Downtown Gap Survey, City of Hutchinson

Davis Preservation; Davis, Christy

From introduction: "In 2012, the City of Hutchinson received a Historic Preservation Fund Grant from the Kansas Historical Society to complete a project entitled the Downtown Gap Area Survey, a historic survey of downtown properties in areas not fully documented or previously designated. Although many downtown properties, including some within the Downtown Gap Area, were surveyed in the early 1990s, historic preservation planning for downtown Hutchinson began in earnest a decade later. In early 2002, the City of Hutchinson received a Historic Preservation Fund Grant from the Kansas Historical Society to nominate “selected” downtown properties to the National Register of Historic Places. As part of the project, consultant Deon Wolfenbarger developed a Multiple Property Nomination entitled “Commercial and Industrial Resources of Hutchinson” and National Register nominations for two downtown historic districts, both listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. The Downtown North Historic District (see Figure 1) encompassed properties along Main Street and east to Poplar, bounded on the south by First Street and roughly on the north by the Santa Fe Railroad tracks. The Downtown Core South Historic District (see Figure 2) included mostly properties south of Avenue A. At the time that Hutchinson’s downtown was first evaluated for historic district eligibility, it was determined that the properties located between the two districts (gap area), roughly bounded on the north by First Street and the south by Avenue A, failed to meet requirements necessary to be designated as contributors to a historic district. Some, covered with metal slipcovers, lacked sufficient historic integrity. Others’ 1950s and early 1960s construction dates prevented their being included within the districts’ arbitrary periods of significance, which stretched to 1953. Unfortunately, this non-holistic preservation approach created unforeseen public policy challenges and a double standard toward downtown redevelopment. As investment within the historic district boundaries, some subsidized by historic tax credits, increased, investment in the gap area waned. Recently, property owners have taken a renewed interest in rehabilitating these properties, prompting the City of Hutchinson to pursue a re-evaluation of the area’s historic status with the aim of qualifying properties for preservation-related funding. Project funding was provided in part by a 2012 Historic Preservation Fund grant to the City of Hutchinson (project number KS-12-002) administered by the Kansas State Historic Preservation Office (grant number 20-12-41924) and the State, Tribal, and Local Plans and Grants Division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Hutchinson, Kansas is a Certified Local Government.

Downtown Gap Survey, City of Hutchinson

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