Nov. 12, 2004
Lamar house receives 'Save America's Treasures' grant
State, federal funding tops $1 million
by Lucy Schultze
The Oxford EAGLE
The third in a string of government grants for the
restoration of the L.Q.C. Lamar house has been awarded from the
National Park Service's "Save America's Treasures" program.
The campaign to restore the North 14th Street home of the
noted attorney and statesman is slated to receive $390,000 from the
program, U.S. Sen. Trent Lott announced recently.
This award comes on the heels of a $300,000 grant from the
U.S. Department of the Interior appropriations bill, which was signed
by President Bush earlier this week. An additional $425,000 was
secured in April by state Sen. Gray Tollison and Rep. Jay Eads
through the Mississippi Department of Archives and History's
Community Heritage Grant program.
Government grants have put the fund-raising effort above the
$1 million mark less than a year after local preservationists secured
an option to buy the historic home.
"I never dreamed we'd be this far along this early," said
Maralyn Bullion, president of the Oxford-Lafayette County Heritage
Foundation.
OLCHF is set to purchase the home from Harold and Adeline
Houston on Dec. 15. Shortly thereafter, work will begin to stabilize
the house and to plan for its restoration and operation as a tourist
attraction.
The Heritage Foundation has hired the former head of the
Mississippi Heritage Trust, Stella Gray Bryant Sykes, to draft a
strategic plan for the restoration.
Among the aspects to consider will be how to best make the
house and its three-acre site accessible to the public, how to
structure its long-term management and how to promote it to visitors.
Preservationists envision a visitor's shop and parking lot and drive
accessing the property from behind.
Until Sykes' work gets underway, it's still too early to say
for sure how far the government grants will go toward completing the
project, architect Tom Howorth said.
"I don't think we're anywhere near through with the
fund-raising efforts, although this goes a long way," he said.
"For more than $1 million to already be raised for a piece of
property the Heritage Foundation hasn't yet acquired shows the
importance of this project."
The Lamar house, a national historic landmark, was home to
Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar (1825-1893) and his family for 20
years in the late 1800s.
Lamar served as U.S. representative and senator, and as
secretary of the interior before becoming the only Mississippian ever
to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court in 1888.
During the Civil War, he served as a Confederate officer and
diplomat. He gained national fame with an eloquent 1874 speech upon
the death of abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner in which he called
the southern states to reconciliation.
Today his home and the streetside marker which identifies it
stand shrouded in overgrown bushes. Its restoration has been a
long-time goal of local preservationists.
Howorth expects the project's three phases - buying the
property, restoring it and opening it to the public - could be
completed within three years.
Providing for its continued maintenance will be an ongoing
project, Howorth said. Ideally, an endowment supplemented by
admission proceeds will enable its long-term preservation.
- Lucy Schultze can be
reached at
lucyschultze@oxfordeagle.com