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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/05/1995 - Regular Minutes - Historic Preservation Committee HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE REGULAR MEETING WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 1995 -- 7:00 P.M. CENTRAL PARK CONFERENCE ROOM 1000 KRENEK TAP ROAD HISTORIC COMMITTEE Bill Lancaster, Co- Chairman; Greg Keith; Florace Kling; Mary Jane Hirsch; MEMBERS PRESENT: Deborah Jasek; Deborah O'Briant; Steven Smith; Bill Fox, Council Liaison MEMBERS ABSENT: Joan Lamkin, Chairman; Gary Halter STAFF PRESENT: Linda Waltman, Recreation Superintendent; Pamela Einkauf, Senior Secretary STAFF ABSENT: David Gerling, Special Facilities Superintendent I. CALL TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order at 7:01 p.m. by Bill Lancaster, Co- Chairman, in Joan Lamkin's absence. Linda Waltman was sitting in for David Gerling who was also absent. II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Florace mentioned that on page 4 of the March 1, 1995 minutes, under "Other Committee Concerns ", Art Bright's name was incorrect. In the minutes it stated that his name was Art Brake and it should be Art Bright. The correction was made, and the minutes were approved with no further changes. III. REVIEW OF APPLICATIONS FOR HISTORIC HOMES /BUILDINGS: There were no new applications to review for either buildings or homes. IV. "MEMORY LANES" UPDATE: Bill L. stated that he felt as though the meeting had turned out well and that all the comments he had heard about the meeting were positive. Forty -two people came -- twelve of whom came unannounced. He said all the tapes would be transcribed and copies gotten to those interviewed so that additions or changes could be made. Bill 1. stated that the Oral History Steering Committee wanted to do more interviews, but didn't know how to go about it. He said the Steering Committee had met briefly the week after the " Southside Memory Lanes" to re -cap the meeting. Bill mentioned that distributing some type of pre- publication document to stimulate interest, would give people who may not have heard about the project a chance to give their input. Once the book is published it would be too late if someone had been left out. Florace stated that she felt that interest in the most recent "Memory Lone" was stimulated by the fact that there had been three articles published in The Eag /e about North Gate. She said something like that could be done regarding Southside in order to stimulate interest in the east and west sides. Everyone agreed that it was a good idea. Bill L. said that the most important aspect of the project would be the person or persons who put all the stories into narrative form. Someone would have to make the determination as to who the right person or firm would be that could put the information together. He informed the Committee that they would be hearing more about the project as it progressed. Bill Fox told the Committee that the City Council had considered doing (at some point in time) some type of entry into the Southside area. He said that although there were no specific funds allocated Historic Preservation Committee Page 2 for the project and that it wouldn't be on the grand scale of the North Gate project, it would be something nice that would distinguish the area as one of historical significance. Since the funding for those projects is not specifically earmarked for anything -- just to do some landscape, streetscape, and bikeway improvements -- there was a possibility that some of those funds could be used for Southside. Bill L. felt that was a great idea and told Bill F. that if he needed any input from the Committee to let him know. Deborah said that she had traveled a lot and one of the things she'd seen done in historical districts, was distinctive lighting. Period lighting using distinctive Tamp posts or wrought iron of some sort could be used. Bill F. told the Committee to think about what they would like to see done. He said that once the city staff began to move forward with the improvements, if the Historic Committee was ready with suggestions and ideas for a unique project of that type, the chances of getting it approved by Council would be better. Deborah suggested that if there were some old photographs available of the Southside area (other than the photo you always see of Rother's Bookstore), then perhaps the Committee could pick out some sort of style or idea to use from those photos. Bill L. said he couldn't think of anything distinctive in that area because the houses were all uniquely different, but that Deborah's idea was a good one. Florace stated that Bryan had a distinctive historical district, and that perhaps the Committee should talk to some of those people to see how they went about accomplishing that. Bill L. stated that identifying the boundaries of the area to be designated would be something that would need to be done at the start. Bill F. said he would try to find out how much would be available in funding so that the Committee could have some idea as to what could be achieved. Deborah said she would do a little research and see if she could come up with some ideas. She stated that with the research she had done on the Lincoln School she pretty well knew which streets were there then. Bill L. said that finding out which streets