"Our duty is to preserve what the past has had to say for itself, and to say for ourselves what shall be true for the future"
John Ruskin
A Brief History of the Buchanan Preservation Society
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Working to Save Buchanan’s Historic Resources Following a number of downtown demolitions in the 1960s, a group of people successfully countered a proposal to demolish Pears Mill in the 1980s. Members of that group formally organized the Buchanan Preservation Society in 1981, and went on to educate the community and others about the City’s milling history -- an activity that continues today. It also played a strong role in assisting with the recent rehabilitation of the damaged Millrace that powers the Pears Mill millstones.
When demolition threatened the City’s historic Ross-Sanders property, the BPS convinced the City it could be rehabilitated. In 2012, in partnership with the City and the Gateway Community Foundation, the BPS funded a historic structures report for the property, which will provide guidance for its future repair.
Early Surveys and Historic Districts Many of the founding members of the Buchanan Preservation Society supported one of Buchanan’s earliest preservation efforts, a historic resources survey, which resulted in the publication of Buchanan Past and Future in 1976. This important effort formed the basis for research and nomination of Buchanan’s two current National Register Historic Districts: Downtown in 2009, and the North and West Neighborhoods District, in 2011. |