Community members, architects and preservationists gathered to discuss the importance of downtown growth and historical preservation.
Save Our Stories (SOS) held a summer workshop at the Gethsemane Episcopal Church, 803 S. Washington St., on Saturday. About 20 people attended the event, which had five different speakers to educate people on how to preserve and restore historic structures, landscapes and districts in Marion.
“There’s a big movement to develop that downtown residential area,” Sue Bratton, secretary of S.O.S. said.
Brent Martin, architect and partner of SRKM Architecture, and Jeff Kumfer, SRKM Architecture project manager and partner, gave a presentation called ‘Loft Living and Managing Smart Growth in Downtown Commercial Districts.’ The duo talked about ways Marion can transform its downtown living opportunities to transform itself.
“Your goal should be to find something that is specific, that is measurable, and assignable,” Martin said.
David Homer, president of S.O.S., said it’s more than just providing downtown living opportunities in Marion but also taking care of structures and buildings that already exist.
“When we started this group we felt every building and every structure has a story to tell,” Homer said. “If you look at most communities where they’ve had success in that turn around, preservation has been a key component in that effort (in creating vitality),”
Paul Hayden, Northeast regional director for Indiana Landmarks, agreed.
“Marion has a great wealth of historic buildings and I think there is a great opportunity to rebuild itself,” he said, adding that having a variety of mixed - old and new - properties in a town was just as important.
The speakers invited to give presentations were ones Bratton thought could educate people best on historic preservation.
“I think that people who are here are going to learn about the benefits of having their property on the national register,” Bratton said. “I hope the ideas shared are ones we can take to make our downtown more vibrant.”