From 1919 through 2005, the Muscatatuck State Developmental Center (MSDC) housed many of Indiana's challenged citizens and was once the largest employer in Jennings County. Now, the facility is being used by the Indiana Army National Guard (INARNG) as a premier urban training center for military and civilian first responder personnel. This website was created to preserve the original look and feel of the facility and to allow access to its history.

In 2001, Indiana Governor Frank O'Bannon and his successor, Governor Mitch Daniels, relinquished control of to facility to the INARNG. Daniels would go on to close it in 2005. However, many buildings at MDSC were over 50 years old, and the Indiana Historic Sites and Structures Inventory had already identified the historic and architectural significance of 34 buildings at the facility which contributed to the Muscatatuck State Hospital Historic District (MSHHD). Thus, any actions taken by the INARNG would have to comply with state and federal laws regarding historic structures.

While the mission of the Indiana National Guard would not involve the complete demolition of the MSHHD, the necessary transformation of the property would most certainly have a negative affect on the integrity of the historic district. In order to mitigate those affects and comply with state and federal law, the National Guard Bureau and the INARNG developed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Indiana State Historic Preservation Officer, which included the development of this virtual tour and website. The full-immersion version of the virtual tour is available for use at the Jennings County Historical Society, while the web-based version is publicly accessible online.

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Here is an interactive timeline of Major events in Muscatatuck's History. Click and drag the horizontal scroller on the left  to scroll left and right through the dates. Click on the desired date (the orange circle) to view the details.

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Here we have various aerial photographs of Muscatatuck over the years. To watch Muscatatuck grow, click on the arrows to scroll through the years. Buildings highlighted in green are buildings that haven't been built in the previous year. Click on selected buildings to get more details of that specific building.

Note: that the yellow boundary is the MUTC boundary, and does not mark the historic boundaries of the facility.

Last updated on 3/14/2013