The summer of 2022 saw the loss of Columbia’s first hospital, MU’s first women’s dorm and several other buildings among the plan to demolish 12 buildings to save money at MU.
But a new group in town is mobilizing to stop the demolition. The Historic Preservation Alliance of Columbia will hold its next meeting at 7 p.m. on Aug. 30 in the Friends Room of the Columbia Public Library. The meeting will also be available on Zoom,
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/6934417978?pwd=NndkVzF2dHdYTWFweEVtK3dpdmhwZz09
Meeting ID: 693 441 7978
Passcode: 061201
Everyone is welcome to attend in person or on zoom.
The Historic Preservation Alliance of Columbia held its first meeting in May. It has three goals: to stop the demolition of historic buildings, to get the word out about the importance of history and historic buildings and to put historic salvage into circulation.
Whether you want to help with social media, take photographs, research demolition ordinances or set up a mailing system, the Alliance wants and needs you!
The Alliance acknowledges it can’t save the buildings at MU already demolished, but the group hopes to find ways to work with property owners to find ways to preserve and reuse buildings or at least save historic materials whether that’s doorknobs or bricks. Read up on the demolitions in this Aug. 25, 2022 Columbia Missourian article. https://www.columbiamissourian.com/special_section/welcome_back/mu-targets-12-buildings-on-campus-for-demolition/article_b41cb146-14f7-11ed-b687-f3aaaf501295.html
If you cannot attend, but still want to help or simply want to be on the mailing list to stay informed, send an email to dobrien387@gmail.com or sign up to receive regular mailings from this website CoMoHistoricPlaces.com. This is a nonprofit organization so you will never receive any solicitations to buy anything from CoMoHistoricPlaces.com
Let’s work together to save our historic buildings. If the 1935 Uptown Theatre can become retail space and the Berry Warehouse on Walnut Street can be used for an art gallery and housing, we can find uses for buildings on campus and throughout our city without demolition.
My father, Gene Benedict, started Central Brace Co behind those windows at the ground level. That was in the early 40’s. Born in ’46 I recall him showing me the iron lung room with kids my age kept breathing by those frightening machines. He later moved to the Professional Building on University Avenue. I managed to ‘steal’ a brick from the rubble of that building last week. I need to swipe another memento from Parker and one from Noyes where I was born.