RIO Press Release
| For Immediate Release | Media Contact : |
| November 5, 2009 | Tina Potthoff Jeff Morgan Bret Voorhees |
WORKING TO RECOVER: ACCOUNTING FOR DISASTER-IMPACTED HISTORICAL STRUCTURES
Review of structures slated for demolition leads to plans which support, highlight other historical sites
(DES MOINES) – Historical value means more than the age of a structure to Jeremy Ammerman, an architectural historian working on disaster recovery with the State Historic Preservation Office.
Ammerman’s job is to determine the historical value of structures damaged by the floods and tornadoes of 2008 which are slated to be demolished because of buyout activity. Historical assessments are required by Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. This act requires federal agencies to take into account various effects on historic properties, including natural disasters. In this case, the properties are being affected by demolitions funded by federal agencies because of the 2008 disasters.
Once structures are identified, Ammerman then assists local residents and leaders in developing projects which help offset the historical loss to those communities. For example, if a city loses a historical home to a disaster, community leaders could then propose the renovation of a one-room school house across town. In essence, the effort to save the old schoolhouse mitigates or replaces the historical loss to the community.
With Ammerman’s help, impacted communities submit their plans to FEMA which then helps the communities or entities pay for the projects.
“There’s more to historical value than age of a structure,” Ammerman explained. Most structures he reviews are at least 50 years old or older, although occasionally a younger structure is considered if there is some other significant historical value. Structures considered by Ammerman include commercial, residential and industrial buildings; agriculture-related structures; statues; and stone walls.
When reviewing a project, Ammerman considers things such as the role a structure played in the community, or in the historical growth pattern of a local industry or school district for example. He also considers whether a structure was significantly linked to a historically important person. Other considerations include the architecture and archeology of a site.
So far, Ammerman has assisted in the formulation of 18 historical mitigation projects. In exchange for damaged historical sites, some mitigation project examples include communities receiving additional signs promoting historic places, structural renovations of other buildings in the community and documentation of a historic site before it is demolished.
There is no way to know at this point how many mitigation projects will be implemented. It could be more than 30 by the time assessments are completed, explained Marlys Svendsen, a historic project specialist with Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division who also is assisting with historical assessments.
Seven of the projects Ammerman has worked with are close to receiving final approval. These projects are:
- Cedar Falls – Restoration and painting of a country school operated as a museum by the Cedar Falls Historical Society.
- Coralville – Continuation of existing historic signage program by adding two more signs.
- La Porte City Construction of a new roof to stabilize and preserve the jailhouse and fire station, both local museum buildings owned by the City of La Porte City.
- Parkersburg – Purchase of a new boiler for the Wolf House Museum operated by the Parkersburg Historical Society.
- Iowa City – Documentation of a flood-damaged house that was designed by a woman and built by her husband. The documentation will be done through detailed drawings, photos, written examination and analysis of the property which is slated for demolition.
- Shell Rock – Funding for the nomination of the Shell Rock Community Historical Museum to the National Register of Historic Places. (The National Register of Historic Places is the Nation's official list of cultural resources worthy of preserving.)
- Vinton – Funding to nominate the former Iowa Canning Company Factory to the National Register and survey a historic Vinton residential neighborhood.
- Waverly – Financial assistance to survey and nominate three historic districts to the National Register.
Ammerman and Svendsen are among 10 state and federal workers in Iowa involved in the process of assessing historic structures post 2008 disasters, and in assisting with mitigation plans.
Statistically:
- Ammerman has reviewed more than 8,975 properties slated for demolition.
- Of those properties, more than 600 have been deemed as eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
- 4,015 properties have been reviewed in Cedar Rapids alone, with 160 of those properties eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. There are more properties to be reviewed in Cedar Rapids, as well as other disaster-affected areas of the state.
- The total number of communities and counties which have been visited for review is 35. Of those areas, 20 have been identified as having disaster-affected structures and/or neighborhoods that are historically significant.
Svendsen said there have been 17 areas newly identified as eligible to be historic districts in reports she completed earlier this year. In Waverly, two very large and important historic districts were identified containing hundreds of architecturally significant houses. A number of property owners are undertaking rehabilitation work and are enthusiastic about the possibility of National Register designation for their neighborhoods, she said.
“Good things are happening simply because we are looking,” Svendsen said.###
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