Published: May 14, 2008 12:52 pm         

Our estate of mind: Aging gracefully

A couple of weeks ago, I was having a conversation with someone about factories and how the presence of them in our communities serves as a “wealth-builder” for not only the people who own them, but the people who work there and the communities that collect payments from them.

There are different kinds of wealth, and uses of the word “wealth.” It’s flattering to say someone has “a wealth of information” or “a wealth of good ideas.”

What can be said about Logansport and many of the communities in our area is that they have a wealth of magnificent older structures. Some of them are historic, some are just old and some are rundown in addition to being one of the previous two.

In all cases, Saturday is a day to take stock of the common wealth we all share in our communities. It’s Historic Preservation Day in Logansport and Cass County. There will be events at the Cass County Historical Society Museum, and as a board member there, I am putting in a shameless plug for a free event. But historic preservation is about more than an organization. It’s about the architectural wealth any community has and how valuable it is to our identity.

Think of it this way for a moment: Imagine all the estates that are passed down from father and mother to son and daughter, or niece and nephew, grandson and granddaughter. Each generation creates its own wealth and hands it off to someone else when they leave our presence. Some people squander it. Some people blow it by selling off a family business or heirloom to generate cash for their own creature comforts. Still others build on the tradition of their estate, whether it is a family farm, a lake house or a comfortable, but humble home.

Our older homes, downtown buildings and even our barns are part of that wealth that has been passed down to us. Our community has some great examples of building on that wealth from the Chase Barn off Chase Road that is used by the Area Five Council on Aging and Community Services to the Cass County Memorial Center that once was home to a U.S. senator to the law offices on Fourth Street where baristers have practiced law for 170 years. Imagine all those walks across Fourth Street that have been made to file cases during that time. The buildings on Fourth Street have remained, even as courthouses have come and gone and government has grown. What remains constant is that architectural capital, such as the Masonic Temple that was faithfully restored for re-use by Four County Counseling Center.

Had Four County tried to build that limestone edifice on its own, the cost would have been prohibitive. Yet retrofitting it in a way that promotes its preservation saved a downtown landmark, provided downtown housing and allowed organizations to continue to use the building as they had before. That’s a win-win-win situation. There are others.

When I was president of the society board, our members undertook a great project. We decided to restore the exterior of the Jerolaman-Long House at 1004 E. Market St. There were hoops to jump through for both our board and our curator, but through the efforts of Dick Wolf and others, we were able to add value to a building that had been around for more than a century. Grant money was available to support it, and the interest generated by the work led many to call the museum or me and recommend that the structure be left with a natural brick appearance. Preservation means preserving things the way they’ve been, which is what we ultimately had to do to be true to the intent of our grant money.

By preserving the building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, we added value to it. Mind you, I would never recommend selling the building for another location, but if it were a private residence and had been restored to the level the museum was, its market value would have soared.

And that’s the lesson for Logansport and every other community where the housing stock is older than the national average. Older housing can be a detriment, and I’ll be the first to admit that eyesores have to be removed for the sake of the community good, progress, public health and safety for children and animals. But for those willing to invest the time, restoring some homes in Logansport to their original splendor can reap more benefits than chopping up two-story and three-story 19th and early 20th century homes for duplexes and triplexes.

Last week, I had a conversation with one Logansport resident who owns three properties in an older area of the city. The owner could probably afford to own more places, but the point is we all have to take ownership of the wealth that’s been passed down to us. That wealth is found in many blocks throughout the city and on many county roads in rural areas of Cass County. It’s the kind of wealth that can’t be had in Indiana’s newest communities springing up on interstates where factories and housing developments co-exist side by side. There’s something more to a real community, and that’s character.

Our state of mind when it comes to preservation is really one of an estate of mind that cities can age gracefully with a little help from those who treat older buildings like a part of an inheritance they don’t want to pawn. Instead, they treat it like an heirloom they will polish, cherish and display.

Dave Kitchell is a columnist for the Pharos-Tribune. He can be reached through the newspaper at ptnews@pharostribune.com