April 21, 2003
State money secured for acquisition of L.Q.C. Lamar house
Line item provides $425,000 toward restoration
by Lucy Schultze
The Oxford EAGLE
A long-held dream of restoring one of Oxford's most historic
homes is closer to becoming reality.
Local preservationists learned Monday they will receive
$425,000 in state funds to acquire and restore the L.Q.C. Lamar house
on North 14th Avenue.
"We've just heard this morning and we're not sure when we'll
get it," Maralyn Bullion, president of the Oxford-Lafayette County
Heritage Foundation, said Monday afternoon. "When the money is
available we will finalize the purchase and transfer the title to the
Heritage Foundation."
A bill signed by Governor Ronnie Musgrove Saturday includes a
line item providing $425,000 to pay for "capital improvements,
repairing, renovating, restoring, rehabilitating, preserving,
furnishing, equipping and/or acquiring" the L.Q.C. Lamar house.
Sen. Gray Tollison tacked the line item onto a related bill
during conference committee meetings which resolved differences
between the House and Senate versions.
"(The Lamar house) is something worth preserving for
generations to come," Tollison said. "He was a national figure in the
19th century and one of first to work his way back into the Union
after the Civil War."
L.Q.C. Lamar served as U.S. senator and secretary of the
interior before becoming the only Mississippian ever to serve on the
U.S. Supreme Court in 1888.
He lived in the one-story colonial-style cottage between 1868
and 1888. The home was designated as a national historic landmark in
1975 and preservationists will begin the process of having it named a
state landmark once the sale is finalized.
The current owners, Harold and Adeline Houston, agreed in
January to a one-year option to sell the Lamar house to the Heritage
Foundation, ending several years of stalemate between the owners and
the preservationists.
The Heritage Foundation needed to raise another $75,000 for
the first phase of the restoration project, which includes finalizing
the sale, stabilizing the house and drafting the engineering plans.
The following phases will undertake a restoration of the home
and its operation and maintenance "for the benefit of the public and
the education of students."
The vision for the project includes bringing the house to
preservation standards as well as adding public access and parking, a
maintenance facility and a visitor center/museum. There is no
estimate yet of how much all this will cost.
The $425,000 grant is part of the $5.5 million allocated this
year by the Mississippi Legislature for the Community Heritage Grant
program, which supports the restoration of historic properties by
local governments and nonprofits.
Normally, the grants cannot provide acquisition funds and
recipients are chosen through the Mississippi Department of Archives
and History. Tollison's line item ensures that part of the money will
go toward the Lamar house.
Other lawmakers were able to push through similar line items
benefiting their communities. House Bill 1597 also designates
$250,000 to refurbish the Amory Regional Museum; $100,000 to restore
the courthouse in Jacinto; $75,000 to restore the Queen City Hotel in
Columbus; and $1 million to restore a school in Wesson.
Tollison said he cooperated with Rep. Jay Eads to secure the
line item for Oxford. Heritage Foundation member Gerald Walton first
approached Tollison with the idea about two years ago, but the
Houstons were not interested in selling the Lamar house at that time.
With the acquisition money secured, the Heritage Foundation
is setting up an advisory committee to lead the fund-raising campaign
and identify potential donors and grant-making foundations.
The Heritage Foundation also has plans to restore Burns
Belfry Church in partnership with the Oxford Development Association.
But its attention has lately been directed toward the Lamar house
since the one-year purchase option acted as a deadline to raise
acquisition funds.
"It just happened this came up and needed immediate
attention," Bullion said. "We'll get back to (the Belfry)."
The old church is envisioned as a meeting place and museum of
local African-American history. The project is waiting on paperwork
for the $100,000 grant it received in December through the Community
Heritage Grant program. A fund-raiser for the Belfry is being planned
for June.
To participate in or contribute to either effort, write to
the Oxford-Lafayette County Heritage Foundation at P.O. Box 622,
Oxford, MS 38655, or contact Bullion at 234-3299 or
mbullion@watervalley.net.