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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006 Annual ReportCOUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION 2006 Annual Report You may download an electronic version of this form from the THC web site: www.thc.state.tx.us Please use this form to report your 2006 county historical commission (CHC) activities to your county commissioners court as well as to the Texas Historical Commission (THC). Information from these forms may be used to report county and statewide historic preservation activities to the state legislature. Please complete this form and return by February 28, 2007. Thank you. County: Brazos Name of CHC chair: Dr. Charles R. Schultz 1. How many members currently serve on your commission? 17 How many meetings did your commission hold in 2006? 8 How do you infor►n the public about your meetings and activities? press releases to the newspapers and television stations 4. When were your CHC's bylaws last reviewed and updated? 1985 (Please provide a current copy to the THC.) How many volunteer preservation hours did your commission members work this year? 100 6. Does your commission sponsor or work with young people in your county? ® Yes ❑ No If yes, please list and describe such activities: We provided funding for administrative expenses and for prizes and one or two members sereved as judges frdom the first Brazos Valley History Fair coordinated by the staff of the Washington on the Brazos Museum. We are providing $450 for prizes and administrative costs again in 2006 and have been told that there are several entries from Brazos County students. 7. Does your county provide funds in its budget for your commission? If yes, how much was your allocation in fiscal year 2006? Does your county provide office space for your commission? ❑ Yes ® No If the county provides other operating help, please list: 8. Does your commission have other sources of funding? ❑ Yes ® No If yes, please briefly describe sources and amounts of such income: 9. Please check all that apply to your commission: ® Yes ❑ No ® Members attended the 2006 Annual Historic Preservation Conference in Galveston How many? 1 ® Member, Preservation Texas ❑ Member, Texas Historical Foundation ® Member, Texas Association of Museums ❑ Member, Texas Downtown Association ❑ Member, Texas Oral History Association ❑ Member, National Trust for Historic Preservation ❑ Member, American Association for State and Local History ® Member, Texas State Historical Association ❑ Member, other historical associations(s): 10. Please check all areas in which your CHC worked actively to promote historic preservation: ® Historical marker(s) ® Historic cemetery preservation and/or designation ® History museum(s) ❑ National Register of Historic Places designation ❑ Main Street Program - Which town(s)? ❑ Certified Local Government - Which city or county? ❑ Visionaries in Preservation Program - Which community? ❑ Texas Heritage Trails Program - Which trail region? ❑ Heritage tourism (other- than or in addition to Texas Heritage Trails Program) ❑ Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program ❑ Military sites Z Advisor to commissioners court on matters related to history and preservation ❑ Survey/inventory of architectural resources ® Advocacy for the preservation of an endangered historic resource (see also question #12) ❑ Historic building rehabilitation ® Protection of archeological resources ❑ Texas Archeological Stewardship Network ❑ Oral history ® Archives ® School/educational programs ❑ Training workshops ❑ Local newspaper column ❑ Local history publication (CHC newsletter, county history book, brochures, etc.) ❑ Historical observances (check all that apply): ❑ County/city birthdays ❑ Women's History Month ❑ National Preservation Week ® Black History Month ® Texas Archeology Month ❑ Hispanic Heritage Month ❑ Other (please list): 11. Does your CHC maintain an inventory of historic properties in your county? ❑ Yes ® No If yes, when was the inventory last updated? 12. Please list any significant historic properties or sites (officially designated or not) in your county that are threatened or endangered, damaged or destroyed. If possible, provide photographs, address and a brief description of the threat or damage, as well as information regarding any ongoing local efforts to preserve the site(s). 2 There is one historical church that was also used as a one room school for many years that is located on property that was recently purchased by a development company that plans to construct a shopping center at that location There is also a subject marker at the current site. By the THC rules at that time the buildinig was not eligible for a RTI marker. At one point the developers indicated a willingness to preserve the building and place it and the marker on that acerage The developers did not get approval for the larger shopping center and are now attemting to plan a smaller shopping center, but the neighbors are objecting to that as well. They argue that traffic coming to and leaving from that shopping center will cause undue traffic congestion. There is some community interest in moving the structure but there is some doubt that the building would survive such a move . In addition, no individual, grog, or business has come forward to pay the estimated $50,000 such a move would cost Some of our members along with other citizens have been struggling to find a solution to this Descendents of the early pioneers who donated the land on which the church stands and built the handmade pews that are in the building strongly support the survival of the building on the present site, but they are unable to pay costs of preseerving it on the present site or anywhere else. This community is the victim of a rapidly growing university with sharp increases in enrollment and faculty, retired Texas A&M University graduates returning to the area in retirement and increases of houses and businiesses to provide for the needs of the incresed population As many of these people are completely new to the area they have little appreciation for the rich history of the area Two or more members of the Brazos CHC have been and continue to be actively involved in the efforts to somehow preserve the historical church. 