By Curtis D. Tucker, Enid Buzz | Sunday, May 29, 2016
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ENID, Okla. - Main Street Enid is hosting Preservation is Golden: Oklahoma's 28th Annual Statewide Preservation Conference to be held June 1-3. The conference is one of the ways Oklahoma's preservation partners are joining Preservation50, the national celebration of the 50th anniversary of the National Historic Preservation Act. Conference sessions will highlight the many accomplishments in the preservation of the Nation's and Oklahoma's heritage that are direct results of the NHPA.
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The conference will be held at the Enid Symphony Center, 301 West Broadway, Enid, Oklahoma. The Enid Symphony Center (ESC) is located on the 4th and 5th floors of the historic Enid Masonic Temple, built in the 1920s. Conference registration will be in the 4th floor lobby.
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The Statewide Preservation Conference will include 7 historic tours downtown and around Enid! Contact Main Street Enid to register for the conference which is $50. Each tour is an additional $15, including lunch! (Volunteers receive free registration.) See the Conference Brochure.
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THURSDAY TOURS - June 2nd, 11:45am - 1:45pm
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Tour #1 - Historic Homes Tour
Learn about Enid “firsts” and several of the city’s residences listed in the National Register of Historic Places! The tour includes lunch at the Southard House Bed & Breakfast Inn in the Kenwood Historic District, and includes stops at the McChristy-Knox Mansion in the Waverley Historic District; the H.H. Champlin Mansion, home of one of Enid’s most prominent oil businessmen; the Kisner Mansion, home of Enid’s first drug store owner; and conclude with the Lamerton Mansion, residence of Enid’s first Doctor.
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Tour #2 - Terminal Grain Elevators Historic District Tour
Take the bus to the Enid Terminal Grain Elevators Historic District, included in the National Register of Historic Places for its association with economics and agriculture, as well as for its architectural and engineering significance. Then, experience these enormous concrete structures up-close as you complete a walking tour of this very distinctive part of the Enid skyline, led by Cynthia Savage, preparer of the National Register nomination. Participants in the architectural historians' luncheons at recent statewide preservation conferences are encouraged to register for this tour.
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Tour #3 - Downtown through the Decades
This walking tour highlights a historic building from each decade - 1900s, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. Experience Late Victorian, Classical Revival and Commercial style architecture, and see the variety of ways these buildings remain in productive use today. The Enid Downtown Historic District, roughly bounded by Maple Avenue, 2nd, Cherokee Avenue, and Adams, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and the buildings on the tour are district highlights.
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FRIDAY TOURS - June 3rd, 11:45am - 1:45pm
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Tour #4 - Historic Home & Garden Tour
Enjoy lunch in the garden of the newest home built in the Kenwood Historic District, historically Enid’s first neighborhood. Dividing time between the Kenwood Historic District and the Waverley Historic District, both listed in the National Register of Historic Places, tour participants will view some of Enid’s most beautiful homes and gardens.
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Tour #5 - Living Upstairs Downtown Tour
See what it’s like to live upstairs, above active businesses, within walking distance of great shopping and dining. These residential spaces are amazing examples of what unused upper floors can become. Be ready to walk and climb stairs.
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Tour #6 - Downtown Historic Walking Tour
Hear stories and watch reenactments of historic tales of the Cherokee Strip Land Run, which actually took place in present-day downtown Enid, and the Chisholm Trail.
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Tour #7 - Mid-Century Modern Tour
Several exemplary and unique works of Mid-Century Modern Architecture are found throughout Enid. As this generation of architecture comes of age and attains eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places, it is appropriate that we consider its significance in the collective memory of rural small town America. Tour participants will visit civic, commercial, religious, as well as residential examples of the period.
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VOLUNTEER
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Volunteers are a crucial part of this event and they are especially grateful for all of your help! Fill any or all the spots you would like to help with! This is a very important event for our community and it's a very special opportunity to volunteer for, as it's not every year that Enid gets to put on such an important event as this! Sign up here.
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Contact Melvena Heisch, Deputy SHPO, at 405/522-4484 or mheisch@okhistory.org or Kelly Tompkins, Director,
Main Street Enid, Inc., at 580/234-1 052 or Kelly@mainstreetenid.org. Also, see the conference blog at www.okpreservationconference.wordpress.com.
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