Yup, historic preservation was once revolutionary, elegant and sexy.
When The National Historic Preservation Act was passed in 1966 (see previous post) it was revolutionary. Historic preservation became the means of reclaiming America from the onslaught of bulldozers, reclaiming its past. Fighting the demolition of Urban Renewal became a noble and heroic act.
“We do not use bombs to destroy irreplaceable structures related to the story of America’s civilization. We use the corrosion of neglect or the thrust of bulldozers… Connections between successive generations of Americans are broken by demolition. Sources of memory cease to exist.” – Albert Rains, who helped prompt the passage of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966
And then there was Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, who when she was first lady, restored the White House to its former glory and saved Washington’s Lafayette Square from being replaced by ugly government office buildings in the early 1960s.
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
And in 1975 Mrs Onassis stepped up to the plate and helped save Grand Central Station, a symbol of old Manhattan, a city that her grandfather had helped build.
At a press conference for Grand Central Terminal she said, “If we don’t care about our past we can’t have very much hope for our future. We’ve all heard that it’s too late, or that it has to happen, that it’s inevitable. But I don’t think that’s true. Because I think if there is a great effort, even if it’s the eleventh hour, then you can succeed and I know that’s what we’ll do.”
Grand Central Station, NYC
And writing to the mayor of New York City she penned, “Dear Mayor Beame…is it not cruel to let our city die by degrees, stripped of all her proud moments, until there is nothing left of all her history and beauty to inspire our children? If they are not inspired by the past of our city, where will they find the strength to fight for her future? Americans care about their past, but for short term gain they ignore it and tear down everything that matters…”
Grand Central Terminal was saved.
The wonderful article that can be read here, describes her efforts as “subtle, genuine and classy.”
And we in Newburyport look back at the people who saved our downtown Newburyport in 1968 as heroes.
Restoring downtown Newburyport, from “A Measure of Change”
For years I’ve heard historic preservationists referred to as the “hysterical committee,” or some variation thereof (and recently I asked a person who used this term if it only applied to people in Newburyport, and what they said is, “No, preservationists all over Massachusetts are called that.”) Somewhere along the way, historic preservationist went from being precieved as heroic and revolutionary, to being thought of as fussy and a nuisance, and quite frankly today, they/we are often on the defense, often losing, instead of on the offense and being identified as revolutionary and heroic.
Restoring downtown Newburyport, from “A Measure of Change”
(The photos of restoring downtown Newburypor are from the video, “A Measure of Change”)
In re-evaluating where historic preservation is in the 50th year of the passing of the The National Historic Preservation Act, somehow historic preservationists need to get their Mojo back. We need a present day Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, on the local and federal level. It sometimes feels as if we are right back in 1975 when Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis wrote, “Americans care about their past, but for short term gain they ignore it and tear down everything that matters…”