Cannelton residents rally over downtown building decay and safety concerns

Cannelton residents are pressing city officials and code-enforcement authorities to force action on long-vacant downtown buildings that neighbors say have hurt safety, blocked access and weakened business confidence for nearly 20 years.

The frustration came into the street on April 15, when residents and business owners gathered over the condition of several Washington Street properties, including the longtime Pumper building. What once was seen as a lively, historic bar now stands uninhabited and deteriorating, a symbol for many of the decline that has shadowed Perry County’s river town.

At the center of the dispute is Carolyn Barr, whom residents say owns more than half a dozen buildings in Cannelton through Maverick Properties. City leaders have already torn down one of Barr’s properties in the past, and they have blocked traffic on 5th Street and 6th Street because of the conditions downtown. That step reduced immediate danger, but it also made it harder for nearby businesses to move inventory and for customers to reach storefronts.

Jeanie Hess, one of the downtown business owners speaking for the city’s future, said residents still do not know the final solution, but they are committed to sticking together and finding a way forward. Brenda Conway said the situation has been heartbreaking, especially as younger residents and small businesses keep trying to make downtown work while the same decay remains in place.

A public meeting on Monday brought Barr and her attorney together with city leaders, but residents said little was resolved. Mayor Smoky Graves said the city has exhausted its legal options and is now waiting for the matter to be heard by a special judge. For downtown merchants, that means the core of the city remains partially closed and under strain while the legal process runs its course.

The fight over Washington Street sits inside a much larger preservation crisis. Indiana Landmarks put Cannelton’s downtown on its 10 Most Endangered list in 2018 and said the district was back on the list two years in a row in 2019, after decades of economic decline left many buildings vacant. The district sits along State Road 66, part of the Ohio River National Scenic Byway, making the deterioration visible to anyone passing through the historic center.

Recent redevelopment efforts show how hard recovery has been. In November 2024, Cannelton and Indiana Landmarks sought proposals to reuse the former Sam’s Tavern building at 201 Washington Street, a structure dating to around 1875 that likely served as a saloon for much of its life. No proposals were received, and demolition was set to continue.

The city’s downtown challenge also has an environmental and infrastructure dimension. State records show the former Can Clay facility at 402 Washington Street has been the subject of asbestos surveying and abatement work, and a soil-management plan says the site covers 17 parcels in the northwest portion of downtown. For Cannelton, rebuilding the commercial core now means dealing with unsafe buildings, cleanup issues and a weak redevelopment market at the same time.