Mayor Kathy Chroback holds the first-ever Governor's Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Preservation of Indiana's Historic Places. At left is James A. Glass, director of the Historic Preservation and Archaeology Division of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, and at right is Indiana Sen. James Merritt Jr.
Mayor Kathy Chroback, along with the City Planner Mary Jane Thomas, traveled to the Statehouse on Dec. 11 to accept the first-ever Governor’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Preservation of Indiana’s Historic Places. The City of LaPorte received the award for renovation of the LaPorte Depot, now know as Central Station Plaza.
The award was presented by Indiana Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman during Indiana’s 193rd birthday and Statehood Day Celebration.
Two other awards were presented: the Governor’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Preservation of Indiana’s Historic Records to John Newman of Brookville, and the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Teaching of History to Debra Shields of Poston Road Elementary School in Martinsville.
Central Station Plaza now serves as the offices for the Greater LaPorte Chamber of Commerce, Greater LaPorte Economic Development Corporation, and Leadership LaPorte County. Chamber Executive Director Mike Seitz was at the ceremony also. The Troyer Group, the project engineering firm for the depot renovation, represented by John Leszczynski., Kent Schumacher and Ed Kowalczyk, attended the ceremony as well.
Chroback said, “This is such a great honor for many reasons: one, to be the first recipient of this award, and two, to be recognized for the tremendous amount of effort that went into this project. Five different administrations, with four different mayors and councils, everyone contributed in some way to keeping this project together until finally it was able to be completed. Believe me, it was almost to the point of no return when the final pieces started to fall into place.
“I feel privileged to have been a part of this project almost from the beginning, first as a councilwoman and then to see it progress and come to completion as mayor,” Chroback continued. “A great deal of credit goes to our city planner, Mary Jane Thomas. She was literally the glue that held this project together. I dare say, it would not have been completed without her dedication to the project.”
