Businesses hope to preserve uptown history

Irmagard Siemer has a soft spot for history.

Her appliance business on Jackson's High Street has a multi-colored floor and a facade on the front of the building that is nothing close to what the building looked like when it was built many decades ago.

She is curious about the talk among Jackson's uptown merchants to form a historic district. The mention of preservation takes her back to her childhood days when she lived in a small German town.

She walks to the rear of the store and retrieves a postcard from her hometown. On it is a photograph of a tall brick building with an archway about the width of a driving lane. The town gateway was built in the 1200s or 1300s, she said. It's the only one of four left standing, and she cherishes the history across the world just as much as she does the heritage in the town she now calls home.

Siemer plans to attend a meeting today to address the issue of Jackson's historic district. She knows her business doesn't fit the image of a "historic" building with the metal facade and the bright, colorful interior, but she's all for protecting history.

And she's not the only one. Several merchants have shown interest in joining an official historic district. A chamber of commerce committee has invited uptown merchants and building owners to a 5:30 p.m. meeting today at the chamber building.

The committee met for the first time on Sept. 21. Uptown building owner Tom Strickland already refurbished one old building. He was seeking a designation on the National Register of Historic Places when he was advised that an entire district could be included.

A historic district would give individual property owners tax credits if they chose to remodel their buildings to restore buildings to their original look.

Drawing more interest

In theory, the historic status would draw more interest to the uptown area. It would also encourage a more uniform appearance uptown, promoting tourism and commerce at the various shops and businesses.

However, there will be some up-front investing. The building owners would have to agree to pay for consultants, who would complete a study of each building's history. The consultant's cost has not been disclosed, but the more owners who participate, the lower the cost would be for individual property owners.

Many of Jackson's buildings have interesting qualities. Ross Furniture and the Andrew Jackson, for instance, both have old rope-operated elevators for moving heavy items from the basement. The elevator in the Andrew Jackson broke recently. Ross still uses its elevator.

The original steps going down to the basement of the Andrew Jackson are bowed, not because the boards are bent, but because of the pounding they've taken over the last 100 years or so.

Gina Jansen, who has owned the Andrew Jackson formal clothing business for 12 years, said she's interested in the historical preservation idea -- and needs to know more -- but she doesn't own the building.

Some of the uptown building owners live out of state. One of the challenges the historic district committee might face is reaching, and getting cooperation, from all the building owners.

In all, 19 businesses on Main and High streets could be included in the district.

bmiller@semissourian.com

243-6635