The Colgate-Palmolive complex began in the nineteenth-century as the Southern Indiana Reformatory. When the state closed the jail in the early 1920s, Colgate-Palmolive bought the site and began making soap even before all the prisoners were relocated. The company added structures over the years, including a significant1940s Art Moderne office building.

 Since the ‘20s, folks in southern Indiana and Louisville have checked the time by glancing at the huge lighted face of the Colgate-Palmolive clock. Mounted atop the 1890 Romanesque Revival-style former reformatory, the timepiece measures 40 feet across and ranks among the largest clocks in the world. Colgate moved the clock to Indiana from its New Jersey plant in 1924.

 The threat: Colgate-Palmolive relocated its Clarksville functions to Tennessee and Mexico, shuttering the historic plant this year. The company is selling the site—942,000 square feet of industrial and office space and 60 acres for $13.3 million. Developers could view cleared land on a riverside site as more attractive than a landmark industrial complex. Although Colgate-Palmolive bowed to local pressure in leaving the clock, it refused an offer from state officials to nominate the property to the National Register of Historic Places.

Landmarks in jeopardy. Each year, Historic Landmarks Foundation announces its list of Indiana’s 10 Most Endangered landmarks. Jeopardized by abandonment, neglect, deterioration, and sprawl, the 10 Most Endangered face imminent threats.

When Historic Landmarks puts a site on the Most Endangered list, we commit ourselves to saving it. The Most Endangered status establishes these places as our top preservation priorities. Sites remain on the Most Endangered list until they’re declared safe or no longer in immediate danger.

To view the top ten most endangered landmarks in Indiana, visit http://www.historiclandmarks.org/SavingPlaces/10Most/Pages/default.aspx