The quote from Brian Treece in the Feb. 15, 2011 article on the five properties named to the Most Notable Properties list sums up the importance of the list: “History is all around us, and sometimes we forget that.” The article includes photographs, a slide show and a map.
A free, open to the public gala is planned to celebrate the five new Notable Properties. It will be held at 7 p.m. on Feb. 16, 2011 in the Columbia Public Library Friends Room.
In his quote, Treece, chairman of Columbia’s Historic Preservation Commission, was referring to Cosmo Park, which the article by Jamie Tanner notes was once the site of the Columbia Municipal Airport. Again, from Treece, “A lot of people don’t realize when they’re driving to their child’s soccer game or a picnic at Cosmo Park, they are driving on a runway of the old airport.”
Five properties were named to the list:
901 E. Broadway, Haden Building, 1921. Now the site of Commerce Bank, this building is on the site where the Haden Opera house once stood and dates back to 1921. The two previous buildings on this site burned down.
1602 Hinkson Ave., Joseph and Mary Duncan House, circa 1906. Built for retired farmer Joseph W. Duncan, it may have been built from mail-order plans, an idea suggested, the article notes, due to the “refined style and unusual combination of architectural styles…”
601 W. Broadway, A Fredendahl House, circa 1920s. Owned today by Mike and Jewell Keevins, according to the article, the house was built by A. Fredendahl, owner of Columbia’s first department store, which was located at 19-25 S. Ninth Street. The first floor of that building remains, while the upper floors were removed during the 1950s.
1615 Business Loop 70 W., Columbia Municipal Airport, 1970s. Now Cosmo Park, it was once site of a 110-acre farm of Moss Jones, which then became the location of the Allton Flying Service owned and operated by John and James Allton. They sold the site to Columbia for a municipal airport around 1932. The city expanded the site and operated the 500-acre facility as an airport until the 1960s, the article notes, before opening the Columbia Regional Airport south of Columbia.
310 N. Providence Road, Douglass High School, 1917. Built to serve the city’s African-American population prior to the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court ruling outlawing segregation, today, the school serves is an integrated high school. The full, complex history of the school can be found here.