Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Hallelujah! We're officially an Historic District!


This just in, so to speak: "The Lucas County Courthouse Square Historic District was listed in the National Register yesterday, August 11, 2014."

In other words, Chariton's square officially has been added to the National Register of Historic Places as an Historic District.

This is great news, sent out by Patrick Andrus, historian for the National Register of Historic Places; and forwarded to Alyse Hunter, chair of the Chariton Historic Preservation Commission, by our intrepid friend and architectural historian Molly Myers Naumann.

Molly handled the application process, which stretched over two years; a project of not inconsiderable expense that was paid for by the city of Chariton as part of its commitment to the Main Street program in Chariton. Those of us involved with the Preservation Commission helped Molly with the extensive research needed to launch a successful application.

This is wonderful news! First of all, it is a considerable honor to be added to the National Register. Several individual buildings in town already were listed, as is the Chariton Cemetery Historic District.

This means that all "contributing buildings," i.e. historic structures with considerable remaining integrity, in the district now are listed individually, too, on the National Register. This makes owners of those listed buildings who restore and repair in conformance to Department of the Interior preservation guidelines eligible for federal tax credit financing.

Our application was approved at the state level earlier this year. But there's still nagging doubt until that official notification arrives from Washington, D.C. Needless to say, we're thrilled!

2 comments:

Queen Bee's Musings said...

What year was Chariton courthouse built?

Frank D. Myers said...

Construction began during 1893 and was completed during early 1894.