The bricks, mortar, wood millwork, windows, and doors have
no soul. The books, artwork, sculpture,
photographs, and artifacts do not breathe.
The built environment of streets, sidewalks, stone retaining walls,
street lamps, and grid of neighborhood blocks do not speak, comprehend, or
plan. It’s “just dead stuff” to articulate
the profound statements of an apparent spokesperson of Heritage House
Apartments, a circa-1973 11-story tall government-subsidized public housing
complex placed smack dab in the middle of history. The apartment building, built by the RLDS
Church, on property obtained through eminent domain from an African-American
neighborhood, is surrounded by a historic neighborhood, the Truman National
Historic Landmark District, the circa 1840/1852 Owens-McCoy House (a National
Park Service Certified Santa Fe Trail Property), three nationally designated
pioneer trails (Santa Fe, Oregon, & California), and the Harry S Truman
Presidential Library & Museum. It’s
the only commercial building in the view shed of the front steps of the Truman
Library, a view President Truman himself was successful in protecting from
commercial development until his death in 1972.
The “dead stuff” quote ended up on the front page of the Local Section
of the Kansas City Star a few months ago quoting a gentleman who also happened
to be the father of the First District Councilwoman. He is also a resident of Heritage House with
a seventh-floor vantage point of our historic built environment that includes the
surrounding Antebellum, Victorian, and Craftsman-style homes occupied by living/breathing
families. These statements are very
revealing about the attitudes of many in the community and in City Hall, that
our rich history needs to be pushed to the “back of the bus” and is literally
and figuratively “dead.” And so there is
no need to include historic preservation into city planning efforts, economic
development strategies, and tourism opportunities. There appears to be some fear (as depicted in
the image above) that historic preservation is some kind of terrorizing threat
to the living!
