Holden names Southeast professor to state preservation board

As the newest member of the state Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, Bonnie Stepenoff's primary responsibility will be to review applications for the National Register of Historic Places.

The register is underused by both private property owners and government, she says. For example, Cape Girardeau could place the A.C. Brase Arena Building on the register as an example of Depression-era work relief programs. The city's Ozark rock houses, German buildings and Spanish-style buildings are other candidates. Buildings that represent women's history, black history and labor history are eligible for thematic designations. The buildings don't have to be representative of high-style architecture.

Gov. Bob Holden appointed Stepenoff to the 12-member council last week.

The council meets quarterly. It also advises the state Historic Preservation Office on preservation issues and comments on the state's five-year preservation plan. Stepenoff is the only member of the body from Southeast Missouri. The appointment is nonpolitical, but in a sense she will be the region's voice on the council.

"I will try to be a fair-minded person," she said. "But obviously I will have more familiarity with the resources and sensitivity to the resources here,."

Tiffany Patterson, the national register coordinator in the state Historic Preservation Office, said having Stepenoff on the board should be an advantage to the region.

"She can bring issues not only from Cape Girardeau but also Southeast Missouri. We haven't had somebody from the area in a long time. It may be like having a contact person," she said.

Stepenoff acknowledges that some property owners are wary about government restrictions on their rights.

"People misunderstand what a national register listing means," she says. "All it does is give historic designation. There are no restrictions for private property owners."

The designation does restrict what can be done to the property with federal money.

"It give the state and community a voice in what can be done with federal money that impacts historic properties," she said.

Stepenoff has headed the Historic Preservation Program at Southeast Missouri State University since 1995. She relinquished those responsibilities to Dr. Steve Hoffman this year.

She is the author of a book about the women silk workers of Pennsylvania in the early 20th century. Her second book, about iconoclastic Southeast Missouri farmer Thad Snow, will be published in December. She worked for the state preservation office and the state Historic Sites Program from 1984 to 1992. Her husband, Jerry Stepenoff, was the grants administrator in the state preservation office before retiring in 2000.

She is not a bottom-line preservationist, one who looks at preservation's economic benefits. But those benefits are real, she said.

"To preserve the character of your town, that makes people want to come to your town," she said.

Preservation also makes economic sense in another way.

"It is more economical to preserve what you have than to tear things down and build new," she said.

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182