were there wouldn't be a problem because he had the original plat. Mary Jane said she'd been in some cities where just the street signs were different, thereby designating a distinct district. Bill F. suggested that the Committee might want to team up with the Community Appearance Committee since anything done would also affect them. He also said that they might have some suggestions since they were actively involved with Hub Kennady on the North Gate banners project. Bill 1. stated that perhaps if Joan got back in time, she could meet with the Chairman of that Committee to get started on something. Bill L. said the Committee needed to make sure that this topic was discussed at the May meeting. V. BLACK EDUCATION STATE MARKER UPDATE: Deborah said the narrative had gone before the County and they had asked that a few corrections be made. Charles Schultz asked for one more piece of documentation. In order to firmly establish that the site was 75 years old, he wanted a mention in the narrative of a particular school that had black students attending. Deborah said it was known that Washington Chapel and St. Matthew's (the little church on Holleman) had schools, however, they were never specifically mentioned. Deborah got the documentation she needed from the 1923 school board minutes. An enumeration of students and scholars which was submitted to the State Board of Education listed five schools that had black students in the College Station School District. Shirock, Dowling, and Wellborn were some of them. Washington Chapel and St. Matthew's were lumped together with those schools and were known as the College Independent Schools. This documentation proving 75 years qualified the subject of black education for any type of state marker, whether it be building, site, or subject. Bill L. thanked Deborah for her hard work and time in researching the subject. She stated that she had enjoyed it. One of the interesting things she said she had discovered was that Lincoln High School had a very good football team which was very competitive in the different zone and area championships. She felt that this might explain why most of the pictures in existence today are pictures of the football team and football field but no pictures of the school. Deborah stated that she had given Pam a copy of the corrected narrative for the Committee's records and that a copy would also be sent Charles Schultz for one last review before it would be sent on to the State. Bill L. asked where the plaque would be, and Deborah stated that it would be at Lincoln School. Several of the members said they would like copies of the narrative, and Pam said she would include copies for everyone in with the minutes. Historic Preservation Committee Page 3 VI. DISCUSSION OF IDEAS AND PRIORITIES FOR FUTURE STATE MARKERS: Greg asked if an event marker had to be 75 years old. Deborah said yes, but that it had to be of some historical significance. Greg said it might not qualify, but he thought a marker or maybe a sculpture for Lyle Lovett would be a good idea, since he once lived in North Gate. Linda stated that it was a good idea but that it would be best to research and see if perhaps there wasn't someone who was born in College Station who was famous that had done something notable. In that way no one would be overlooked. Greg said the idea for Lyle Lovett would look good on a brochure for tourism, and might help get the ball rolling for other ideas for statues. Deborah suggested putting together a list of people that lived in the North Gate area who are famous now, such as Robert Earl Keene. Steve Smith said the problem he saw with the idea was that Lovett and Keene were young and had a lot of time left in which something unfavorable could happen. It was suggested that perhaps in North Gate somewhere an area could be set up like a memory lane section -- on a wall for example -- where you could put a small marker or plaque for any and all famous people and what they were famous for. Bill L. said that these ideas were a start, and that the Committee needed to think of ideas for goals for state markers. VII. COMPILE LIST OF PHOTO INVENTORY SITES: Deborah said it might be a good idea to approach people in the community who may have old photographs to see if they would be willing to donate them or allow the Committee to make reproductions of them. Bill L. stated that some of this was being done already through the "Memory Lanes" project. Deborah stated that it was very important that any photos which were collected were documented as to who or what the picture was of. Bill L. said that the Committee would need to find a site where those photographs could be stored. Deborah said that perhaps there could be a room in the new library where they could be kept. Bill F. stated that the library for College Station would become a reality, and if the Committee wanted a designated area for archival storage, then it should get involved during the planning stages. Steve agreed that a city library would be the natural place for archival storage since it would have the staff, training, and the time to care for it. Deborah said that the library could display things from the archives for others to view. Steve said it could also serve as an actual place for people to contact if they wanted to donate something. Bill L. asked Steve what type of space would be required for that type of