Utah Heritage Foundation

Were you a big fan of the annual Utah Preservation magazine?  Maybe you've never heard of it.  No matter what your familiarity, you should check out the ten published issues of this full color glossy publication by State History from 1996-2006.  They are now all available online!

There are articles about preservation projects across the state, craftsmen, traditional rehabilitation techniques, archaeology, public lands, and the architects that built historic structures and rehabilitate them today.  You'll likely find it to be as wonderful a resource as we do.

See the issues here.  You can find a link at the bottom of the home page.

SAVE THE DATE

August 11, 2011

Putting Your Main Street on the Map, regional preservation workshop - Panguitch

The seismic retrofit workshop offered by UHF a few weeks ago will be reprised on Saturday, May 21 from 1:00-3:00 p.m. at Murray City Hall, 5025 S. State St., in the Council Chambers.  Structural engineer Barry Welliver (Welliver Engineering) and architect Charles Shepherd (MJSA Architects) will be the presenters.  Admission is FREE.

The Murray City History Advisory Board is also sponsoring a Vine Street Historic Home Neighborhood Walk preceding the workshop from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 Noon.  The FREE tour will begin at the Superette Market at 335 East Vine St., Murray.

Communities that value their historic resources have effective Historic Preservation Commissions (HPCs).  Leeds, Utah, is one of those places.  Guided by Vision Dixie principles and leadership from the HPC, the town included a meaningful historic preservation element in their recent general plan update.  They followed that with a Reconnaissance Level Survey (RLS) to get a current baseline inventory of historic resources in their jurisdiction.  Then they took the logical next step, reviewing and revising their historic preservation ordinance to align it with the vision in their updated general plan and the RLS results.

With advice from the HPC, the town is using the information collected in the RLS to set goals and priorities for rehabbing, maintaining and using publicly-owned historic properties to benefit the community and is encouraging and assisting owners of privately held historic properties, including homeowners, to do the same.  (Right, Sarah Ann and William Stirling House, built 1876.)  Leading by example, the town is taking advantage of the opportunity to literally capitalize on their historic resources in a very tangible way by promoting heritage tourism to the Wells Fargo Silver Reef Museum and capturing visitor attention and dollars by acting as a gateway to the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area at the rehabilitated Orson B. Adams House in nearby Harrisburg. 

The Leeds Historic Preservation Commission serves not only as an advisory body to the town council, but is doubly effective as a Certified Local Government (CLG) and a National Trust Forum member with access to CLG matching grants from the Utah State Historic Preservation Office and eligibility for matching grants from the Utah Preservation Initiatives Fund (UPIF), administered by the Mountains/ Plains Office of the National Trust for Historic preservation.  The town has used its CLG grants to fund restoration work at the National Register-listed Leeds CCC Camp, to purchase and install interpretive markers, and to fund its Reconnaissance Level Survey.  UPIF grants could pay for feasibility studies to rehab historic buildings like the Leeds Tithing Office (left) through a public-private partnership with its owner, or to prepare a preservation management plan for the Wells Fargo Museum and Silver Reef historic district.

SB 243 Substitute – Historic Areas or Sites Amendments

If you’ve been keeping up with our advocacy alerts, you may already realize that Senate Bill 243 has morphed several times during the session, leading preservationists across the state from one confusing proposal to another.  Each time it changed though, similar questions arose time and time again:  Isn’t this only about Yalecrest?  Does the bill only affect Yalecrest?  Can you get it only to affect Yalecrest?

At the end of the day, the bill was narrowed such that it directly affected the Yalecrest Neighborhood during a one-year moratorium period.  From the wide ranging scope that SB 243 started with, the result that was arrived at by sponsor Sen. Niederhauser (R-Sandy) is likely the least impactful possible.

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Once threatened with dwindling population, New Harmony is now dealing with development.  Not so much within the town – which retains its original street layout, including one entire block surrounded by paved streets – but ranchettes in Harmony Valley and a wind farm proposed for a nearby hillside on public land.  The 2000 census showed the town’s population as 191, not counting cats, dogs and horses.  Okay, it’s a small town!  But one that’s very proud of its heritage.

 New Harmony Heritage, founded 145 years after its settlement, is making plans for the town’s sesquicentennial in 2012.  Some, in and out of town, would and do argue that there’s not much left of New Harmony’s heritage to showcase.  Those who beg to differ are looking for ways and means to display artifacts like bricks made by John D. Lee at his farm and brickworks near the southwest edge of town.  One idea is to actually sell most of those bricks to help raise money for a gathering place, preferably a historic house or barn, big enough to hold residents and visitors without having to petition to use the recreation hall at the LDS ward house or having to pull the emergency vehicles out of the firehouse/ town hall as was done for this year’s Founders Day dinner because the wind kicked up (above, right).