Members from Indiana Landmarks, Indiana Historical Bureau, Indiana Historical Society, Save Our Stories and the general public celebrated the formal dedication Saturday of the new Samuel Plato Indiana historical marker.
The marker, originally installed at the Marion Wilson-Vaughn house — also known as the Hostess House at 723 W. Fourth St. — in spring, recognizes and celebrates the life and work of African American architect Samuel Plato.
The new marker joins about 500 others in the state, including eight in Grant County.
"These markers are here to educate and to help the community preserve their and the state's history," Caysey Pfeiffer, historical marker program manager, said. "A lot of the time, there is no remaining physical building, so in this case it's a little more unique."
Pfeiffer said the application for a community to get a historical marker installed is a long one, usually taking a year. This one took three years because of the need to get permission to install and for the state to receive primary document evidence that Plato built the house.
The dedication was a smaller part of a much bigger event. From 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. presentations on Plato's life and work were given, as well as a tour of the Hostess House and other houses and buildings built by Plato in the city.
Plato moved to Marion in the early 20th century, a time where the Ku Klux Klan had a record number of members with about 500,000. Plato broke the racial barrier, though, landing jobs constructing numerous buildings, houses, churches and an apartment complex in Marion.
While in Marion, Plato was successful in establishing trade unions for African Americans.
It was Plato's tenacity and perseverance that interested Indianapolis resident Larry Moore.
"What he had to have gone through just to make it was astonishing," Moore said.
Janet Gartland, Hostess House board president, said she hoped the new marker will attract more people to Marion.
"Today was a very special moment," Gartland said. "A lot of people know the history of the house, but don't know it was Plato who built it and the history behind all of that."
Moore said he had never heard of Plato before attending this event but was now intrigued by the man.
"I never heard of him before, but I found it really interesting to learn about him," Moore said. "He did a fantastic job at everything he did. It's important to not lose history. Hopefully, more people will travel to Marion to learn more about this."