13. Please provide a brief narrative description of your CRC's successes over the past year, as well as its not- so-successful activities. (See also Distinguished Service Award information following question #16 on this form.) In particular, we would like to know about any specific plans for or programs dealing with diversity, both in terms of CHC membership and preservation activities in your county. Perhaps the most notable accomplishment during this year was the beginning of construction on a park at the intersection of FM 60 and F and B Station road to honor the early pioneers who settled that part of Brazos County and who gave land to widem FM 60 many years ago The Texas Highway Department (now TXDOT) promosed to construct perpetually maintain apark at that area to honor those pioneers. A small park was destroyed when the road wias widened several years After several meetings members of the Brazos CHC had with TEDOT officials in Bryan and the appropriation of funding for TXDOT to construct a new park, construction was finally bugun at the ver~end of 2006 Based upon the plans discussed between the Brazos CHC and TXDOT that park should be a fine addition to the area. The plans called for a permanent map of the area shokving roads creeks the Brazos River, and numerous early communities to be identified on the map. Hopefully next year we will be able to report the completion of this project During 2006 we dedicated historical markers for the Mt Calvary Cemetery in Bryan and the Vila Maria Ursuline Academy, a prvate school for young ladies in Boman between 1901 and 1929. We have a marker for Isom Palmer- awaiting dedication at his grave site in the Bryan City Cemetery and the marker for the Main Drill Field on the Texas A&M University campus approved and awaiting dedication The marker planned for the Old Bethel Cemetery is being reworked to be im compliance with the new procedures for historic cementery designation. We expect to receive the packet for that soon Very near the end of 2006 we submitted an application for the Historic Cemetery designation for the Reliance Cemetery. We had considered the Brazos River marker lost or stolen for several years but recently it was discovered in the TXDOT yard in Bryan. We joined with the two chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution in ajoint ceremony to redidacte that marker and one of the five mile markers on the Old San Antonio Road and later participated in another such marker for that road. Both of those OSR roads had been considered lost but are now found and are back in their proper place. Other endangered propeerties include Temple Freda in bryan Bowie School in Bryan Old Bryan Ice House, Boonville town site including a large oak tree that was at the center of this first county seat of Brazos County that is owned by private citizens in currently being made into a commercial development area (The community existed fdor approximately two decades P E A Kernp House (He was a prominent Black educator in Bryan for many years and has a school named for him) locss on the Brazos River at Millican and Hidalgo Falls, (even though getting to them is difficult at best as surrounding land is all privately held.) and the Yellow Fever Cemetery that has a small number of burials in Bryan at highways 21 and 6 and dthe Boonvill Cemetery were records of burials have not always been properly recorded and burials take place without proper notification to the County Commissioner in whose precinct the site is located The Moravian Cemetery at 5900 Knightbridge Street in Bryan has an historical marker bur it is poorly maintaiined as the Czech Moravian settlers who resided in thwart of the county no longer reside three No one takes care of it. The re have been numerous houses built in the area The new residents complaing about the appearance of the cemetery but are unwilling to do anything, about cleaning up the cemetery. At the present time Brazos County has 56 historical markers approved of which 54 have been dedicated . We also have one that has recently been submitted and we anticipate receiving another historical cemetery designation application soon. 14. Please tell us about any significant preservation projects in your county, either currently underway or planned for the coming year. We will continue our efforts in encouraging individuals organizations institutions, businesses to apply for historical markers and for historic cemetery designations. 15. Please tell us about your efforts to recruit a diverse membership (age, race, gender, etc.) for your commission and how you are addressing issues of diversity in historic preservation in your county. We did have an African American member on our commission for part of a two year term, but he stopped coming although I as chairman continued to send him copies of minutes of meetings and agendas for meetings. We lost our oldest member (90 years of age) and some other members who moved out of the county or did not attemd meetings We have added four new members. One of them is the daughter of a former member. She will probably redude the average age of member by a year or two. The other two are also below the age of some of our more senior members The age span of our continiuing members ranges from eralry to mid 40s to mid 70s. 16. Please tell us how the THC can be of greater assistance to you in carrying out your local preservation activities. Given the budget limitations and increasing responsibilities or the staff of the Texas Historical Commission and the increasing interest in historic preservation I am hard pressed to find a way that the existing staff cam be of greater assistance They are all dedicated and hard working What is really needed is a substantial infusion of new funds to employ more staff members I understand fi-om past reports of surveys of visitors to Texas that visiting historical sites and historical markers rands very high with visitors from all over the Unitred States and even from abroad It does seem that staff in the historical markers unit has been reduced at the very time that it should be increased so that more marker applicatoins can be approved faster. That will allow Texan to expand its lead over all other states in the number of historical markers and permit the staste to make more informatin about Texas available to more visitors without expending many Tesas dollars since local historical commissions and applicants for markers pay virtually all the cost of them. The local county commissions also take care of them by cleaning and repainting them.. ❑ Distinguished Service Award - PLEASE NOTE If you wish for your CHC to be considered for Distinguished Service Award (DSA) recognition, please check the box above and provide details about your calendar year 2006 successes and accomplishments. Enclose a brief summary/description of each project, and enclose copies of supporting documentation if applicable. Recommendations for DSA recognition will be based on an overall evaluation of each CHC's achievements in historic preservation activities and programs for the year. DSA recipients will be notified in advance and will be recognized at the opening session of the Annual Historic Preservation Conference in Lakeway (near Austin) in April 2007. Deadline for submission is February 28, 2007, along with this Annual Report. Name of person completing this report: Dr. Charles R. Schultz Mailing address: 1200 Goode Street City:College Station Zip:77840-3033 Daytime phone (with area code): 979-862-1555 Email address: cschultz@tamu.edu CHC web site address: www.ci.brazos.tx.department/chc/ If the THC staff can provide you with any additional information or assistance, please call 512/463-5853 or email history@thc.state.tx.us. Thank you. Please return by February 28, 2007, to: Texas Historical Commission History Programs Division PO Box 12276, Austin, TX 787 1 1-2276 Phone 512/463-5853 Fax 512/475-3122 y F. o~ TEXAS ° HISTORICAL COMMISSION The State Agencyfor Historic Preservation 5 Email history@thc.state.tx.us www.thc.state.tx.us Texas Historical Commission History Programs Division P.O. Box 12276, Austin, TX 787 1 1-2276 Phone 512/463-5853 www.thc.state.tx.us E 0E 0 TEXAS 9 *A HISTORICAL COMMISSION The State Agency for Historic Presemation