Little Porch on the Prairie: What is Preservation?

     My dad and I built a new porch for my house this summer.  I have to think that it must be the best porch that this house has ever had...including when the house was new.  Dad designed it with an incredible amount of reinforcement and I have no doubt that it may very well outlast the house.  That is why I call it "Little Porch on the Prairie.". Someday when Barnard is long gone and no one even remembers the name...someone will be driving their flying car across the prairie and see this lone porch...without a house...standing all by itself in the middle of empty prairie.

      But what if it wasn't without a house...or wasn't without a town?  That is where preservation comes in.  I am not sure if many people really know what historic preservation is.  It is the preservation or protection of historical structures and other objects.  Many know this but many do not know that part of preservation deals with adaptive reuse of a building.  Though buildings can be repurposed, many buildings of architectural and/or community significance are needlessly lost.  What people fail to think of or care about is that once it is gone, it is gone for good.

      Barnard, Kansas has lost many buildings because there was no immediate use for them and the owners or government bodies were not of a mind to find a purpose or a new owner that was in that frame of thought.  The town is poised to lose much more.  Barnard has always been a rather small community but was a center of commerce and entertainment in its area of Lincoln County.  It had two grocery stores, a movie theater, meat locker, hardware stores, other business outlets, and many beautiful houses.  Now, the downtown area is virtually gone, the post office is in danger of possible closure, the schools closed many years ago, many houses have been demolished, and the art deco WPA built water tower...still in use...is threatened with demolition because the city council is not of the mindset to save it.  One council member went as far as to say "If the historic activists want to save it, let them pay for it".   It may be a necessity for that to happen as Barnard is severely financially challenged but this council member has stood in the way of other preservation projects.  Barnard is now a very pale shadow of its former self; however, potential is still there waiting for people with vision and the ambition to make a change.

     I own a house in Barnard (pictured at the top).  Admittedly, I have had a heavy interest in historic preservation from a young age.  I found that the older buildings have a character to them that modern buildings lack.  My little house continues to amaze me with its features.  My house is termed a Workman’s Foursquare, which implies that it was built as a working class home.  Typically, these houses only had decorative woodwork in the public areas that visitors would see.  The rest of the house would be done with plank baseboards and door trim.  My house has decorative woodwork throughout the entire structure, including the upstairs which is also another unusual feature of a Workman’s Foursquare.  The original woodwork is nearly intact but other original features as an acid etched glass window from the front door, has been destroyed.  Other untypical features of the house include bay windows in the living room and a downstairs bedroom.

     A former resident lends to the house’s historical value.  A longtime occupant of the house was Ott Saunders who ran the local icehouse and was the constable and water superintendent.  It was Mr. Saunders who conceived of and commissioned the building of the art deco water tower mentioned above.

      There are many benefits to preservation.  Some people may prefer new construction to rehabilitation of an existing structure but in rural communities where property values are depressed, new construction is not a viable option.  In any community, an important source of income is property taxes.  If new construction is not a viable, then rehabilitating an older property will increase its value and will increase tax value which will reflect directly on tax revenue.  The likelihood that someone will invest in new construction in an area where their investment will not appreciate in value and where the value of the property will never increase to the value of the cost of construction is minimal.  If people cannot build new, then no jobs are created.  However, if those same people decide that rehabilitating an existing structure is more financially viable, money is spent on materials or labor and that money finds its way into local economies.  Eighty-five percent (85%) of all new jobs are created by small business.  Unless heavy public subsidies are provided, building new and renting cheap are not viable options.  However, rehabilitating an existing structure can provide less expensive rent which lowers the start up costs of a business and makes opening a business in that community much more attractive and possible.  This in turn brings in that tax revenue and money into the local economy.  Historic preservation is a part of both economic development and community development.

     A rising trend in housing is that people desire more character in their homes and businesses instead of the sterility found in tract housing and strip malls.  Rehabilitating historic properties satisfies that demand and attracts people to communities that otherwise would not be attracted by tract housing and bland commercial properties.  The characteristics of historic properties also attract tourists.  Sometimes, particularly in the depressed rural economies such as Barnard, tourism is the only industry left to tap into.

      Historic preservation is not just the practice of keeping old stuff around.  It also involves repurposing.  If a structure can take on a new purpose that keeps it relevant to the community, it can grow in value and ensure that it is used and maintained for generations to come.   Preservation does not mean that a person or a place is living in the past but it does mean that the heritage of the community is being taken forward in to the future.  It is not only important to look to the future but to remember where you came from.  A community's history is part of its identity and for every building or structure that is demolished, part of that identity is lost.

     A key element of historic preservation is adaptive reuse.  The process of adaptive reuse is adapting an older building or structure for a new use.  The primary function of the structure can be changed while maintaining the elements that make the structure unique.  Adaptive reuse can save energy and resources.  The need for new materials is reduced by reusing the shell and structure of an existing building.  The cost and energy of acquiring and producing these new materials can be reduced.  If the existing structure is reused, the labor costs associated with building a new structure is greatly reduced.

     Barnard has a great example of a structure that is a candidate for adaptive reuse.  The art deco water tower that was built in the 1930’s by the WPA is a structure that can be adapted to a new use.  Not only is the structure itself important in design but the process of its building is significant.  The water tower was begun as a WPA project but was left incomplete because of the dismantling of that program.  A private contractor was hired to complete it but the substandard work of the contractor is easily discernable from the WPA portion of the structure.  It is one of three of that style of tower built in Kansas and the only remaining one.  People have come from surrounding states just to see that tower.  An adaptive reuse of this structure could be as an observation tower.  Replacing the functionality of the water tower with a new replacement (as the city plans to do without the preservation element) would take away the load of the weight of the water on the structure.  The concrete tank could be breached for a stairway and viewing portals.  Tourism would benefit the local café and provide opportunities for new businesses to open.  The community as a whole would benefit.

     Another Barnard structure that is ready for adaptive reuse is the old school.  It is currently used as a barn for farm implements.  I guess that is sort of an adaptive reuse of the building though it does not benefit the community as a whole.  A possible use for this building would be as a general auditorium for jamborees, a fitness center, wedding and funeral facility as there are no large facilities in Barnard, and a community library.  All of these uses would bring people into the community both as visitors and as residents.  There would become purpose in coming to Barnard.

     Barnard currently has a policy of tearing down and hoping people come to build new.  That policy has failed Barnard miserably.  Tearing down structures without replacing them is insuring Barnard’s death.   Historic preservation, vision, and determination can save this little town from extinction and promote growth…and keep my new front porch from becoming the “Little Porch on the Prairie.”