Saving Small Towns

Small towns are dying, and it is not just because of their dwindling economies. The physical fabric of our communities is literally crumbling. A visit to most any small town today illustrates the poor condition of their downtown facades. Altered over the years due to design fads, and temporary fixes using inexpensive and inappropriate materials, these practices have left many facades in disrepair. Although many resources, including financial incentives in the way of tax credits, are available to encourage preservation of these buildings, our small-town facades remain largely untouched and left to ruin.

Why are small town building facades not being preserved? The answer goes beyond the lack of interest and the lack of funding. Often, a small-town building owner or buyer is interested in improving the façade but has no idea how to get started on a preservation project. The knowledge gap from getting started, to obtaining tax credits and other funding, to executing the process of rehabilitating a façade seem too foreign and monumental to take on.

More importantly, however, historic preservation has become a fundamental tool for strengthening American communities. It has proven to be an effective tool for a wide range of public goals including small business incubation, affordable housing, sustainable development, neighborhood stabilization, center city revitalization, job creation, promotion of the arts and culture, small town renewal, heritage tourism, economic development, and others.

Ironically, the federally funded urban renewal efforts of the mid-21^st century that were meant to improve poor conditions of buildings and urban areas, did just the opposite- they destroyed the urban fabric by removing historical structures and replacing them with buildings made of sub-par designs and materials. They also displaced low-income families and drove out small businesses.

Because this problem is so pervasive, tools are needed to remedy the lack of knowledge to preserving and rehabilitating a building. In response, a community design center with over 40 years of experience working in small towns has recognized this knowledge gap and developed a series of resources to preserve these building facades and make preservation more accessible.

“The Preservation Toolkit” is a resource to help users get started on executing preservation-based projects. This free, digitally interactive, and user-friendly resource covers a wide range of topics to make façade preservation achievable. Topics covered in the toolkit include understanding basic terms about preservation, defining the project, examining existing conditions, funding the project, implementation of a solution, documenting the project, and local and regional case studies. This resource is a guide through the often confusing and detailed process of rehabilitating a building façade. Because Mississippi has an abundance of historic buildings in need of preservation, this toolkit is intended to expand the role of preservation across the state by empowering people to take on preservation-based projects.

An additional resource created by the design center is geared toward downtown design standards for historic buildings. Created as a set of recommendations for property owners, the set of best practices includes drawings and photographs of typical small town, downtown structures, noting their scale, architectural styles and features. It also highlights case studies of improper construction versus proper construction in an easy-to-understand format.

Communities can also combat the by implementing façade improvement grant programs. These incentives cost very little to the community but yield far greater benefits. Building owners are incentivized with minimal funding to improve their façade. The funding serves as “match” money to contribute to a greater cause- improving the entire façade. Once multiple buildings take advantage of the grant program, the entire street is improved. Ultimately, the seed funding catalyzes community growth and development.

The goal of all these types of resources is to appeal to the average small town building owner or future buyer to make preservation accessible and understandable in a way that encourages more preservation of small-town building facades, ultimately reversing the trend of both physical and economic decline in these communities.

Communities that have invested in preserving their architectural heritage through building rehabilitation, and specifically, façade rehabilitation, have seen dramatic and positive impact. One building rehabilitation catalyzes another. The positive impact of historic preservation on the economy has been documented in six broad areas: 1) jobs, 2) property values, 3) heritage tourism, 4) environmental impact, 5) social impact, and 6) downtown revitalization.

Greenwood, MS is a perfect case study of how façade preservation throughout a downtown can transform a dying community to one that thrives. In 2002, a community design center was hired to create renderings of building facades on Greenwood’s Howard Avenue. After the public saw what the downtown could potentially look like once preservation efforts took place, several building owners were inspired to rehabilitate their facades. After minimal initial investment was leveraged for a series of grants and other private investment, the street was transformed. Today, the main thoroughfare in Greenwood is picturesque with thriving businesses, a boutique hotel and spa, and brick-lined streets. It has also become a regional destination for tourists.

Façade preservation is critical to reviving small towns. It is a major factor in bringing back businesses and improving the local economy. Yet the hurdles to revitalization are much broader than the lack of financial funding. The knowledge gap that exists to get a project from inception to completion is the main obstacle. However, with a community design center’s help, new resources are readily available to close that gap and allow communities to be empowered to attain well-preserved facades that contribute to the betterment of their downtowns.

https://www.achp.gov/sites/default/files/guidance/2018-06/Economic%20Impacts%20v5-FINAL.pdf

https://www.newspressnow.com/news/local_news/looking-back-at-urban-renewal-of-the-1970s/article_7cd89a33-42fc-5803-8933-3a5722fd203a.html

https://inclusivehistorian.com/urban-renewal/

https://www.landmarks.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Measuring-the-Economics-of-Preservation.pdf