Meridian-Forest Historic District

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.

From the record

“Meridian-Forest Historic District is a national historic district located at Brazil, Indiana. The district encompasses 220 contributing buildings and 13 contributing structures in a predominantly residential section of Brazil.”
Wikipedia article Meridian-Forest Historic District, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 15 National Register listings published here for Clay County · listed in 1997 · category: District.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

Listed as. Meridian--Forest Historic District - the National Register files a house under its owner's surname.
Address. Roughly bounded by N. Meridian, E. Chestnut, N. Forest, E. and W. Church, and State Sts., Brazil, 47834
When was it listed? June 1997
Category. district
Township. Brazil township
National Register reference number. 97000600 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

1 since 2001

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Meridian-Forest Historic District in 2001, burning about 40 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
3 October 2001	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	40 acres	Indiana State Fire Marshal's Office	not named

Every fire recorded in Clay County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 11 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 11 workings within 5 miles of Meridian-Forest Historic District: 6 producers, 5 past producers. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Fire Clay (Refractory), Clay, Coal, Clay, Stone. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status
C & F Shale Pit 1	Clay, Stone	Producer
Cardonia Pit	Clay, Coal	Past Producer
Indiana Clay Sales Pit	Coal, Clay	Past Producer
E and E Clay Pit	Clay	Producer
Hoosierville Pit	Clay	Past Producer
Arketex Ceramic Plant #2	Fire Clay (Refractory)	Producer
Arketex Ceramic Plants #'s 3 & 4	Fire Clay (Refractory)	Producer
Brazil Brick Plant	Fire Clay (Refractory)	Producer
Irwin Clay Plant	Fire Clay (Refractory)	Producer
Logan Clay and Shale Plant	Fire Clay (Refractory)	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Clay County

Storms near this property

60 of 69 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Brazil, the town this property stands in, in 69 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 38 thunderstorm wind, 19 hail, 5 flash flood, 4 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
June 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Brazil	$600,000	Numerous reports of downed trees with structural damage caused by thunderstorm wind gusts. Over 10000 power outages reported across the county with the extensive damage to both vegetation and power poles.
May 1996	Tornado (F1)	Brazil	$250,000	no account filed
June 2008	Flash Flood	Brazil	$75,000	Homes, vehicles, and bridges have been destroyed due to heavy rain that caused flash flooding. There was a 100 foot section of the road missing on County Road 200 South. Sixty percent of the roads in the county have sustained some form of damage with thirty percent suffering severe damage, meaning being totally washed out. The streets in Brazil also have experienced some damage.
July 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Brazil	$40,000	Tree downed onto home by thunderstorm wind gusts.
July 2016	Flash Flood	Brazil	$20,000	A culvert was washed out on County Road 1100 North, about 0.5 miles east of State Road 59, due to thunderstorm heavy rainfall.
June 2008	Flash Flood	Brazil	$20,000	A Cocorahs observer reported flash flooding due to heavy rainfall.
May 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Brazil	$20,000	no account filed
August 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Brazil	$20,000	no account filed
October 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Brazil	$10,000	Damaging thunderstorm winds caused a tree to fall onto a garage and back porch.
July 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Brazil	$10,000	no account filed
August 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Brazil	$10,000	no account filed
July 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Brazil	$7,000	Trees down. Gas station sign fell on vehicle.
January 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Brazil	$5,000	Trees and power poles were reported down across the county due to damaging thunderstorm winds.
June 2008	Flash Flood	Brazil	$5,000	Many roads are closed due to flash flooding caused by heavy rainfall.
May 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Brazil	$5,000	Trees blown down and few shed roofs blown off.
May 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Brazil	$4,000	Multiple trees were reported down in the area due to damaging thunderstorm wind gusts.
April 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Brazil	$3,000	Trees damaged by thunderstorm wind gusts on the west side of Brazil.
October 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Brazil	$2,000	Damaging thunderstorm winds caused a tree to fall onto a house in Brazil.
September 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Brazil	$1,500	Thunderstorm winds blew down numerous trees in the Brazil area.
April 2011	Flash Flood	Brazil	$1,000	The Brazil Times reported three feet of water on South Alabama Street due to thunderstorm heavy rainfall.
February 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Brazil	$1,000	A McDonalds sign was blown down due to damaging thunderstorm winds.
February 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Brazil	$1,000	A fence was blown down due to damaging thunderstorm winds.
April 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Brazil	$1,000	60 mph winds blew an outbuilding onto State Road 59.
June 2009	Flood	Brazil	$750	Water of unknown depth was observed over some of the streets in Brazil due to thunderstorm heavy rainfall. The location of this event is estimated.
June 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Brazil	$500	Trees blown down.
May 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Brazil	-	Wind peaked briefly at 50-60 mph amid torrential rain and no hail.
August 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Brazil	-	Thunderstorm produced marginally severe wind gust at US Highway 40 and Indiana Route 340.
August 2023	Flood	Brazil	-	Thunderstorms produced 2.50 to 3.00 inches of heavy rain in 75 minutes over the Brazil area, producing mainly typical minor flooding of low-lying areas. However, standing water reached the bottom of automobiles at the intersection of US Highway 40 and Indiana Route 59.
July 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Brazil	-	A 75 mph thunderstorm wind gust was measured by a WeatherBug site in this location.
July 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Brazil	-	Fallen trees blocked traffic at times on United States Highway 40, State Road 59, Interstate 70, along with many other areas. There was a lot of wind damage in the northern area near the Parke county line. In some cases, like at the intersection of Georgia and Alabama streets and on Kennedy Crossing Road, Brazil, trees fell onto residents' homes.
July 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Brazil	-	A tree was uprooted by thunderstorm winds.
February 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Brazil	-	Trees downed.
June 2006	Hail	Brazil	-	No property damage reported.
May 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Brazil	-	Trees were blown down near Cottage Hill.
May 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Brazil	-	Trees were blown down.
November 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Brazil	-	A few trees were downed.
May 2004	Tornado (F0)	Brazil	-	An F0 tornado touched down in a corn field 3 miles west of Brazil. No property damage was reported. The report was from an amateur radio operator.
July 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Brazil	-	Large trees down blocking traffic on US 40.
June 2002	Hail	Brazil	-	Dime size hail reported.
April 2017	Hail	Brazil	-	no account filed
March 2012	Hail	Brazil	-	no account filed
March 2012	Hail	Brazil	-	no account filed
March 2012	Hail	Brazil	-	no account filed
April 2011	Hail	Brazil	-	no account filed
June 2008	Hail	Brazil	-	no account filed
March 2006	Hail	Brazil	-	no account filed
March 2006	Hail	Brazil	-	no account filed
March 2006	Hail	Brazil	-	no account filed
April 2006	Hail	Brazil	-	no account filed
June 2006	Hail	Brazil	-	no account filed
May 2006	Hail	Brazil	-	no account filed
May 2006	Hail	Brazil	-	no account filed
November 2005	Hail	Brazil	-	no account filed
May 2004	Hail	Brazil	-	no account filed
May 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Brazil	-	no account filed
July 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Brazil	-	no account filed
July 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Brazil	-	no account filed
July 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Brazil	-	no account filed
May 2002	Hail	Brazil	-	no account filed
July 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Brazil	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Clay County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

5 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
US Post Office-Brazil	0.3 miles	1994
Brazil Downtown Historic District	0.4 miles	1997
Clay County Courthouse	0.5 miles	1999
Clay County Hospital	0.9 miles	1999
Eaglefield Place	6.1 miles	1998

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 97000600 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Clay County	All 15 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.