Any given map of Oregon is dotted with places that tell stories of the past. Places that continue to live on, not only in memory but in reality, can include the most strikingly ornate house in town, a bridge that has crossed your favorite stretch of river for a century, the oldest grocery store in the county, a landscape that has been home to human activity long before settlers arrived or a brick apartment building that was once the studio of a famous author.
Everyday places exist that people have occupied, visited, and loved for 40, 100, 200 years. Even today, with our appreciation of history, culture, and sustainability, significant places regularly disappear from the map due to blatant neglect, unnecessary demolition, zealous development, and natural factors. In most cases, these places could have been saved and communities made richer through their preservation and continued use.
The Historic Preservation League of Oregon (HPLO) publishes an annual list of Oregon’s Most Endangered Places, a register of those historic buildings, sites, districts, structures and landscapes that need a little extra attention in order to make it to the second phase of their lives.
As for the specific places that make it on this year’s list, that’s where you come in. Oregonians across the state are invited to nominate a broad spectrum of places that matter to them. Whether grand or humble, east or west, public or private, settler, Victorian or mid-century modern, the Historic Preservation League of Oregon wants to help preserve and pass forward these irreplaceable assets by focusing public attention and resources on them.
Properties selected for the 2012 Most Endangered Places list will receive HPLO technical assistance to address immediate threats, provide educational resources to the local community, and develop strategies for their long term viability and preservation.
To nominate a location in the Bend area, contact Heidi Kennedy, City of Bend Planning Division, at 541-617-4524 or hkennedy@ci.bend.or.us by March 15, 2012.
