Grant Opportunity Could Save Whitewater Canal Historic Site

This development comes two weeks after an announcement the site would close permanently.

Photo via the Indiana State Museum and Historical Sites.

(Metamora, Ind.) - There is a new development involving the Whitewater Canal State Historic Site just two weeks after an announcement that the site would permanently close.

Along with the Southeastern Indiana Regional Planning Commission, the Whitewater Canal State Historic Site has received a pre-commitment notice for a possible grant offer of $7 million from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation to help fund the site’s preservation project.

The project includes associated matching dollars totaling $14.4 million, also including the potential $7 million allocated by the State of Indiana in 2023.

This comes after the Indiana State Museum and Historic Site made the difficult decision to close the site, citing they had "exhausted all avenues to raise the funds to make essential repairs, and it is no longer economically or environmentally feasible to continue to operate and manage the site."

Before the possible grant opportunity arose, the Indiana State Museum and Historic Site intended to keep the Whitewater Canal State Historic Site open through the 2025 summer season. 

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