Historic District Process Time Line for the Emporia Downtown Historic District Campaign
When Emporia Main Street worked with several community members to propose a Historic District, I'm not sure any of us understood what we were in for. Hours of research, education, marketing, legislative awareness, asset development over a three year period culminated in the formation of a Historic District in downtown Emporia on Saturday. As other communities contact us for "tips" on creating their own districts, and as we continue to communicate the wealth of information obtained through the process, it is important to identify how far we've come in the formation process. Below is a timeline of the Historic District process undertaken in Emporia:
January through March- 2009: Door to door advocacy effort of downtown property and business owners
March 2009: Initial rejection of the Historic District by the City of Emporia
January 2010: Emporia Main Street is named the "Legislative Liaison" of the Kansas Main Street programs, in charge of researching and communicating legislative issues that may affect Main Street communities, our member businesses, our mission and community visions.
May 2010: Multiple community committees form to begin the education process on Historic Preservation, and collect information for use in educational materials.
August 2010: Educational Brochures, Posters and a social media campaign to educate the public about Historic Districts is launched.
October 2010: Emporia Main Street is recognized for its efforts in education and advocacy on behalf of historic districts, historic tax credits and historic preservation by the Kansas Department of Commerce through Kansas Main Street.
November 2010: Petition of Support for a Historic District by local citizens
December 2010: Article in the national magazine "Downtown Promotional Reporter" detailing Historic Preservation education efforts by Emporia Main Street.
January 2011: Launch of the on-line Multimedia Historic District Education Piece
January 4, 2011: Letters to property owners and businesses within the environs of a proposed Historic District in Downtown Emporia inviting them to a free historic district and preservation meeting.
January 10, 2011: Online Chat with the Emporiagazette.com concerning preservation and historic districts.
January 12, 2011: Paper publication of the on-line Emporia Gazette.com "chat".
January 13, 2011: Preservation Workshop and First Public Meeting on the Historic District Concept in Emporia.
January 15, 2011: The Emporia Gazette conducted a community "poll" on the thoughts of citizens concerning the proposed Historic District.
January 20, 2011: Article on Preservation and Sustainability in the Emporia Gazette
January, 2011: Multiple radio interviews by 1400 AM KVOE concerning Historic Preservation and the Historic District.
January 26, 2011: The City of Emporia sends letters of to property owners within the environs of a proposed downtown historic district, inviting them to a public meeting.
February 6, 2011: The Topeka Capital Journal prints an article detailing preservation efforts in downtown Emporia entitled "Preservation Starts to Pay".
March 8, 2011: The City of Emporia hosts a second public meeting concerning the potential formation of a downtown historic district.
March 17, 2011: The City of Emporia votes unanimously to offer a letter of support for a downtown historic district. The vote is reported by various local media outlets.
April 6, 2011: Emporia Main Street contracts with Davis Preservation for help in the implementation of a downtown Historic District.
May 12, 2011: A third public meeting concerning the potential formation of a downtown historic district is held at the Granada Theatre.
June 2, 2011: Emporia Main Street is recognized for its efforts in Historic Preservation Education and Advocacy by the Kansas Preservation Alliance.
June 7, 2011: The initial survey report for the Downtown Historic District is compiled.
August 5, 2011: A "straw poll" vote was sent to all property owners within the proposed downtown historic district to collate feedback on public support.
December, 2011: The Emporia Main Street Design Committee researched and obtained historic photos of several buildings in the proposed downtown historic district. Utilizing the history of the buildings from our draft nomination prepared by Davis Preservation, and working with local graphic design firm IM Design, volunteers distributed framed historic photos to several building owners with the building histories adhered to the back side of the frame. This "door to door" activity coincided with historic district education.
January 2012: Negative Ballot Procedure among property owners within the proposed downtown historic district.
Power Point Presentations: "The Magnified Impact of Historic Preservation", "What being in a Historic District Means" and "What's the Deal with Historic Preservation" (for kids)
We have held four historic tours over the course of this project, each mentioning the historic district process in detail.
Our straw poll data, which included a postage free return postcard, saw over 70% of all respondents in favor of a historic district.
In addition to our own community, we've researched the impact of historic preservation activities on rural communities in Kansas by utilizing quarterly report information from Kansas Main Street communities. This information has been used to encourage preservation, utilization of incentive programs and maintenance of the State Historic Tax Credits.
We have presented the economic case for preservation to other Main Street communities, distributed information (upon request) to preservation enthusiasts, and even acted as a presenter at the State Historic Preservation Conference last year.
We collected and posted hundreds of historic Emporia photoson social media accounts to encourage public interaction with our architectural history and preservation. These photos collectively resulted in thousands of interactions from people all over the nation, and this technique is now being emulated by several other Main Street communities.
We utilized a public awareness campaign for historic preservation and historic districts that included the following media:
News print: The Emporia Gazette & The Shopper
Radio: 1400 AM KVOE, 104.9 FM "The Mix", Country 101.7 FM, KISS 103.1 FM, and 96.1 FM "The Wave"
Television: Cable One
Social Media: Constant Contact Electronic Newsletters, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin
Print Publications: Historic District Brochures by IM Design, Coordinating Posters, Multiple Direct Mailings, "The Case for a Historic District" Publications (5 variations).
Organizational Meetings: Multiple meetings with the City and service organizations like: The Optimist Club, The Lyons Club, Kiwanis Club, Rotary, Emporia State University groups, and various other civic organizations.
Door to door information releases: Emporia Main Street Staff, our Board of Directors, our Design Committee, Emporia Main Street general volunteers, our Preservation Consultant and Main Street interns blanketed the entire proposed historic district area on multiple occasions, distributing information and answering questions.
The citizens of Emporia have spoken on the Historic District question. The fact that only one negative letter and no negative phone calls were received by the state in a district that contains over 200 properties is an indication of the tremendous public effort made to educate area citizens on the realities of a historic district. It would be difficult to name all of the individuals who have contributed to this process without omission, but among the partner organizations we would like to recognize the Lyon County Historical Society, and Emporia Social Service Club. In addition, this process would be impossible without the quality work provided by past architects and contractors that built our contributing buildings and the wonderful businesses that have occupied and maintained these facilities over time.
The people of Emporia expect you to "know your stuff" as we promote different assets or activities to move the community forward. The Historic District process was long and difficult because it had to be. People needed an opportunity to digest information, pose hard questions, do independent research and challenge the process. We wanted to produce a campaign that went above and beyond anything seen like it in Kansas. We wanted to research and create tools beyond anything that had ever been done before. We wanted to create new marketing materials that explained the process in more detail than had ever been created in Kansas. We wanted to work to provide such good information over an extended period that people would not only become comfortable with the Historic District concept, the downtown would demand a Historic District. We live in a community that demands solid production, but that is one of the reasons WE LOVE EMPORIA! Thank you for your support on this issue, and we thank you for your continued support of the redevelopment of the community core.