Brownsville to receive Historic Preservation Fund Grant

Gov. Bill Haslam and the Tennessee Historical Commission recently announced 28 grants to support the preservation of historic and archaeological sites, districts and structures. Among them, a $18,000 grant for surveying of the Brownsville historic districts.

“History becomes real when you visit these sites, and it matters that the state helps reflect on and protects its historic places,” Haslam said. “Today’s announcement represents more than $600,000 in assistance to communities across the state, ensuring that Tennessee’s rich history will continue to be shared with future generations.”

This year’s selection process emphasized projects conducting architectural, archaeological and historic site surveys.  Such projects are designed to identify and to record historic districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects built before 1960 that are significant to Tennessee's history.

Surveys could be for a specific geographic area or for sites associated with themes or events significant in the state's history.  Priorities for funding survey projects included areas experiencing rapid growth and development, other threats to cultural resources, areas where there are serious gaps in knowledge regarding cultural resources, and thematic surveys based upon existing historic study units produced by the State Historic Preservation Office.

“These grants help facilitate the protection and revitalization of Tennessee's treasured historic buildings, sites and neighborhoods – places that make our state unique,” said Patrick McIntyre, executive director of the Tennessee Historical Commission.  “Heritage tourism is one of our state's biggest industries, and restoring historic buildings creates construction jobs and is key to helping create a sustainable environment.”

Assistance also was made available for other types of historic preservation projects, including preservation planning studies for towns, neighborhoods and historic districts; the preparation of nominations to the National Register of Historic Places; planning or pre-development work necessary to undertake restoration of a historic property; and restoration of historic properties. For restoration or restoration pre-planning, properties must be listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

The grants come from federal funds allocated by the Department of Interior under the provisions of the National Historic Preservation Act. The programs in Tennessee authorized by this Act are administered by the Tennessee Historical Commission. The grants pay for up to 60 percent of the costs of approved project work, and the grant recipient must provide the remaining 40 percent of the costs as matching funds.

The grant recipients and/or sites of the projects include:

Anderson County: Coal Creek Watershed Foundation, Inc. - $9,000 for the restoration and painting of the Briceville Community Church.

Carter County: Sycamore Shoals State Historic Park – $24,000 to survey the grounds of Sabine Hill for the locations of outbuildings and other possible features on the 4.28-acre site.

Claiborne County: Claiborne County Historical Society - $16,740 for brick and stone work restoration and repairs to shutters and windows for the historic Claiborne County jail.

Fentress County: Sgt. York Patriotic Foundation - $45,708 for the continued rehabilitation of the north addition of the York Agricultural Institute building.

Haywood County: City of Brownsville - $18,000 for a survey of the city’s commercial and residential historic districts.  

Montgomery County: City of Clarksville - $15,000 to update the city’s existing historic district guidelines, including revising and expanding the standards with more detail and graphics.

City of Clarksville - $20,000 for a restoration plan for the Smith-Trahern Mansion.

Putnam County: Silver Point Community Association - $7,788 to repair and replace missing and broken windows in the West End Church of Christ in the Silver Point community.

Rhea County: Friends of Cumberland Trail - $12,000 to prepare a multiple property submission and nominations for historic resources associated with the Dayton Coal and Iron Company.

Rhea County - $15,000 for the restoration and repair of the Rhea County Courthouse’s windows and doors.   

Roane County: City of Harriman - $25,000 for the structural repair and stabilization of the Temperance Building.

Sullivan County: Sullivan County Government - $10,200 to survey and update the National Register nomination for the Blountville Historic District.  The revised nomination will include Battle of Blountville Civil War information.

Sumner County: Fullerton Laboratory for Spatial Technology (Murfreesboro, MTSU) - $15,842 to use airborne remote sensing technology to survey the topography of the Castalian Springs area, in an attempt to locate prehistoric and historic sites in the vicinity and compare the data with previous ground observations.


Multi-County Grants:
Tennessee Division of Archaeology - $35,009 to fund a survey of Rosenwald Schools and sites located throughout the state, involving schools built in the United States primarily for the education of African Americans in the 20th century.

Tennessee Preservation Trust - $15,000 to fund the 2013 Statewide Historic Preservation Conference.

Tennessee History for Kids - $8,000 to fund posters for Tennessee schools and libraries, highlighting historic preservation in Tennessee.

Middle Tennessee State University - $35,000 to digitize data for historic /architectural survey files and for survey data entry for computerization of survey files.

East Tennessee State University - $11,500 to survey rock shelter selection by prehistoric inhabitants of the Upper Cumberland Plateau, using GIS technology.

University of Tennessee - $21,896 for a prehistoric site survey of the South Cumberland Plateau, a cooperative effort between UT and Sewanee: The University of the South.

Center for Historic Preservation at Middle Tennessee State University - $9,470 to prepare a multiple-property submission and two National Register nominations for properties associated with the East Tennessee marble industry.

Upper Cumberland Institute / Tennessee Technological Institute - $15,000 to fund survey data entry for the computerization of historic and architectural survey files.

South Central Tennessee Development District - $50,000 to fund a preservation specialist staff position for the South Central Tennessee Development District.

East Tennessee Development District - $32,000 to fund a preservation specialist staff position for the East Tennessee Development District.

First Tennessee Development District - $25,000 to fund a preservation specialist staff position for the First Tennessee Development District.

Greater Nashville Regional Council - $25,000 to fund a preservation specialist staff position for the Greater Nashville Regional Council.

Southeast Tennessee Development District - $52,000 to fund a preservation specialist staff position for the Southeast Tennessee Development District.

Southwest Tennessee Development District - $54,028 to fund a preservation specialist staff position for the Southwest Tennessee Development District.

Upper Cumberland Development District - $50,000 to fund a preservation specialist staff position for the Upper Cumberland Development District.

For more information about the Tennessee Historical Commission, please visit the website at: www.tn.gov/environment/hist.