14 Pierce County groups could share $100K for historic preservation projects

Fourteen historic preservation organizations in Pierce County are poised to share just over $100,000 in grant funding to help pay for a variety of local heritage projects and programs.

The funding is part of the Pierce County Landmarks and Historic Preservation Commission’s preservation grant program, which encourages countywide non-profit organizations, public agencies, and owners of properties listed on local historic registers to apply for grants to help pay for historic preservation or history-related projects. Funds are provided by Washington State legislation enacted in 2005 that directs one dollar of a five-dollar filing fee toward historic preservation and historical programming.

Maximum grant amounts fall into two categories: $15,000 for stabilization, restoration, or rehabilitation of local register-listed buildings or structures; and $7,500 for photographic/document preservation, historic markers, history research, and public events/programming. In the past, grants have been used to pay for surveys of historic properties and historic documents in Pierce County, the preservation of historic newspaper clippings, and restoration of a homestead cabin dating back to 1885.

This year’s application deadline expired in July. Pierce County’s Landmarks and Historic Preservation Commission received 20 grant applications, and evaluated those applications during public meetings in July and August, according to documents prepared by Pierce County staff. The commission recommended 14 applications share $100,405 in grant funding, while six applications were not recommended for funding.

Here is the breakdown:

Building Applications Recommended for Funding ($57,640)

Northpoint Cooperative Preschool – Dash Point School Preservation Project / $15,000
Longbranch Improvement Club – Preservation Phase 1 / $12,640
Pioneer Farm Museum – Schoolhouse Roof Repairs / $7,500
Fox Island Chapel – Steeple Restoration Project / $15,000
Morse Wildlife Preserve Barn – West Shed Roof Repair / $7,500

Building Applications NOT Recommended for Funding ($15,000)

Tacoma School District – Historic McCarver School Modernization / $15,000

Non-Building Applications Recommended for Funding ($42,765)

Steilacoom Historical Society & Museum – Interpretive Signs / $4,000
Fort Nisqually Foundation – Conservation & Collection Care / $4,600
Washington State Historical Society – Conservation of Historic Tacoma Ephemera / $7,500
Tacoma Public Library – Historic Tacoma/Pierce County Architectural Plans Scanning Project / $3,000
Points Northeast Historical Society – Preserving/Storage of Historic Photographs & Archival Material / $5,800
Puyallup Historical Society at Meeker Mansion – Newspaper Preservation / $865
Gig Harbor Boat Shop – Historic Avalon Pilot House Restoration / $7,500
Lakewood Historical Society – Historic Markers / $2,000
History Ink (HistoryLink) Writing Our History: Pierce County / $7,500

Non-Building Applications NOT Recommended for Funding ($29,150)

Tacoma Historical Society – Collection Care / $3,150
Pierce County Superior Court – Superior Court History Project / $7,500
Key Peninsula Historical Society and Museum – Preserving Key Peninsula History / $7,500
Buffalo Soldiers Museum – Labor Day Event / $7,000
Shanaman Sports Museum – Sports Program Flipbook / $4,000

Pierce County Council is tentatively scheduled to vote on a resolution to award the grants during a public meeting at 3 p.m. on Tues., Nov. 24, at the County-City Building, located at 930 Tacoma Ave. S., Room 1045, in Tacoma. More information is available online here and here and here.

14 Pierce County groups could share $100K for historic preservation projects

To read the Tacoma Daily Index‘s complete and comprehensive coverage of Pierce County Landmarks and Historic Preservation Commission’s preservation grant program, click on the following links: