S.T.O.P. (Saving the Old Properties) was officially incorporated in October 2019, although the adventure and the mission began much earlier. Founders Dann Allen, along with his older twin brother Richard Allen (if you can really call 2 minutes older), started S.T.O.P. in 1996 with the purchase of a single building and a hope of preserving history one building at time. Dann is history lover, inventor, photographer, preservationist, nature lover, wheat thin eater, cat lover, and a very hard working man. 

The twins have been working to preserve historic properties for nearly two decades and began their efforts with The Old Blackford County Jail which was built in 1879. Dann and Richard Allen purchased the Jail in 1996, at which point the Jail became home for the twins, with their Heating & Cooling business office working out of the old sheriff’s office. Luckily, despite making the old jail their home, no structural changes were made to this historic structure, with the brothers simply utilizing living quarters within the building originally built for the sheriffs and their families.

While living at the Jail, the brothers began renovations to restore the building to its original state, stripping decades of paint from the woodwork and revealing the beauty that lay beneath. The hour of labor became a labor of love with the twins discovering a passion for saving historic buildings.