storage. Steve said it would always be more than you would think. He said it also depended on how intensely the City wanted to get involved. The area could range from a few cabinets with a someone taking care of it in his /her spare time, to an entire room set aside with a full -time archivist. He said the important thing was for the Committee to get in on the decision process. Bill F. stated that an architect had not been chosen and the location had not been decided upon yet. Bill L. said that this was something that the Committee didn't want to let slip by. Mary Jane said that it was her understanding that item #7 on the agenda related to particular sites to take pictures of at present. Some of the sites mentioned were: 1. A &M Consolidated High School before it is renovated 2. Wellborn Road 3. the George Bush Library site - which used to be the rifle range 4. Texas Avenue before its widened 5. North Gate before it's renovated 6. Sebesta Road and Sandstone before the new park goes in 7. Around Highway 6 Bypass - near Bug Blasters before it grows too much in that area Greg suggested that if a member saw something in a publication that needed to be in the file, they should contact the publication for a copy of that photograph. Linda said that Afsaneh Yazdani, in Parks Planning who takes photos for Parks, might be able to go out to designated sites and take photos if time permitted. Steve asked if the City planners or engineers took pictures in their efforts to work up plans, and if so could the Committee get copies of those photos. Linda said she believed they did. Bill F. said he saw a ten minute video on North Gate which had recently been done showing old footage, existing footage, and a computer overlay with some changes. He also recently saw a book showing an artist's conception of North Gate with original pictures in the upper corner to show contrast. He felt sure that whoever took those pictures would be willing make them available to the Committee. Historic Preservation Committee Page 4 Steve said that if the City had the money it would be good to have a staff person devoted to the City archives. Otherwise any other situation would fluctuate with the activities and the enthusiasm of the members of the Commiffee. If the City made it the job of a particular person, that would be how it would all come together. Linda said that City staff from other departments would come forward with any pictures if they knew the Committee was interested. Bill L. asked if Linda could do that from a staff standpoint for the Committee, and she said yes. Linda suggested that if anyone was out driving around and saw something which they thought should be on the list of sites to be photographed then they should make note of it. Steve asked who was heading up the library project and how the committee could effectively make contact with that person. Bill F. said that currently the library was just a budgeted figure, but he thought the development group might be in charge of it. He said Elrey Ash would be a good person to get a recommendation from as to who to contact. Bill F. said he would talk to Tom Brymer to see where the Committee should start. Bill 1. said that with the Committee's permission he and Joan would write a letter informing the appropriate person that the Committee wanted to get in on the ground floor of the library project. Bill F. stated that he knew school children were taught Texas History, but asked if there was any latitude that the schools had to teach local history, if it wasn't already being taught. No one believed that it was. Deborah said she knew that it could be done, because the school she went to in Matagorda County taught Matagorda County history, as well as Texas history. She said they took field trips and spent a great deal of time learning the history of that area. Bill F. said that the archives could tie in with this since it would be a place for kids to go to study. He commented that if the school district was interested they could possibly be a source for a portion of the funding for an archives room. Deborah said that in Matagorda County, Bay City is the largest city -- about 15,000 people -- and they have had a good -sized functioning museum for forty years. Matagorda has a museum as well, and Palacios has a museum in their library. Mary Jane said a good project for the Commiffee would to be to develop an outline of a curriculum for the schools. Deborah said the Committee could at least help teachers who were interested in teaching local history to come up with some ideas of things they could teach. Mary Jane said Joan and Ellen Marquist Horner would be good at that. Steve said that with the Carnegie Library in Bryan, care needed to be taken that nothing was duplicated, a new archive needed to fit into a narrow niche for College Station. Deborah stated that the Committee needed to make sure that College Station's history was documented and preserved. Bill 1. stated that this would be a good project for the Committee along with creating a list of state markers. Linda asked who was responsible for taking care of the pictures that had been collected as part of the "Memory Lanes" project. Bill L. stated that Gracie Colbert had them at the Conference Center. He told everyone that Gracie had received some personal 1941 movie film of Southside and she had it made into a video tape. Bill L. said that a