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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/12/1993 - Regular Minutes - Historic Preservation Committee HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE REGULAR MEETING WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 1993 - 7:00 PM CENTRAL PARK CONFERENCE ROOM 1000 KRENEK TAP ROAD MEMBERS PRESENT: Gary Halter, Chairman; Deborah Jasek, Florace Kling, JoAnn Lamkin, Gary Basinger MEMBERS ABSENT: Lois Beach, Vernon Schneider STAFF PRESENT: David Gerling, Special Facilities Superintendent; Pamela Einkauf, Secretary I. CALL TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order at 7:10 p.m. by Gary Halter. II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The last meeting was held in February. There was no March or April meeting, due to lack of a quorum. The February minutes were approved with no changes. III. REVIEW OF APPLICATIONS: The application for 119 Lee Avenue, submitted by Rodney and Susan Hill, was reviewed. According to Gary Halter, there have been additions made to the house. A greenhouse and another room were added, and the garage was enclosed to create a woodcarving studio for Rodney. The back yard has a gazebo built with parts that came off a barn which was owned by Susan's family. The photograph which was submitted with the application was passed around. Everyone agreed that the application submitted was rather brief. David suggested corresponding with the Hill's to get more information and possibly better pictures of the outside of the house, so that the board could reach a decision. IV. UPDATE ON BLACK EDUCATION IN THE BRAZOS VALLEY: Deborah went to the school district and has traced black education back to 1910. In 1941 when the bond election passed there were six elementary schools, not three as was originally thought. Those schools were Wellborn, Washington Chapel, the one that is now St. Matthews on Holleman which was called either College Park or College Hills, Dowling Providence, Sulphur Springs, and Peach Creek. Historic Preservation Committee Wednesday, May 12, 1993 Page 2 She spoke with Dr. Van Ryper in regards to the letter which discussed the possibility of retrofitting campus houses. The four houses that are mentioned in the letter and in the minutes did exist, and according to Dr. Van Ryper's personal notes it is rather vague as to exactly what happened to those houses. One was reported burned and one was reported sold in 1971. She said that two of the names of the houses that Dr. Van Ryper had in his notes matched the names in the letter, so she knows that they were talking about the same houses. He told Deborah to go on campus to the archives. The day she went they were exceedingly busy and she was not able to get a whole lot done. However, she found an article that was done by W.L. Hughes in 1945 called "YouR Crry ", and the eighth of the series was a history of A &M Consolidated School. The appraisal for the colored school was quoted as follows: "The budget for the colored school alone now runs about $15,000 a year. In the beginning, the colored school consisted of a one room school, situated just east of the campus on what is now Highway 6 (which is a referral to Washington school). The colored school is now housed in a $12,000 building and is doing an excellent job of furnishing a practical education for the colored children. The twelfth grade school has ten teachers and vocational, agriculture and home economics are also featured." Deborah found, when she was going through the City records, a deed for what she believes is now the softball field by Lincoln School. It was purchased in 1946 as the football field for Lincoln School, and she has a copy of that deed. Deborah went through the city council minutes and found out that on October 2, 1941, the city agreed to pay the Negro school for Timber Street in an amount equal to the cost of extending a water line from the City line to the school, not to exceed $500. The campus houses were first mentioned on July 9, 1946, when it was heard they were up for sale. Mr. Holmgreen, Dick Holmgreen's father who worked with the University somewhat in the capacity of a business manager, mentioned that the schools would get preference where possible. They also contacted a Mr. Martinson, evidently a local construction man who built the bus garage and bleachers for A &M Consolidated High School, on retrofit of the campus houses, and evidence has been found that they were going to contact a Mr. Horn at the State Department in Austin for his opinion on retrofitting the campus houses for use as a Negro School. Nothing else was heard about these houses again until September when school started in the building. There were school board minutes taken in August, but the only mention of the black school was the appointment of the Superintendent. The minutes up to this point were always very specific in all areas with details provided of how every penny was spent. However, in this particular case there is a two month gap between these discussions and when the building appeared in September with no mention of construction. In October of that year