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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-01-14 Historical Preservation Committee Minutes January 14, 2008 CALL TO ORDER Chair, Betty Fuller, called the meeting to order at 10:07 a.m. The meeting was held at City Hall in the Pre-Council Chamber at 201 North Ector Drive, Euless, Texas. MEMBERS PRESENT Betty Fuller, Robert Nail, Iva Nail, Weldon Cannon, Gary Fieldsend, Ralph Williamson, Sue Stover, Thomas Stover, David Massey, Boyce Byers, Doris Brown, Billy Byers, Troy Fuller, Dan Clark, Glenn Walker, Beth Gathings, Helen Payton, Donna Mickan, David Brown, Don Martin, Norma Lively. RECOGNITION OF VISITORS Council Member Linda Martin STAFF PRESENT Betsy Deck, Communications/Marketing Manager Ray McDonald, Director of Parks and Community Services Michael Davenport, Special Events/Projects Supervisor Ofa "Mary" Faiva-Siale, Projects Coordinator APPROVAL OF MINUTES Tom Stover made the following corrections to the Agenda and Minutes: a. On the Agenda, under Docents' Reports, item number five, last bullet; it should say TCC instead of TCCC. b. On the Minutes, under Status of Current Projects, item number one, "widowed" should be used instead of"unmarried". Troy Fuller made a motion for the minutes to be approved with the corrections. David Massey seconded the motion, motion approved. TREASURER'S REPORTS Treasurer, Robert Nail, reported a balance of 57,385.84. A check for$1,500 was written for moving the windmill to Heritage Park. DOCENT'S REPORT/RECRUITMENT EHPC Mtg. 011408 1. Mrs. Fuller thanked James and Beth Gathings for serving as docents on Saturday, January 12. Mrs. Fuller also worked that day. Mrs. Gathings reported that seventeen people toured the property on Saturday. 2. Mrs. Fuller circulated a chart for the Committee's viewing. The chart will be for the Committee to use as a"Docent Training" sign off sheet. Once each member has a chance to serve with an"experienced" docent at the Fuller House, McCormick Barn and Himes Log House, their names will be checked off for each of the three facilities. This will help members become more familiar with the various presentations. Docent packets are available at the Fuller House for additional training. 3. Troy Fuller encouraged everyone to be more active in volunteering to serve as docents during tours. He gave an interesting account of how both the Fuller House and the Himes Log House were acquired, starting from the initial conversation about acquiring the Log House, down to Council presentations, and on to the final process of relocating the buildings to Heritage Park. He gave a reminder that the mission of the Historical Preservation Committee is to promote awareness and educate the public about the history of the area. 4. Dan Clark expressed the opinion that the Committee members were not the only ones that can act as docents on tours. He asked if it were possible to recruit students, interns or drama students to help docent. Donna Mickan knows the drama teacher at Trinity High School and she was asked to check on the possibility of students volunteering to docent as Mr. Clark suggests. Mrs. Mickan will speak with the drama teacher. 5. Gary Fieldsend, Robert and Iva Nail, David Brown and Betty Fuller will serve as docents on February 9, 2008 during regular open house. 6. David Massey, Troy Fuller, Betty Fuller, Robert Nail and Iva Nail volunteered to docent on February 12, 2008. North Euless Elementary School will be touring the facility. 7. Doris Brown, Betty Fuller, Ralph Williamson and Helen Payton volunteered to docent on February 19, 2008. Lakewood Elementary School will be touring the facility. 8. Tom and Sue Stover volunteered to docent on February 21, 2008. Spring Garden Elementary School will tour the property. Other docents will be recruited to help with this tour at next month's meeting. 9. A Tarrant County College Senior Citizen's group will be touring on March 13, 2008. Docents will be recruited at February's meeting. 10. Committee members who were docents on the last school tour reported that the school ran late due to their scheduling three tours on that day. Upon arrival at Heritage Park, the children ate lunch while Committee members waited for them to finish their meal. Mrs. Fuller will ask the school not to schedule three tours on the same day. STATUS OF CURRENT PROJECTS ..._. ............. ... _..... EHPC Mtg. 011408 1. Photo Scanning Project: a. Dan Clark and Gary Fieldsend are in charge of scanning the photographs. They have scanned over half of the "Founding Families" album but noted that it's a slow process. b. Don Martin is in charge of gathering unknown facts on many of the photographs being scanned. He passed around various photos needing additional information for the members to look over. Members who had information on each photo noted them and returned the photos to Mr. Martin. c. A staff member will take over the project and scan the photos for the Committee. Members were very grateful that this will be done. d. Mr. Clark suggested that once some of these photos are scanned, they should be displayed at the Library for the public's view. He suggested that a dozen or so be rotated monthly in a display section near the front of the Library. Once the Historical room is ready, the display can be moved in there. Mrs. Fuller will speak with Kate Lyon about the possibility of having a display like Mr. Clark suggests. 2. Library History Wall: Tom Stover was asked to describe the project for the benefit of the new members. He explained that the Library Foundation does not make any money on the project. In addition, the Foundation is paying for the Himes Log House tile. The Log House tile is done and ready to be fired in a kiln. Once this is done, it will be ready for display. A reminder was given about the Mary Ann Trigg tile donation box. 3. Calloway Cemetery: a. Mr. Byers reported that Mary Ann Trigg's tombstone has been restored but has not been returned to the gravesite. b. Mr. Byers further expressed his appreciation to the Parks staff for the excellent job they've done maintaining and up-keeping the property. Other members expressed their appreciation to the City as well. c. Due to the extensive work required to organize the surveys previously collected by the Committee, Mrs. Fuller asked that the project be postponed until a more convenient time for the members. 