Foster Park Neighborhood Historic District Fort Wayne, Indiana
National Register of Historic Places Data
The Foster Park Neighborhood Historic District has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places with the following information, which has been imported from the National Register database and/or the Nomination Form . Please note that not all available data may be shown here, minor errors and/or formatting may have occurred during transcription, and some information may have become outdated since listing.
- National Register ID
- 13000755
- Date Listed
- September 25, 2013
- Name
- Foster Park Neighborhood Historic District
- Part of
- Park and Boulevard System of Fort Wayne, Indiana MPS (Multiple Property Submission)
- Address
- Roughly bounded by Old Mill Rd., Rudisell Blvd., Kimmel Dr. & Lexington Ave.
- City/Town
- Fort Wayne
- County
- Allen
- State
- Indiana
- Category
- district
- Level of Sig.
- local
- Areas of Sig.
- ARCHITECTURE; COMMUNITY PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
Description
Text courtesy of the National Register of Historic Places, a program of the National Parks Service. Minor transcription errors or changes in formatting may have occurred; please see the Nomination Form PDF for official text. Some information may have become outdated since the property was nominated for the Register.
Located in Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana, the Foster Park Neighborhood Historic District occupies approximately 150 acres that were platted in 1924. The district is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criteria A and C. Small in number of resources compared to many of Hilgeman & Schaafs major developments in Fort Wayne's southwest quadrant, the district demonstrates the key principles propounded by Charles Mulford Robinson ( 1869-1917) urban theorist and University of Illinois professor, in his concepts for creating an ideal place to live away from the dirt, noise, and frenzy of the downtown streets. Frank H. Hilgeman was born in Allen County. He participated in the partnership for a number of years as both an investor and an officer. Albert H Schaaf became an influential member of the community as a businessman and as a civic leader. A graduate of Cornell University, he partnered with Hilgeman for many years. The developers of many prominent subdivisions, Hilgeman & Schaaf designed, developed, and conserved landscape resources throughout the community. Like Hilgeman & Schaaf, other local developers' interpretations of Robinson's ideas are visible in the physical and visual images within the district. Proximity to established traffic flows, the presence of nearby large, local manufacturing facilities such as General Electric, and recreational opportunities afforded by its proximity to Foster Park made the district lots available in the neighborhood highly desirable. This district is one of the seven property types identified in The Civilizing of a Midwestern City, a Multiple Property Documentation developed in four contexts, the pertinent one for this district is #3 -Residential Development. The Foster Park Neighborhood Historic District meets the registration requirements for that property type.
