An exclusive look at the history behind some of Muncie’s most unique and grandiose homes.
Hi. I’m Muncie, Indiana. Welcome to my cribs.
From castles to historical landmarks to mansions, Muncie has a wide variety of houses to offer its residents. Although the city is home to many people, some have chosen more unique dwelling places than others.
MUNCIE CASTLE:
Bob and Barbara Logan are among the select few who have strayed from the cookie-cutter, square-brick homestead. Instead, the Logans traded a white picket fence and shutter-framed window panes for towering stone walls, elegant arches, and beautifully crafted columns that make up their 4400-square-foot castle.
Bob and Barbara Logan’s love story began when eight-year-old Bob ran into four-year-old Barbara, who had run away from home. A true knight in shining armor, Bob rescued Barbara and took her home with him.
Please? Can we keep her? Bob begged his mother that day.
Despite his pleas, Bob’s family helped Barbara find her way back to her own home. But the pair have been inseparable ever since.
When they were young, Barabara used to sing often on their hikes. One of her favorite ballads was “Down In The Valley” by Burl Ives.
“Build me a castle 40 feet high / So I can see her as she rides by,” she sang as they walked.
Bob and Barbara celebrated their 52nd anniversary this year and Barbara can still recall the day Bob asked her to marry him.
Marry me and I will build you a castle, he said.
Barbara says she never thought he would actually do it, but, true to his word, Bob started building their castle at the end of Fullhart Drive in Muncie in 1996. Bob, a skilled carpenter, did much of the work himself.
Each block was poured, formed, and textured by hand with a small cement mixer in their backyard using special forms. Thousands of these 300-pound blocks make up the building’s exterior. Even the woodwork and trim details are all handmade. Thanks to the work of Bob, Barbara, and their families, the finishing touches were put on the castle in 2015.
“It was a lot of slow work,” says Barbara. “Had we hired out for it all, it would have been so costly we would never have been able to do it.”
From start to finish, the Logans estimate the project cost them somewhere between $80,000 to $100,000, which is quite impressive considering building a medieval-style stone castle today is estimated to cost somewhere around $6 million, according to the book Castle: A History of the Buildings that Shaped Medieval Britain by Marc Morris.
The Logans’ castle is among only a handful of others in the state of Indiana, but it is the only castle in the city of Muncie.
According to Barbara, the decision to build the castle in Muncie was an easy one. Although it may seem like an odd location for such a grandiose building, Muncie was where Bob and Barbara both grew up.
“This is where we wanted to stay,” says Barbara. “Close to family.”
Unsurprisingly, the castle has attracted some attention. According to the Logans, people have even asked to rent out the space for weddings, parties, and other events.
To passersby, it’s Muncie Castle — a beautiful, magical palace plucked straight from a fairytale book that you can’t help but stop and admire. To Bob and Barbara Logan, it’s home.
THOMAS KIRBY HOUSE:
About a mile up the road from the Logan’s castle, on East Jackson Street, sits the oldest house in Delaware County.
The Thomas Kirby House was built in 1839 by Thomas Kirby himself. Kirby was an early settler and entrepreneur in Muncie, arriving in the city nearly 50 years before the Ball Brothers. According to Delaware County Historical Society Editor Chris Flook, Kirby was one of the first non-Native residents of the community, and he was involved in a lot of things.
Flook says Kirby originally came to sell ginseng, fur, and other mercantile items in the 1830s. Upon his arrival in Muncie, he became heavily involved in business, in particular early real estate, which made him fabulously wealthy.
The Thomas Kirby House was officially declared a historical landmark in 1999, according to a National Register of Historic Places record from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. The same record also officially marked a group of properties on Jackson, Wolfe, Lincoln, and Main Streets as the Kirby Historic District.
The house is now inhabited by Bob and Julie Fritz, who have lived there for 50 years. Bob and Julie raised four kids in the house and are responsible for officially having the land marked as a nature preserve.
Bob and Julie have made some adjustments to the house, such as renovating a few of the interior rooms and adding solar panels to the roof, but preserving the house’s history is very important to them.
“The people who have lived here before, they took care of the house the best way that they knew how. And that’s what we do now. We take care of it the best way we know how,” says Julie.
As for Thomas Kirby, he is buried in Beech Grove Cemetery in Muncie, a 10-minute drive away from his home. But rumor has it his spirit never left the house.
“This is folklore not history, but the house is supposedly totally haunted. Someone once told me that, as the story goes, the ghost of Thomas Kirby will take his head off and roll it down the stairs,” says Flook.
Julie doesn’t deny that the house may very well be haunted. In fact, she says her and Bob have sensed more than one spirit looming around their home.
Haunted or not, Thomas Kirby’s house still stands, tucked away in the woods behind towering American sycamore and sugar maple trees, boasting more than 180 years of history.
MAPLEWOOD MANSION:
Although not quite as old as the Thomas Kirby House, Maplewood Mansion is another historical wonder within the city.
Built in 1898, Maplewood Mansion was originally constructed for William C. Ball, one of the five Ball Brothers, whose contributions to the city of Muncie include Ball Memorial Hospital, Minnetrista, and, of course, Ball State University.
William, the eldest of the brothers and the founder of the Ball Corporation, commissioned Maplewood Mansion for himself, his wife Emma, and his son William. The red brick, Georgian-inspired home was built on the east side of the Ball family property and still stands today off of Minnetrista Boulevard, right next to Oakhurst Gardens.
The mansion was eventually inherited by the Ball Brothers Foundation — a family foundation which works to uphold the mission of the Ball Brothers by supporting organizations and projects that enrich the quality of life in Muncie.
Currently, the Ball Brothers Foundation leases Maplewood Mansion to Ball State. The university made arrangements with the IU School of Medicine-Muncie to lease the mansion to third and fourth year students with the Indiana University School of Medicine who are working on a clerkship at a hospital, health department, or health center in the Muncie area.
Students typically stay at the house, appropriately nicknamed Muncie’s Medical Mansion, somewhere between four to nine weeks, or however long their rotation in Muncie happens to be. During their stay, they get their own bedroom and bathroom, as well as access to a kitchen, community rooms, and various study spaces.
According to Ball Brothers Foundation Vice President Jenna Wachtmann, leasing the mansion was a win-win because it benefits the students who get to live there and also gives the historical building a modern purpose.
“Maplewood, like all of the homes on Minnetrista Boulevard, is an iconic piece of the city’s history,” says Wachtmann. “Maplewood is the only residential home on the boulevard and offers IU School of Medicine students an incredible opportunity to live in the heart of Muncie.”
Third-year IU medical student Nick Ferguson from Fort Wayne is one of the four current residents at Maplewood. Nick spends most of his time working six to 12-hour shifts at the hospital, but he tries to soak up the time he gets to be at the mansion.
“It is a pretty cozy place. It’s really nice to have multiple places around the house to study and everyone here is just super great,” says Nick.
The partnership between the IU School of Medicine-Muncie and the Ball Brothers Foundation allows students like Nick to have a temporary home while doing rotations in Muncie and provides an immersive, community-centered experience, all while giving them an opportunity to live in a luxurious mansion for a few weeks.
One of Nick’s favorite things about the house is the view from his bedroom window, which overlooks downtown Muncie and the White River. Perhaps William Ball also admired the view from the windows of the mansion more than 120 years ago. Rather than letting William’s former home sit vacant, the Ball Brothers Foundation ensures that many others will also enjoy the mansion for many years to come.
