students in dining room of Maplewood Mansion

Maplewood Guest House began in August 2017 as a partnership among Ball State University, Indiana University School of Medicine, and the Ball Brothers Foundation.

Ball State's Department of Applied Business Studies in the Miller College of Business operates the historic, three-story, Georgian-style home in the center of Minnetrista. Students at IU’s medical school live in the house during their clerkships at Ball Memorial Hospital or another Muncie area hospital or medical clinic. The home also serves as an immersive class setting for students in Ball State's property management and hospitality innovation and leadership programs.

Mission

The mission of Maplewood Guest House is to provide supportive and comfortable living accommodations for medical students working in Muncie and East Central Indiana, while also providing Ball State University students with opportunities for Immersive Learning.

The vision of Maplewood Guest House is to promote Muncie and east central Indiana as a preferred location for completing a medical residency, and to highlight the region as an ideal place to live and practice medicine.

  • community partnerships
  • positive impressions
  • sense of community
  • immersive learning

History

The Ball family moved to Muncie in 1887, along with its emerging Ball Brothers Glass Manufacturing Company, to take advantage an “unlimited” supply of natural gas to fire their glass furnaces. The gas boom ended in the late 1890s, but the Muncie Community had become home to the Ball family.

In 1894, sites were selected on the banks of the White River to build the Ball family homes. The Ball sisters named the site Minnetrista, combining a Sioux word, “mna” with the English “tryst” (an agreed upon meeting place). Thus the family “gathering place by the water” was established. Today, many of the Ball family homes still stand, and serve as historic meeting places and museums for the Minnestrista Cultural Center.

William C. Ball was the original owner of this house. The red brick Georgian-style mansion was built in 1898, and he resided here with his wife, Emma, and son, William Hudson. “W.C.” died in 1921 at the age of 69.

By necessity, W.C. Ball, company salesman and secretary, spent many nights lodging in nondescript hotel rooms. In 1984, his former home was refurbished to accommodate business travelers for Ball Corporation and successive companies in a setting more comfortable and enjoyable than a hotel room.

More recently, in 2017, Ball Brothers Foundation leased the home to Ball State University to manage and operate for housing for Indiana University School of Medicine students coming to Muncie to complete their educational requirements at I.U. Health Ball Memorial Hospital. The partnership between Ball State University and Indiana University School of Medicine is used to promote Muncie and East central Indiana as a location to live and practice medicine, as well as offering a location for immersive learning opportunities for Ball State University students

Questions?

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