The Pryor Brock Farmstead is a place on the National Register of Historic Places just west of Zionsville, Indiana, comprising 4.9 acres (20,000 m2) of what was once a 200-acre (0.81 km2) farm. It was placed on the Register, June 27, 2008, due to its role in the agricultural history of Eagle Township, Boone County, Indiana. Pryor Brock Farmstead, with its carpenter's rendering of Italianate architecture, is the best representation of the prosperous agricultural setting around Zionsville/Eagle Township during its time of significance (1870-1920), the "golden age" of Hoosier agriculture.[2]

Brock, Pryor Farmstead
Buildings on the farmstead
Pryor Brock Farmstead is located in Boone County, Indiana
Pryor Brock Farmstead
Pryor Brock Farmstead is located in Indiana
Pryor Brock Farmstead
Pryor Brock Farmstead is located in the United States
Pryor Brock Farmstead
Location8602 E500S, Zionsville, Indiana
Coordinates39°58′13″N 86°18′22″W / 39.97028°N 86.30611°W / 39.97028; -86.30611
Area4.9 acres (2.0 ha)
Architectural styleItalianate
MPSEagle Township and Pike Township, Indiana MPS
NRHP reference No.08000569[1]
Added to NRHPJune 27, 2008

The farm was built by Pryor and Emeline Brock. Pryor was born on January 31, 1823, in Tennessee, and moved to Putnam County, Indiana in 1829 when his father Allen Brock chose to relocate; the family removed to Boone County in 1832. Pryor married Emeline Stoneking in 1846. It was in 1878 that the Brocks built the house, after some of their older children had already moved out. By 1880 the value of the land was $10,000 when the county average was $1,180. Emeline died in 1884, with Pryor eventually marrying an Emma Lemon when he was 68 years old. Pryor would be 75 years old when he died on October 3, 1898. The farmstead continued in the Brock family until 2006, when Rosemary Brock Rudwolis died, with a codicil stating the structures on the property should be maintained and preserved.[2]

The wood-framed main house is a Late Victorian-Italianate structure, with a stone foundation, wood/clapboard walls, and an asphalt roof. Although well made, the Brock's purposely avoided "urban showiness". The farmland is one of the few elevated areas of an otherwise flat, featureless countryside. Partially covered boulders which came to the area as glacial erratics flank the entrance to the property.[2]

References edit

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. ^ a b c "Indiana State Historic Architectural and Archaeological Research Database (SHAARD)" (Searchable database). Department of Natural Resources, Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology. Retrieved July 1, 2015. Note: This includes Connie Ziegler (March 2007). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Pryor Brock Farmstead" (PDF). Retrieved July 1, 2015. and Accompanying photographs.