Kurt Garner’s training is technically in architecture, but he’s been primarily an architectural historian. For some years now, assisting property owners in researching the history and significance of their properties — as well as the process of navigating the ins and outs of placing a property on the National Register — has been his primary stock and trade for many years as well. That work includes more than 30 properties in the Lakes readership area, including commercial and residential districts in Argos, Bourbon, Bremen and Plymouth, as well as the Chief Menominee Monument, which was one of his most rewarding nominations. Garner’s passion for the intersection of place and history comes naturally enough. He notes he had family in Marshall County before it even became a county, and ten generations of his family have lived in the area.
MARSHALL COUNTY’S KURT GARNER PLACES NEARLY 200 INDIANA SITES ON NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES Writer / Jeff Kenney Photography / Provided
The fact that 2,000 Indiana sites have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since its inception in 1966 will likely
come as a surprise to many Lakes-area readers. But the fact that one Marshall County resident is responsible for nearly 200 of them — and number 200 is well on its way — might be the biggest surprise of all.
He also grew up with community as part of his life’s blood: his family-owned Garner’s Truck Stop outside of LaPaz, which “was a big part of what made me who I am,” he says. “I think the appreciation for this kind of multigenerational planting of yourself probably grew out of that. Then along with that that, I’m kind of a road-trip guy, so I think feeling a part of the community, as odd as it sounds being in that setting, allowed me to feel like part of a community on a much larger platform.”
BRIDAL | BRIDESMAIDS | MOTHERS | FORMAL WEAR TREATSSQUIRESHOP.COM | 308 NORTH MICHIGAN STREET, PLYMOUTH | 574-936-3669 58 / THE LAKES MAGAZINE / JULY 2021 / TownePost.com
