Help Us End The Year With A Bang!
Missourians turned to us time and again in 2019 to help save and preserve the historic resources that matter to them. On their behalf, thank you for your support.
In April, two former endangered resources from our Places in Peril program were presented with Missouri Preservation Honor Awards for successful preservation efforts. Kemper (Hy-Vee) Arena was listed as endangered in 2015 and in September we were proud to host our 2019 Unhappy Hour announcement in the newly restored space. The Henry Blosser House in Malta Bend was nominated to the Places in Peril list in 2014. This November we were overjoyed to witness the final transformation of this architectural treasure at its grand reveal.
The year did not come without sorrows. We lost the historic high school building in Salem and witnessed again how natural disasters can wreak havoc on historic neighborhoods. While loss is sometimes inevitable it is often through loss that we enact change.
Salem may have lost the fight to save their school but the advocacy efforts of locals led to the creation of a city-wide preservation organization. Jefferson City was hit by a devastating tornado that damaged several of the buidlings in the Capitol Avenue Historic District and destroyed numerous others. We are proud to be hosting the 2020 Conference in Jefferson City next June in order to highlight the tremendous efforts of the community to preserve their history through trying times.
Missouri Preservation shares the stories and experiences like that of Salem and Jefferson City to educate and prepare individuals and organizations across the state for issues they too might face in the future. The success of Hy-Vee Arena and the Henry Blosser House as well as the uniting of communities in the face of adversity give us the evidence we need to continue our mission of preserving place and community for future generations of Missourians.
The financial support of our friends has been critical to our presence on the front lines of preservation. With your help we can continue to bring light to the numerous historic resources that need attention and assist them in finding their new beginning.
We invite you to make a gift or become a member today and help Missouri Preservation continue to advocate for, educate about and assist in the preservation of architectural and historic landmarks that embody Missouri’s unique heritage and sense of place.
History is our collective memory, a source of wisdom and strength we can draw on when we need it. And we need it now more than ever, precisely because the challenges we face are so complicated and intractable. We can’t possibly navigate them wisely without some sense of perspective, and some help from the past. With so many forces dividing us, preservation is one of the few things that brings us together—as a nation, as communities and as people.
— Stephanie K. Meeks, 2011 Saving Places Conference
On behalf of Missouri Preservation we wish you and yours a happy holidays and the best in 2020!