the minutes mention that fire insurance was purchased and that a water line was installed by the city on the Lincoln site. You can assume that somehow the buildings rapidly appeared, however, documentation cannot be found. The only mention in the City minutes is as to how Timber Street was acquired. A &M Consolidated has a plat survey of the 1946 school after the construction was done showing the buildings. But they have nothing that tells where the buildings came from. She went to the City permits department because the City put in the water line to see if maybe there was a permit issued for the job, however the records did not go back that far. Deborah still has a gap to fill, so she will continue looking in the archives and hopefully find something there or someone who remembers how that first building came about. That's where it stands now. She believes that she will have enough documentation once that gap is filled in. She even has the Historic Preservation Committee Wednesday, May 12, 1993 Page 3 curriculum of what was taught. An interesting thing she found about the fire was that according to the fire documentation there were two wood framed buildings that were destroyed when Lincoln School burned in 1966. Those two buildings housed ten classrooms, the principal's office, a teachers lounge and the library. David Gerling said those two buildings stood where the parking lot is today. What remained of the school after the fire was the gymnasium, two classrooms, the homemaking cottage, the cafeteria, the science lab, and the industrial arts shop. The buildings that burned in 1966 were valued at $28,000 and $34,000. David said that before the remodeling of Lincoln when it was the Parks Headquarters building, he thought the home economics building, which was on a cement block, was where the Lincoln Shop Parks Maintenance office is now, and what is now the garage area was the Industrial Arts building. The gym that is there now is new, but that's where the old gym stood. David said that there are probably pictures and floorplans of Lincoln Center before it was remodeled, and that he would have the Parks Planner look through the records to see if he could find anything. Deborah stated that she was open to suggestions as to where she could look for information. After the fire at the Lincoln School, it was decided not to rebuild because of integration. The plan was to integrate one grade at a time, allowing some of the high school kids who so desired (and the majority did) to graduate from Lincoln School. The plan was to start slowly so that when a student reached eighth grade they would go to Consolidated to help ease the burden of crowding. When the fire happened, however, the integration occurred overnight. Since the fire occurred in January, students who started out the year at Lincoln finished the year at Consolidated. V. RICHARD CARTER PARK SIGNAGE /OTHER HISTORIC MARKERS: David Gerling got the verbiage approved for the Richard Carter Park signs and met with OMC. The signs are in the process of being cast and should be ready in about four weeks. The highway signs should be ready in about two weeks and the city's sign department will put them up. David said that within six weeks all signs should be in hand and ready to be put up. It was suggested that some type of ceremony be planned and that it would be nice if Albert Pedulla could attend. Since the committee doesn't meet in June, July or August David suggested waiting until September or October to do a dedication. The Lincoln State Historic Marker will take about six months to get after all the information is gathered. So it doesn't appear that any dedication for that marker can be expected before next Spring. The College Station Depot Marker will be the next up for dedication. Gary hasn't received the suggested wording back from the County Commission yet. The University needs to be involved in that dedication and that may be tied into a football game or when the Sul Ross group meets. That group consists of anyone who graduated over fifty years ago, with the thought being that persons in that group would be the most likely to have ridden the train. An exact date has not been chosen. JoAnn Lamkin met a young man who sketches train stations and he has done some sketches of the College Station train depot. He said he would be glad to help out with some more drawings of the station if we ever need them. Gary suggested we might consider having prints of the train depot available at the marker dedication ceremony. Historic Preservation Committee Wednesday, May 12, 1993 Page 4 VI. OTHER COMMITTEE CONCERNS: David said that he had talked with Vernon Schneider the committee's council liaison, and that the historic committee meeting falls on the same night as the council workshop. That's why the liaison is never able to make the meetings. So it was suggested that the committee think about changing the night of the meeting so that it can get more involvement from the city council. There was discussion about what night would be good and it was decided that since the council meets every 2nd and 4th Wednesday and Thursday, it would be better to