problem the Steering Committee was running into was that anytime oral history information is gathered, there are state regulations as to what you can and can't do with those interviews. Someone from the City had made a request to see some of the information and the Steering Committee made the decision that the documentation had to be very carefully controlled and not released to anyone. Once the histories have been published then it can become a part of the archives. Linda asked if pictures that the Committee took at present needed to be submitted to Gracie. Bill L. said yes, everything obtained needed to be submitted for consideration for publication in the book. Bill L. stated that the Committee may need to purchase fire -proof file cabinets for the storage of the pictures and documents that Gracie has. Pam informed the Committee that two fire -proof cabinets had been purchased for historic preservation files and that they were located at the Central Park office. Bill 1. suggested the possibility of Gracie moving the oral history files to the Central Park location. VIII. OTHER COMMITTEE CONCERNS: Greg said that the sign was up on Shadow Canyon, formerly the old Campus Theater. He spoke to Joey Dunn and found out that the letters which came off the building were being stored somewhere out in the country. Greg stated that if North Gate had been an historical overlay district, those letters would not have been allowed to come down. He wanted to go on record as saying that this was just one more reason to consider designating North Gate as Historic Preservation Committee Page 5 an historical overlay district, because with the removal of those letters off the old theater, the appearance of North Gate had changed. In Greg's opinion it was not a change for the better -- and he didn't feel the changes made were going to fit in with the upcoming renovations. Bill L. said he felt that Boyett Street might act as a border and asked if the Campus Theater would be a part of the renovation project. Greg said that he was on that committee but that he couldn't remember where the border was. Bill L. stated that Boyett used to be where the trolley line tracks ran. Greg said that it had not been announced yet if the 1910 model of campus had been chosen as the 1995 class gift, and the information would not be released until the banquet on April 22, 1995. He said he would have a report at the next meeting as to the outcome of that election. He said he'd heard a lot of people say that they had voted for the 1910 campus model as class gift. Greg passed out some posters that were made for the Old Main Society, and said that there would be an article in The Eagle the next day about the Society. He commented that there had been an interview on Homefront News and that Channel 3 had done a report on them. He invited the Committee to attend the meeting the following week at 7:00 p.m., April 10, concerning DeWare and Downs on campus. Greg explained that most of the pictures on the posters were from the Archives or old yearbooks. Bill F. said that some of the posters were attractive enough to be framed. Greg stated that the meeting the Society had held regarding Military Walk was very successful -- they even had a writer from The Battalion there. He said he felt that restoring the path that was once Military Walk was something feasible that A &M should do. BiII 1. said that all the trees were still there along what used to be the walk. Greg said that even though the old buildings were gone, the lights that are there currently, could be replaced with period lighting. Linda asked if Spence Hall was still there. She commented that it was the first women's athletic dorm on campus, and when they took the first group of women cadets, they were on the first floor. Deborah said that Krueger Hall was the first women's dorm. She said she still has her card that says she was "...a charter member of the first women's residence hall association"" Also Dunn Hall, that same year, was a coed dorm with two floors of men and two floors of women. Bill L. told Greg that if nothing else could be done, he would at least like to see the pink paint taken off of DeWare Field House, since the building is red brick underneath. Greg said the University wanted to demolish DeWare and the Old Main Society was trying to save it. Greg said most Universities with the historic nature of A &M would not even consider tearing any buildings down. Greg would like to have a new use for DeWare and Downs rather than have them torn down. An Aggie sports gallery, an ice skating rink, or offices for student organizations were the current ideas the Society had discussed. Greg stated that there were over 700 student organizations on campus - - more than any other school in the country -- and most of those organizations had little or no office space. Greg commented that he had donated his collection of 50 yearbooks to the Society but they had to be kept in file cabinets and couldn't be displayed due to lack of space. There is a need to save these buildings since they weren't about to fall down. Greg asked the Committee to talk to friends who may be able to help save those buildings. Florace asked if the incoming Regent, Fred McClure, could help. Both Deborah and Bill L. said they thought he would definitely be someone to talk to about the matter. IX. ADJOURN: The meeting adjourned at 8:20 p.m.