A state council will decide tomorrow if eleven Missouri properties can be considered for a national list of historic sites. The National Register of Historic Places already lists 2,224 Missouri sites as certifiably historic. The Missouri Advisory Council on Historic Preservation will recommend whether eleven new sites should be added.
The list includes Troy’s downtown district, a residential district in Jefferson City, schools in Kansas City and Harrisburg, rows of houses or apartments in St. Louis and Kansas City, and individual homes and buildings in St. Louis, Bolivar, and Kansas City. In all, about 300 buildings are included in the applications.*
The state’s Historic Survey and Registration Coordinator, Michelle Diedriech, says a building is not historic just because it’s old. “Each building has a history but that doesn’t make it significant in terms of National Register listing,” she says.
Missouri is among the nation’s leaders in sites on the National Historic Register. But not every nominated site makes it. Diedriech says, “We’re not out to save every single building. It’s just those that contribute to our understanding of a locality overall in Missouri’s history.”
She says the process can take as long as a year. She compares preparing the application to writing a master’s thesis. The National Register usually makes decisions within 45 days afer getting recommendations from states.
*The sites to be considered tomorrow are:
Downtown Troy Historic District
Moreau Drive Historic District, Jefferson City
Dorris Row, a row of houses, St. Louis
Plaza House Apartments, Kansas city
Harrisburg School, Harrisburg
E. F. Swinney School, Kansas City
Downtown YMCA Building, St. Louis
National Cash Register Company Sales and Repair Building, St. Louis
First National Bank, Bolivar
St. Regis Hotel, Kansas City
Charles A. Braley House, Kansas City
AUDIO: Diedriech interview 16:11
