The video, “Rankin House: Little House, Big History,” presents all 180 years of the history and heritage of the house built by the Rev. Alexander T. Rankin in 1841. The house is now ARCH’s home, and its walls should be bursting at the seams with all the stories they hold. An unresolved mystery also remains about the house.

The video tour, created with the help of the generous donors to the May 2020 #GivingTuedayNow project organized by the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne, was created by the team of videographer Ellie Bogue with writer/narrator Connie Haas Zuber and researcher Laura Weston.

At a time in our history when the coronavirus pandemic has cancelled and postponed so many enjoyable activities, ARCH presents this video tour of one of the Fort Wayne community’s important heritage sites as both entertainment and education. Watching the video will introduce viewers to the people who have lived and worked in the house over the past two centuries, explain some important turning points in its and our history and illustrate how a city grows, changes and treasures the history that tells its unique story. From the Underground Railroad to Fort Wayne’s heyday as a manufacturing powerhouse to today’s appreciation for our heritage, “Rankin House: Little House, Big History” shows the significance of the little house about 30,000 vehicles rush past on Lafayette Street each day.

Find the video tour online at ARCH’s newly redesigned website, archfw.org, in the section marked Keep Informed.

ARCH Inc. is the historic preservation non-profit organization serving Allen County and Northeast Indiana. Its programming is dedicated to celebrate our built heritage and help everyone connect with it and is made possible by ARCH’s members and donors. Join us at archfw.org.