Historic Preservation Fund grant recommendations for 2013

[Katrina Ringler]

Historic Preservation Fund Grants Awarded             

TOPEKA, KS— The Kansas Historical Society announced that 10 applications for the 2013 Historic Preservation Fund (HPF) grant program were received and evaluated by a grant review committee. The committee reviewed grant requests totaling $128,684 and recommended funding $116,234 of the requested amount. The committee recommended that projects be funded in the following order, pending allocation and availability of funds:

     

·         City of Wichita – South Central Neighborhood Survey Area 2 -- $24,999

·         Douglas County – Historic Resources Survey of Wakarusa Township -- $20,000

·         City of Wichita – Steel Window Repair Seminar & Workshop -- $14,000

·         City of Lawrence – Quantrill’s Raid Surviving Structures Survey -- $15,500

·         City of Topeka – Scholarship for National Trust Conference -- $5,000

·         City of Wichita – Scholarship for NACP Conference 2014 -- $5,115

·         Kansas State University – Technical Analysis of Pottery from the Kansas Monument Site 14RP1 -- $4,529

·         Kansas State University – Phase III National Register of Historic Places Evaluation of 12RY402 Riley County, KS -- $10,064

·         City of Hutchinson – Hutchinson Downtown Historic District -- $7,027 

The following grant application was evaluated, but was removed from consideration for the 2013 HPF grant round at the request of the Kansas State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO). This project will be funded with excess funds from the 2012 HPF allocation.

·      Kansas Preservation Alliance – 2013 Kansas Preservation Conference -- $10,000 

The grant review committee made these recommendations to the Historic Sites Review Board at their quarterly meeting, May 4. The Board approved the committee’s recommendations.

Each year the National Park Service provides the Kansas SHPO with funds that finance in part its operations and salaries. A portion of these funds are passed through the SHPO to Certified Local Governments (CLG) and other organizations to pay for historic preservation activities at the local level. These pass-through grants help finance activities that will contribute to planning for the preservation of our cultural resources including the built environment and archeological resources. Up to 60 percent of the cost of eligible activities may be funded through this program. Activities include the identification and evaluation of properties that may be eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places or the Register of Historic Kansas Places through surveys. These activities further help communities assess their historic properties and develop preservation plans and/or nominations to the Registers. Listing of properties on the Registers provides formal recognition of their historical significance and qualifies them for financial incentives such as state and federal rehabilitation tax credits and the Kansas Heritage Trust Fund grant. 

This year is different from previous years as the Kansas Historical Society has not yet been notified of its total funding from the National Park Service. Therefore, the grant committee ranked all of the applications received in recommended order should funding be awarded and sufficient funds become available. Project agreements will not be signed with any applicants until the federal funding is verified by the National Park Service.

More information about the Historic Preservation Fund grant program can be found online at http://kshs.org/p/historic-preservation-fund/14615 or contact the Cultural Resources Division of the Kansas Historical Society at 785-272-8681, ext. 240 or cultural_...@kshs.org.

The Kansas Historical Society does not discriminate on the basis of disability in admission to, access to, or operation of its programs. The Historical Society requests prior notification to accommodate individuals with special needs or disabilities.

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-- 
Katrina L. Ringler
Grants Manager / CLG Coordinator
Cultural Resources Division
Kansas State Historical Society
6425 SW 6th Avenue
Topeka KS  66615-1099
(785) 272-8681 ext.215 
(785) 272-8682  FAX
krin...@kshs.org

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[Eileen SmithMArch]

Congratulations on the Historic Preservation Fund Grants.  

 

In April, we lost two prominent buildings on the Santa Fe Trail in the Historic District of Burlingame, Kansas.  The past six months revealed a real and challenging need to train local governments to create a more realistic responsive decision-making process for the ongoing maintenance and historic preservation of historic structures versus longterm neglect and demolition in our rural communities.  It clearly showed me the need to negotiate alternatives to House Bill 2089 that would allow local governments to opt out of 106 Review and HB 2118 that would do away with the environs review.  Per these bills introduced by Representative Bideau Winter 2013, we find an opportunity to negotiate realistic alternatives that could increase Heritage Tourism while developing at least 1,000 green construction jobs.  An historic restoration fund appropriated from existing unused stimulus funds and economic development resources could provide approximately $10 million per each Kansas county to restore rural historic buildings.  When I completed my thesis on Historic Preservation and Development Decisions, I found that one of the major hurdles to historic preservation to be the lack of trained expertise in stone and historic building crafts.  Thus, training would be at the foundation of this important $1.5 billion historic preservation and economic development program for Kansas.   

 

Burlngame, Kansas and the Historic Town Square of Yates Center, Kansas are current examples revealing the struggle rural communities have faced and are facing as they attempt to manage their aging neglected built infrastructure in a challenged economy with dwindling populations due to loss of blue collar jobs to overseas factories. With listed buildings and their environs as a strong focus in a comprehensive view, we can better help rural commuities understand the opportunities in restoring their historic buildings.  This proposed comprehensive program will make historic preservation more economic as we train existing building contractors in the art of historic preservation construction and modern reuse options.  We need to help building owners and local governments to understand the need to unite with historians and local redevelopment teams and preservation experts to restore these historic structures.  Many of the buildings are already older than our grandparents and some even older than our great grandparents.  'Oh, to be eighty again!'   And, thank you to the many who have preserved our historic buildings in Kansas.  We need your guidance as we consider a comprehensive historic preservation plan for Kansas, today.

 

I am relocating to Yates Center in the next three weeks in order to focus on documenting and analyzing the condition and potential of the Historic Town Square.  The Woodson Hotel was restored with a Heritage Trust grant about ten years ago.  It was well done and is a tremendous asset to build upon.  In a summary assessment, the Yates Center Historic Town Square is in critical condition. Several local attorneys are spreading rumors that it is too expensive to restore the historic buildings and are leading the way to attempt to demolish the first four buildings on the South side of the Square in the next few months.  Those four buildings are scheduled to be sold at a tax sale in June.   My goal is to form a non-profit organization to purchase and restore these buildings.  There are at least four more buildings that need immediate attention and about 16 that need restoration.   These are symptoms of the reduction in traffic and jobs in Yates Center.  However, thousands of people drive through this community on 75 and 54 Highway, everyday.  We need expert marketing assistance to attract more of visitors from the highways and we need marketing packages that have Yates Center Historic Town Square as a holiday destination. 

 

In 2009, I suggested that we develop colorful billboard ads about the Historic Yates Center Town Square for each entrance into the community as has been successful in other communities.  The local non-profit restoration and redevelopment organization  will open an historic preservation planning office on the Square to work with City Hall and community leaders to help focus their resources on proven techniques to revitalize rural historic community centers.  There are a lot of excellent projects inYates Center to build upon.  The local Historic Society has made a tremendous effort to bring together a rural church, school and log cabin on 54 Highway.  It is a wonderful experiential exhibit that takes the visitor from one environment to the other. We greatly appreciate the support provided by various grants and organizations to accomplish these foundational efforts.   

 

Thank you, again and best of luck with the projects you are pursuing!

 

 

Eileen M. Smith, M.Arch.
(785) 654-3169

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