4. Photo Album Project: This project will also be postponed until the Calloway Cemetery Project is near completion. Volunteers for this project were; Doris Brown, Donna Mickan, Sue Stover and Helen Payton. 5. Local Marker Project: It was agreed at the last local marker program discussion in 2007 that the Committee will meet with the City of Grapevine to get samples of their marker project. Once samples are obtained and the Committee agrees on a design for the marker, City staff will proceed with the required process to complete the project. 6. Oral History Project: Staff reported that the Tubby Huffman interview has been completed and turned in to Dan Clark. The Annie Huffman Lees and Jennie Fuller Payton interviews have also been emaiied to Mr. Clark. Mr. Clark will have the interviews posted on the website as soon as he is done with the project. EHPC Mtg. 011408 MCCORMICK BARN / OUTDOOR UPDATE 1. Windmill Project: The owners of the windmill suddenly contacted Mr. Byers during the Christmas holidays to have the windmill moved if the Committee were still interested in it. The windmill had to be relocated to Heritage Park on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The whole project was completed a few days later. 2. Mr. Byers looked over the horse trough that he had considered acquiring for the Museum and decided it was in too fragile a condition to relocate to Heritage Park. 3. Staff indicated that a zippy tie was placed on the corn grinder at Heritage Park per Mrs. Nail's request. There were concerns about children's fingers getting caught in the grinder. The ties can be cut when presentations are given. Staff will place the ties back on the corn grinder when presentations are done. HIMES LOG HOUSE UPDATE 1. Staff completed the "Do Not Touch" signs and they have been placed in the Log House. FULLER HOUSE UPDATE CHAIRMAN'S REPORT 1. The February meeting is scheduled to be held at the Fuller House. Donna Mickan made a motion to have the meeting in the Pre-Council Chamber at City Hall. David Massey seconded the motion. There were no oppositions to the motion, motion was approved. 2. It was reported that Mrs. Payton never missed a meeting in 2007. She also volunteers as docent on many of the elementary school tours. 3. It was mentioned that the toilet upstairs in the Fuller House was used. Staff will take care of the situation. 4. There's been a delay on the expansion project at the Library. COMMITTEE REPORTS 1. Helen Payton inquired if some re-arranging could be done at the Fuller House. Artifacts and furniture in the three bedrooms need to be re-arranged in order to allow better access to all areas in the house. Committee members agreed that re-arranging the house would be a good idea. 2. Boyce Byers briefly discussed the possibility of resigning from the Committee as she is unable to serve in the capacity she is used to. The Committee did not share Mrs. Byers' views and disagreed with the possibility of her resigning. 3. Mrs. Nail expressed her heartfelt appreciation to the City staff for everything they do for the Committee. EHPC Mtg. 011408 4. Mr. Clark suggested that an Arbor Daze sub-committee be set up to plan exhibits, promotional material, booth set up, etc. for the event. David Brown volunteered to chair the committee and Dan Clark will help with the project. Mrs. Fuller and Weldon Cannon will advise on the project. 5. Mrs. Payton asked if it were possible to obtain enlarged photographs of the moving of the Log House and the Fuller House to Heritage Park. Children are often curious about the process and it would be nice to have photographs for presentation. Staff will have this done for the Committee. 6. Weldon Cannon reported on the following: a. Mr. Cannon shared an interesting fact about his visit to the Haltom Mansion last month. There are between six and seven hundred shrubberies on the property that came from Ross Cannon's nursery. Ross Cannon was Troy Fuller, Billy Byers, Weldon Cannon and Helen Gleghorn's grandfather. The nursery used to be located on the property across from South Euless Elementary School. b. An application has been submitted to Austin for a Texas State Historical Marker. If the application is approved, the marker will go on the original location of Ross Cannon's Nursery across from South Euless Elementary School. Mr. Cannon thanked Ray McDonald for agreeing to receive the marker here in Euless rather than having it shipped to Temple, Texas, where Mr. Cannon resides. c. Furthermore, Mr. Cannon is in the process of writing an application for a historical marker to go on the South Euless Elementary School property; this of course was originally Euless High School (1913-1955). 7. Glenn Walker suggested doing historical calendars of Euless as a way of promoting the Museum and Heritage Park. Mrs. Fuller and others in the Committee thought this would be a great idea and will look into the prospect. VISITORS REPORT 1. Council Member Linda Martin thanked Ray, Michael and Ofa for all the hard work they do in meeting the needs of the Committee. Mrs. Martin felt that the dedication of the Committee and everyone in the room is what makes Euless such a great city. She also gave a reminder of the Town Hall meeting on January 24, 2008 at 7 p.m. STAFF REPORT 1. All new members have been given their name tags. Shirt sizes are still needed for new members. 2. Staff will begin transcribing the Tongan Community recordings next week. 3. Mrs. Fuller will give staff an interview of Troy Fuller's father to transcribe in the near future. 4. Betsy Deck distributed and discussed information on the new solid waste pick up procedure. The new process will begin on March 1, 2008. EHPC Mtg. 011408 ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 11:45 a.m. Respectfully submitted by Ofa"Mary" Faiva-Siale Projects Coordinator Euless Parks & Community Services EHPC Mtg. 011408