnership resulting from the donation of the property to Purdue continued for 10 years, when Purdue transferred the property back to the Krannert's in 1971. Herman died in February of 1972 while on vacation in Florida. His estate was described as likely one of the largest in city history, aside from the estate of the late Josiah Lilly. Ellnora died two years later in 1974. The couple had no children.
In 1975 the executors of Ellnora's estate sought to rezone the Normandy Farms land for high end residential development. Development began in the late 1970s, with home prices ranging from $150,000 to $250,000 (in late 1970s money). As the surrounding land was being developed into neighborhoods, the main farm complex, with the Normandy Barn, remained mostly intact. In 1998 the Normandy Barn was donated by a developer so it could be disassembled, moved, and then reassembled in a parking lot across from the 38th Street entrance to the Indiana State Fair. The Google Street view below shows the barn as it appeared looking east from the intersection of 38th Street and Coliseum Avenue in 2007.
The barn was operated by a non-profit while it was located on 38th Street and provided space for education related activities. Its stay at this location lasted about a decade before discussions began in 2007 to move the barn again, this time to its current location on the northside of the state fairgrounds along 42nd Street. The process to move the barn took six hours (image below), an event, which despite me having just moved into a new home a mile away, I somehow was not aware of until I started researching this post.
Today the Normandy Farms Barn is available as event space and may be rented for a variety of functions. The current layout of the barn, and photos of the interior, may be viewed at this link. There are also several wedding photo album's available online which show the interior, although I will not be linking to those here. The interior is not as large as I had expected considering the size of the barn, but from the floor plan, it appears a lot of space was divided up into separate rooms and an elevator was installed.
The barn caught my eye several months ago because I had recognized it from images contained in the Jungclaus-Campbell digital archives (images below). In that archive are several photos of the barn and other buildings on the farm. The first image is dated 1936, not long after the farm was opened, while the second is dated 1944, and identifies the William P. Jungclaus Co. as the builders of the Normandy Barn, and likely other buildings on the farm. Jungclaus had also constructed factory space for Krannert's Inland Container Company, and the two families were also active in the same social circles.
Since the barn was moved in 1998, many of the other farm buildings have remained in place on the land at the southwest corner of 79th Street and Marsh Road. Much of the rest of the land which was once part of the farm has been subdivided into neighborhoods. One evening back in January, I found myself near the farm location following a deposition for my day job. Before driving home, I went by the property and took the photos below. The first photo was taken from 79th Street where I had pulled over in a gravel driveway. The double barns (or are they silos?) pictured in the Jungclaus images are visible in these photos.
I have not driven pass the property since January, and an article in the Indianapolis Star by Binghui Huang in April reported that the remaining buildings on the farm site were to be demolished. The Indiana Album has additional images from the Normandy Farm property, including images of the Krannert home, and the entrance arch referenced above (just search for "Normandy Farm").
Sources
Indianapolis News: January 21, 1971, April 30, 1975, October 28, 1998, March 23, 2007
Indianapolis Star: November 16, 1941, December 14, 1960, February 25, 1972, March 11, 1972, December 23, 1979, March 25, 2008, April 22, 2024
History of Normandy Farms, pamphlet, 1960, accessible at https://normandyfarms.info/index.php/history-heritage/#:~:text=Normandy%20Farms%20has%20a%20unique,cleared%20and%20developed%20into%20farmland.
Jungclaus-Campbell Digital Archive, University Library, IU Indianapolis, https://library.indianapolis.iu.edu/digitalcollections/JC