In this issue:
-Varsity house update
-2011 LPA Annual Meeting
-Old House Warming at the Michael D. Greenlee House
-In Memoriam Carolyn Bailey Berneking
-Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area
Good news regarding the Varsity House!
Your attendance at the city commission meeting tonight is not required on behalf of Lawrence Preservation Alliance to support the LPA position on the Varsity House. There was a decision made last night by Stan Hernly, Dennis Brown, and Mr. Warner that they feel is agreeable. Therefore, there is no need to make public comment or to show up to support the Varsity House. The house will either remain where it is, or be moved 40′ to the south. It will not be demolished, nor will it be moved to the north as recently proposed. The ARC will get to review the final construction plans prior to the development of the adjacent lots. Thank you to everyone involved in this long battle and thank you to everyone for your support!
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2011 LPA Annual Meeting
The LPA will host their annual meeting at the Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Exhibit in the Carnegie Building on Sunday, October 16th, 2pm-3:30pm. Paul Stuewe will speak about some of the people and events from our turbulent territorial history. He will take us around the room, explaining the layout, the texts and photographs.
Paul Stuewe served on the Committee that put together the Heritage Area and this exhibit. He taught history at Lawrence High and at the university level for 36 years, and continues teaching in Kansas City.He has a M.A. in History and a M.A. in Education from KU, served on the Historic Resources Commission, chaired the History Committee of the Lawrence 150th Commission, was President of the Lawrence Schools Foundation and has made many tours and presentations on Lawrence history.
Prior to the presentation by Paul Stuewe, LPA will hold a very short annual business meeting, consisting of a quick overview of our work during the past year, an election of a slate of officers recommended by the board, and election of board members, all of whom have served during the past year.
Light refreshments will be served.
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Old House Warming at the Michael D. Greenlee House
947 Louisiana
Sunday, October 23rd, 2pm-4pm
Photo courtesy of The Kansas Historical Society
The Greenlee house at the top of the hill at 10th and Louisiana will be the site of the next Old House Warming sponsored by LPA for its members and guests. Currently it is the home of Candy Davis and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places because it has many of the distinctive characteristics of turn of the 20th century Queen Anne architecture.
The house was built in 1902-03 by Michael D. Greenlee, a prominent businessman in a local insurance firm and a former County Clerk. Greenlee died in 1904, thus he only lived in the house for one year. After his death various family members lived there or rented it out and from that date to 1984 it was home to any owners or renters, including several faculty members, most notably Raymond Eastwood. In 1984, after years of neglect Duane Schwada bought it to demolish it and build apartments for students. This was the beginning of the Lawrence Preservation Alliance’s active involvement in saving structures from the wrecking ball. With money gathered from those first members, LPA bought the house and was able within weeks to find a buyer, Todd Pederson, who wanted to restore and renovate the tattered building.
Today, with the work of the Pedersons and more recently, the work of Candy Davis, the house stands as a tribute to what careful restoration can do for a seemingly derelict property. Most of the interior trim is original, some windows are original and all the openings are intact, most of the shingles and siding is original, and the unique roof line has not been altered.
Come spend a fall Sunday afternoon with us as we tour the house at 947 Louisiana and learn more Queen Anne architecture and the early days of Lawrence Preservation Alliance.
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In Memoriam Carolyn Bailey Berneking
Carolyn Bailey Berneking died on August 11 of this year. She had been the first recipient of the Lawrence Preservation Alliance Award for Excellence in 2009, which honored Carolyn for her ground breaking work and energy in historic preservation in Lawrence and Douglas County.
Between 1993 and 2005, Carolyn successfully researched and wrote seven nominations to the National or State Historic Registers for properties in Lawrence. For those of you who haven’t done this, it is something like researching and writing a long term paper, but with many meeting, emails, hearings and commission deadlines. To have achieved seven listings of properties in 12 years is amazing. Among the properties are the first two buildings on the University of Kansas’ campus to be listed: Bailey Hall and Strong Hall. Other listings are South Park, Snow House, E.H.S. Bailey House, The Old Post Office, and in Douglas Co. the Black Jack Battlefield site. All this is more astonishing because these preservation activities were begun by Carolyn when she was 78.
Carolyn was born in 1915 in Kansas City, MO. She was the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. William Bailey and the granddaughter of E.H.S. Bailey, professor of Chemistry and originator of the Rock Chalk Chant. She graduated from KU with a music degree and maintained her interest in music and played piano all her life. She was librarian in various universities and schools around the US, and for 10 years was librarian at Central Jr. High. Her historic preservation career came at the end of a lifetime of work and service.
Carolyn Bailey Berneking
LPA has received several donations from people wishing to honor Carolyn and her work. The board will direct these and any other contributions in her name to go to the LPA grant fund. The money will go to help others in their work to protect and preserve buildings and green spaces as a part of our Lawrence heritage. Make checks payable to LPA, with “Carolyn Bailey Berneking” in the memo line.
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Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area
The Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area, encompassing 31,000 sq. miles in eastern Kansas and western Missouri, was established in 2006 to recognize historic sites, share authentic stories and educate the public about our cultural heritage from pre-territorial times to the present. From the time when Kansas was Indian Territory to the formation of Kansas Territory in 1854 that sparked a bloody border war between two factions with opposing ideologies regarding the institution of slavery, and on to more modern social conflicts, the message of Freedom’s Frontier is that these diverse stories, spanning more than two centuries are interwoven and have national significance.
The effort to create Freedom’s Frontier, one of 49 heritage areas in the US, took over 15 years of work by community leaders from all 41 participating counties. In Lawrence, federal Judge Deanell Tacha, Judy Billings of the Lawrence Convention and Visitors Bureau, and city commissioner David Dunfield with the help of many other were instrumental in completing this significant task. Douglas Co. and the city of Lawrence supported the project with important financial help.
After the city of Lawrence rehabilitated the historic Carnegie Library building, it became the home to the main exhibit for Freedom’s Frontier and office of the coordinator, Destination Management Inc.
Learn more about Freedom’s Frontier at their website
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Lawrence Preservation is published quarterly by the Lawrence Preservation Alliance. Our mission is to preserve historically significant buildings and natural environments, and to educate the community about the benefits of historic preservation. We welcome your comments, suggestions, and questions.
