Before and After

Constructed in the early 1840s by German immigrant George Hilt, the Hilt House is one of the oldest structures in the Vincennes Historic District. It originally stood a block closer to the Wabash River on Seminary Street, but a move in the late 1910s relocated the Hilt House to its current site near the 1809 Michael Brouillet House, a.k.a. the Old French House – Indiana’s only surviving example of French Creole-style architecture. Together, the two houses represent some of the state’s earliest architecture.

The Old Northwest Bicentennial Corporation (Old Northwest Corp.), which had owned and operated the Old French House since the 1970s, received the Hilt House in the 1990s from Vincennes resident Martha Libby. The group maintained the house as a rental for a while before shuttering the property several years ago.

Declining membership and dwindling resources eventually prompted Old Northwest Corp. to divest itself of the properties. The Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites agreed to receive the Old French House, but the Hilt House fell into limbo and talk turned to demolition. The conversation changed when the two groups invited Indiana Landmarks and the Vincennes/Knox Preservation Foundation — our local affiliate – to the table to discuss the Hilt House’s future. The invitation turned into the Hilt House’s saving grace.

Hilt House before restoration.

In 2015, Old Northwest Corp. donated the house to Vincennes/Knox Preservation Foundation along with $5,000 from transfer of the Old French House. The Foundation wasted no time tackling rehab at the deteriorated property. Supported by a grant from the Efroymson Family Fund of the Central Indiana Community Foundation, the group hired local preservation contractor Woody Cardinal to repair the house’s dilapidated exterior. Volunteers contributed heavy labor removing old composite siding, and repairing, scraping and painting the original clapboards beneath. With exterior work nearly complete, the group is shifting its attention to interior rehab and evaluating options for the house’s ongoing use.

Volunteers from Vincennes/Knox Preservation Foundation tackled much of the work during restoration at the Hilt House in Vincennes.

To learn more about the project, contact Indiana Landmarks’ Western Regional Office, 812-232-4534, tkleckner@indianalandmarks.org.