Historic City of Jefferson, Inc.

Dear HCJ members,

I am numb with sadness. I watched with disbelief as the Bassman house came down yesterday. How ironic that the most architecturally significant and least dilapidated of the 4 publicly owned houses on W. McCarty came down first. It was the one we had the best chance of saving but for the mayor's veto, the will of our city council was subverted. We had hoped that in the mayor's statement his reasoning would show some new and insightful information that guided him in his decision but we got old arguments; ...It is not historic,... we need a clean slate for the developers.... we must honor the grand vision developed by a former city council. These issues had been resolved to the satisfaction of our current city council. We had hoped it would be good enough for our mayor.

Two public misconceptions prevailed: 1) The properties were an eye sore and beyond repair and 2) It was a choice between historic preservation and a conference center. Neither of these were true. Architects, engineers and contractors were consulted and declared 3 or the 4 threatened properties were structurally sound. Eight potential conference center developers said the properties were not an impedence to their plans. But the mayor insisted the houses had to come down to make the area more appealing to conference center developers, even though these developers have said they could work around the properties which in restored states could have complimented their enterprise. The final insult was that $17,000 of our taxpayer's money was expended to destroy this part of our history.. If the chosen developer wanted the land and the buildings, why didn't we have them shoulder that expense? Is it not enough that the city is giving them the property?

Former councilman, Larry Vincent was quoted as saying that some people wanted the houses saved for no other reason than "they like old houses". Tourist destinations, like Hermann, MO to our east has turned their "old houses" into economic success. Economic developement and historic preservation can go hand in hand. In fact, in Hermann, it is historic preservation doing the heavy lifing for economic development.

Our old architecture embodies the soul of our city, the German craftsmen who built this city, who brought their art from the old country, our ancestors. When the buildings they built go, a part of our culture, our soul goes with them. The pride we feel in our city is built on the past. When we take away the past we diminish the appreciation of our city and its history. We are left soulless, generic, uninspiring and without an identity.

Based upon the mayor's encouragement that he wanted to see the Bassman saved, HCJ pushed with all its efforts toward this end. Nine months in 2007 were consumed with this effort. Countless hours, effort and even funds were directed toward saving the Bassman. We did succeed in gaining the support of our city council. There is no doubt that HCJ would not have invested this much of our resources without some direction from the mayor. Could he have been more up front with his intentions?

I, for one, want to thank those private parties who took much time and effort to present viable proposals to restore and return these historic properties to the tax rolls and economic activity. Their time was wasted too. Thanks also to everyone who contacted their councilmen and wrote letters. Steve Veile and Cathy Bordner have been inspirational in their efforts to our cause. Their statements at the Housing Authority hearing were right on the mark. Mary Ann Hall spent countless hours drawing renderings and showing the houses to interested parties.

I will not forget the heartbreak and disillusionment I felt yesterday. But HCJ will move on and hopefully we have gained some insight from this endeavor that will help us in future efforts.