change to either the first or third week of the month. David suggested having the September meeting on the new night, the first Wednesday of the month, if no one had a problem with that. Gary suggested checking with Lois to see if she had any problems with that night. David told the committee that the city council would be appointing a new committee member to take the place of Les Hawkins who passed away. Gary H. told the committee that at this point, he did not have any ideas for projects, and asked everyone to be thinking of ideas. He said he did not know of any places that had the potential for historic markers - he feels there are some out there, he just doesn't know where they might be. JoAnn said that the City got a 1928 Fire Truck that was used by the Fire School until the 1970's when it was sold to someone in South Texas. It was found and the person who owned it practically gave it to the City. The fire department is going to refurbish and restore the truck. JoAnn said that perhaps the 1928 fire truck itself could have a plaque of some type. Gary informed the committee that it wasn't until the current City Hall Fire Station was built that the City owned fire equipment. Up until that time the City paid A &M for fire protection. JoAnn suggested that if the Fireman's Training School had been going on long enough maybe it would rate a historic marker. Gary said that it had and that this had been discussed before. Gary also told the committee that the Campus Historic Committee doesn't want to do anything that's a state marker. They turned down the idea of the marker for the first radio broadcast of a football game. They don't want any state agency control - they want to do an A &M marker and have a contest going on now for the design of the marker. David said the committee needed to follow up on historic buildings, such as the old buildings at Southgate and Northgate. Florace suggested checking on some of the churches to see if any would qualify for markers. David also suggested checking with Connie Hooks, the City Secretary to see if there was some way the committee could help her with the preservation of the old city records. Gary H. stated that at one point there was only one copy of a lot of the city records, and that he believes they have all been microfiched. Deborah stated that when she went through the city records the majority of what she found were public relations related - press releases, etc., but city council minutes were not as extensive. VII. ADJOURN: The meeting was adjourned at 8:05 p.m. Cs • 4 O �� CRITERIA FOR COT S F,GE STATION �< PT `� ORrc %1 HISTORICAL MARKER R Ic BUIN' o The Historical House or Building Marker Program is a project of the College Station Historical Preservation Committee. There are two types of markers. The first is for Historic Houses and the second for Historic Buildings, other than houses. Owners who apply will be required to pay the $65 fee for the plaque to be affixed to -- the structure. Sole judge of suitability for approval will be the College Station Historical Preservation Committee. CRITERIA Every house moved from the campus automatically qualifies for historical house designation. Any house or other structure over 50 years old is eligible for consideration. These structures will be judged for: 1. Historical Significance A house/building which has been the site of significant events, or which has hosted the life and labors of important community personalities, whether or not is of significant architectural importance. Was the house/building associated with an event or a person important to the local scene? 73ilf' 4N6 D N 042 & - U p"..) G V/" 1 2. Architectural Significance _ A house which is an excellent example of a certain architectural style at a certain time. Is the house a good example of College Station's architectural style at a given period? Does it display unique architectural details from that period? 3. Intrinsic Significance A house that was designed or constructed by an important architect or builder, or that utilizes a local building material or product. Was it designed by an important local architect, or built by an important local builder? Did the wood or brick, or windows, etc. come from local sources? 1_ 7NC3Fe — Al l /EC7 4. Social Significance A house that demonstrates a particular life -style in the College StationfTexas A &M community. Does the house show a characteristic way in which people lived in this area in the past? -- D5(eN3 ED Tnte FAS'/iJE E1k k 4 APPLICATION FOR FOR' COLT FGE STATION HISTORI ■ MARKER ` ; T `' Check one: '� House Building Owners Name ' RODNE Y SAU Hitt, Address 1 /q Phone (t9 q � qe Address of Historic Structure: //9' Leg /1z Former campus house yes -- cno) Describe historical, architectural, or other significance: Aro l-f -In (qs5 4`2 . P6A0 131tr L poo f55 / 7` / -' 4A) AWE/ O-kpzep wyci7(*A) toor e.4 7p 1 /01/15� A L, FI rzsi - 1f .hlcinSES f3V i LT ),.) 51/1131)10 c100 C rAnGt-SS 1- 5 pArz,_-c— Alvoe L) Please attach photograph and return to: College Station Parks and Recreation P.O. Box 9960 College Station, TX 77842 Attn: David Gerling x•11. ■VA 4 /99.5 ignatureM11 1 10 ate