Survey of Downtown Pittsburg, KS

Ben Moore Studio; Davis Preservation; City of Pittsburg

This report summarizes the results of an architectural survey of properties in the commercial core of Pittsburg, KS. The survey report covers results of the field survey and provides recommendations to the community including possible nomination of a downtown National Register historic district. The report also provides a map of surveyed properties and includes an inventory of property addresses. Inventory records are available at www.kshs.org/khri. From the report: "In 2019, the City of Pittsburg was awarded a Historic Preservation Fund Grant through the Kansas State Historic Preservation Office. Funds were allocated toward hiring a consultant to perform a historic resources survey of Downtown Pittsburg. The City contracted with Ben Moore Studio and Davis Preservation to carry out the work in September of that year. An initial public meeting was held on October 29th. Ben Moore and Kristy Johnson of Ben Moore Studio along with Christy Davis of Davis Preservation presented the goals of the survey project. Brittan Brenner represented the City of Pittsburg at the meeting. Members of the public who attended, of whom a large number own downtown properties, were eager to learn more about the project and the downtown area’s history. The consultants were met with wide support of the project. Johnson and Davis remained in Pittsburg on October 30th to begin field work. The team made a quick windshield survey of the downtown area early in the morning before getting out on foot and taking photographs and notes of each building. The survey area included buildings facing Broadway Street between Euclid Street at the south boundary and 11th Street at the north boundary of the area (see Survey Boundary map). One-hundred and twenty-seven (127) properties were photographed beginning at the west side of Broadway on Euclid, heading north, crossing Broadway at 11th Street and heading back south on the east side of Broadway. During the field work, the consultants noted that there were many resources outside of the agreed upon survey area on side streets stemming from Broadway with good historic integrity. Many hand-painted historic signs are also extant throughout the survey area. These items will be further discussed in the recommendations included with this report. Following the field work, the consultants began work organizing and detailing resources in a spreadsheet for upload into the Kansas Historic Resources Inventory (KHRI). A meeting was held November 14th at the SHPO between consultants, SHPO representatives and the City to finalize project requirements and goals for the report. A number of resources in the survey area were found to already have records on the KHRI. These properties were updated and new forms were created for those not previously surveyed. The survey area included seven (7) properties that were already either individually listed on the NRHP or were contributing to the existing Fourth and Broadway Historic District. Properties were updated or uploaded in two batches and the work done on KHRI was completed in April 2020. Consultants provided historic and architectural analysis of each property along with photos, while the City provided site plans and mapping for each property." Project funding was provided in part by a Historic Preservation Fund grant to the Kansas State Historical Society, administered by the State, Tribal, Local Plans and Grants division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior (grant number P19AF00217).

Survey of Downtown Pittsburg, KS

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