Fair Park DVD video is available

For those of you who have not yet seen the third in Jay Moore's series of videos about "unseen" Abilene history, the one titled Abilene's Fair Park is equal to any of this popular series. On a cold Friday, January 8th we had nearly 200 people in the Elks Arts Center Ballroom to watch the premiere of this video. Just another indication of the interest in local history that exists in Abilene!

The race track that was there (right), polo fields, the Municipal Auditorium where Elvis performed a week before his breakthrough performance in Shreveport, even Charlie the Chimp at the Abilene Zoo... they're all there! For our most current schedule of showings on Channel 7, click here.

And you may purchase copies of any of the DVDs in the series at the Preservation League offices, 1174 North First at Cedar. Prices are $10 for The Bankhead Highway, $15 for Who Is That Street and Fair Park of Abilene.

We welcome Burgess Thomas

We're pleased to welcome a new staffer here at the Preservation League. Burgess C. Thomas, who sometimes goes by "Bird," is our new event coordinator and rental coordinator. Burgess has a background in the area of professional interior design, as well as environmental education and event planning. She'll be working with groups who rent the Elks Ballroom and Swenson House for events throughout the year, and also with our Board on planning our own fun events. With the Swenson House Centennial coming up, Burgess will be very involved in the planning for ways to celebrate that milestone. We're also getting ready to kick off the stabilization of the J.D. Magee home at 1910 North 3rd, and her project experience will be very helpful on that, too. Welcome!

--wdm

The Abilene Photo Collection is now Online!

I spoke with friend Alice Specht, Head Librarian of the Richardson Library at Hardin-Simmons University this morning and she had a bit of news: the Abilene Library Consortium and its partners have finished the digitization of over 10,000 photographs in the Abilene Photo Collection. This is a terrific research tool for documenting and researching historic buildings in Abilene. To check it out, you can use this URL: http://rupert.alc.org/library/darc.html.

The beginnings of this collection date back to the 1981 Abilene Centennial, when as part of the celebration residents were encouraged to bring in family and commercial photos to be copied for archiving. Dr. B.W. Aston shepherded the collection in its early years. The Abilene Library Consortium received a grant to digitize the collection, along with some historic maps and other documents. Previously, you could search the indexes, but to see any of the images you would need to make a trip to the research center, but now the images are available for all to learn from and enjoy.

--wdm

A Neighborhood's Character Changes

Built in 1931, the house at 1131 Elmwood is one of the smaller ones on the street, with two bedrooms. Owned since the 1970s by Mary Brasher, the handsome brick house features a front porch and anchors the corner of Sylvan where it begins with the intersection with Elmwood. But alas, there is always pressure for bigger and better in a beautiful upscale neighborhood. A permit for demolition was pulled yesterday (August 19th). Our information is that the homeowners to the immediate south of the house would like to add on to their two story home and extend their yard.

Thankfully, teardowns are not as frequent in our area as they are in places like Highland Park. And not all teardowns are bad. But in most cases, preservationists (and usually neighbors) agree that they change the character of a neighborhood in a way that is not desirable. To read more about the fight against teardowns, read Teardowns and McMansions from the National Trust.

Some protection could have been provided if the property had Historic Overlay Zoning, available in Abilene. Overlay zoning is best applied for by the owners of the property. The APL's initial discussions with the Brasher estate representatives gave us some hope that they would apply, but later the representatives did not respond to our phone calls, perhaps indicating that the persistence of the neighbors to the south had had been effective in acquiring the property.

Beautiful House Awards

We started off the summer with two new Beautiful House award winners. The first, suggested by APL Trustee Hester Woods, was the Norma and Carlos Santiago house at 603 Washington Street. The Santiagos moved here a couple of years ago from Oklahoma and fell in love with the spacious house, which is just off Treadaway Blvd. After much renovation, the house has a great feel inside and out. Pictured at right are Hester Woods, Norma Santiago and APL President Diane Keeble.

The July Beautiful House is owned by Misty and Hank Lawson, and is at 1518 North 17th St. The Lawsons moved from the Elmwood area about a year ago and renovated the home, which is filled with their collection of antiques. Janet Payne, chair of APL's Community Development Committee, nominated the Lawsons' House. Look for more Beautiful Houses coming up. The award will be given each month of the year, and in the spring, we'll ask the public to select their favorite one of the 12 nominees.

The Beautiful House award is intended to recognize homeowners who have done a great job of maintaining, improving and otherwise preserving an older home.

Good News for 702 Meander

One of our members reports a new owner for the 1927 Dunagin-Norcross house at 702 Meander. This house was on the 2008 Top Ten Preservation Opportunities for Abilene and was highly endangered because of a condemnation and possible demolition by the city. The new owners are in the air conditioning-heating business and intend to improve the property. They are intererested in historic overlay zoning, which will allow them to recapture some of their expense of rehabilitation. This photo taken this morning shows the contractors measuring for the first order of business, a new roof. Combined with its across-the-alley neighbor, 701 Amarillo, the house is one of the important anchors on South 7th for the historic Amarillo and Meander neighborhood. Thanks to the neighbors who have stayed in touch with what's going on with this house.

Abilene History... in Plain Sight

We're please to be co-presenters of a video work by Jay Moore... available on DVD and also cablecast on AISD TV Abilene Suddenlink Channel 7...

Episode 1:
The Bankhead Highway
Upcoming Showings:
Sunday, July 26th at 8:00 pm CDT
Tuesday, July 28th at 7:00 pm CDT
Saturday, August 1 at 8:00 pm CDT

This video traces the route and history of what became US Highway 80 and laterInterstate 20... one of the great American cross-country highways, and an important contributor to Abilene's development. Surprising insights about how the highway came to be are uncovered by Abilene historian Jay Moore, who wrote and directed the series. Shot and edited by Rob Westman.

History In Plain Sight series is presented with the support of a grant from the Dian Graves Owen Foundation of Abilene. The Abilene Preservation League proudly serves as fiscal sponsor of the series.

Don't miss it!
DVD copies available by contacting Jay Moore at jay.moore@abileneisd.org or the APL at info@abilenepreservation.org ($10 picked up; $11.60 mailed)