News: First Financial Corporation donates downtown Terre Haute landmark

First Financial Corporation donates downtown Terre Haute landmark

TERRE HAUTE, June 14, 2018—First Financial Corporation, the parent company of First Financial Bank, announced today that it has given a 1903 building that formerly served as the bank’s main office to Indiana Landmarks. Once restored, the building is intended to become the new home of CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center.

First Financial’s CEO and President Norman L. Lowery revealed the donation at a press conference in front of the historic building at 643 Wabash Avenue in downtown Terre Haute. In addition to gifting the property, First Financial added a cash contribution of $110,000 to help Indiana Landmarks stabilize the structure and jump-start the renovation.

“On behalf of our board of directors and shareholders, First Financial is pleased to help preserve a building known to generations of people in this area,” Lowery said. “As our main office headquarters for 60 years, it represents a significant part of the bank’s history of service to the community.”

Indiana Landmarks and CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center approached First Financial to request the donation of the building in 2016.  “We knew that CANDLES needed more space and wanted to move downtown,” said Indiana Landmarks President Marsh Davis. “And having been a tenant in the old First National building many years ago, we thought it could be an ideal location for CANDLES.

“We’re grateful to the bank for helping us pursue our vision,” Davis added.

Davis noted that Terre Haute resident and former Indiana Landmarks board member Fred Nation urged the preservation group to save the old bank. “The saving of a historic building is more than preserving a structure,” Nation declared. “It is finding a new use for a landmark that stands for the character and history of the community.  Instead of going to a landfill, this majestic structure will continue to build memories for and serve new generations as Terre Haute’s downtown continues to regain vitality.”

After First Financial completed construction on its current headquarters at 6th and Wabash in June 1988, 643 Wabash was occupied by the Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber shared the structure with other tenants—Wabash Valley Community Foundation, Terre Haute Economic Development Corp., Terre Haute Convention & Visitors Bureau and Indiana Landmarks’ Western Regional Office.

Indiana Landmarks will stabilize the structure, including roof replacement, over the next six months. Indiana Landmarks intends to pass ownership to CANDLES while retaining a protective covenant on the building in perpetuity.

“Increasingly, CANDLES has been limited by space for offices, exhibits and public programs,” said CANDLES Executive Director Dorothy Chambers. “We look forward to working with Indiana Landmarks in transforming 643 Wabash Avenue into a vibrant place for the community to gather and learn. In addition to being closer to our partner, Indiana State University, CANDLES will increase the synergy among museums and other arts and culture organizations that already call downtown Terre Haute their home,” she said

The building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. “Knowing this building so well as the last tenant, it will be rewarding to play a role in its transformation,” noted Tommy Kleckner, director of Indiana Landmarks’ western office. Kleckner will manage the stabilization project over the next six months.