Historic survey connects past and present

Cynthia Ammerman attends a Newton Chamber of Commerce breakfast. Contributed by Cynthia Ammerman

By Sarah Beauchamp 

NEWTON—The survey of the historic downtown areas in Newton is the first survey these buildings have had in decades, and for some, it’s the first documentation of the building. 

Newton currently has two historic districts, and the survey by Polis: Cultural Planning will document the buildings while giving the city recommendations on possible expansions to the districts.

The company, hired by the city, began its work surveying buildings in late March. The survey looks at buildings in the section from First Street to Eighth Street and Plum to Oak. 

Buildings in historic districts are eligible for tax credits to maintain and restore them. Rebecca Likiardopoulos, the director of administrative service for the city, said this survey is the first step in the process for buildings to be eligible. 

Likiardopoulos added that the survey helps protect the culture of the community by documenting the buildings. She referenced cities like Derby and Andover, which are a similar age to Newton but lost many historic buildings due to weather because there was no documentation. 

“It helps build community,” Likiardopoulos said. “The larger box stores, you can find those anywhere in the United States.” 

Cynthia Ammerman leads the project surveying the buildings. Ammerman said her role is to analyze the buildings for multiple types of significance. 

“It crosses over everything from culture to built environment,” Ammerman said. “I specialize not just in the building, but who lived there, worked there, entertained there, worshiped there.” 

The city had the last historic survey done in the ’90s, so Ammerman is also updating records of buildings or adding new buildings that hadn’t been recorded previously. Ammerman said she builds off past research and works to fill in the gaps. 

“It’s like an investigation of the past research and also a snapshot of what the community is at the moment and then linking the past and present together,” Ammerman said. 

To do this, Ammerman looks at past newspapers, city directories and even congregational records, if necessary. This tells Ammerman more about the culture and the “who” behind the building. 

Part of Ammerman’s job is finding interesting pieces of the history of communities. For Newton, Ammerman said the most interesting thing she found was documentation of former Mexican settlements in the area. Although the building was gone, she said she pieced together information about it from pictures and documents. 

For buildings that haven’t been studied before, Ammerman said it takes her five to eight hours each from start to finish. This includes finding the history of the building, determining its age, researching it, writing a building description and uploading that information to a database for the state’s server. While collecting the data, Ammerman also has to create an Excel sheet to give to the state with all the information collected. 

At a recent planning and zoning commission meeting, Likiardopoulos reported that Ammerman and her team had surveyed 193 buildings so far, and 63 of those buildings were surveyed for the first time. 

Ammerman said at the time of talking with Harvey County Now that she was about 60 percent done with the survey. She hoped to have a rough draft for the city by July 4. 

The report will be written in both English and Spanish to reach more of the community. Ammerman said it would include information on how and where the city could expand its historic districts as well as information about the buildings. 

“It will be a blend of a snapshot of the findings and recommendations for moving forward,” Ammerman said. 

Some of the new surveys happened naturally. As time passes, more buildings are eligible for the historic designation. Ammerman said 50 years old is the typical age they start considering buildings for a historic designation. These guidelines are set by the Secretary of the Interior. Ammerman said she has a rubric of significance to look for. 

This includes architectural styles like mid-century modern, which is one of Ammerman’s favorites. 

“Those are some of the most highly designed buildings,” Ammerman said. 

One of the guidelines Ammerman follows is looking for craftsmanship in older buildings. 

“Today’s building philosophies don’t match longevity,” Ammerman said. “In the past, they were using higher quality materials.” 

“These types of features help buildings maintain uniqueness, and the special attention to details, such as wooden door dles, leaves an impression about a specific moment in design and construction that has been lost to mass production.” Ammerman said. Photo: Cynthia Ammerman 

Ammerman feels the preservation of buildings and resources will only get more important as time passes. She said preservation will always be the cheapest and greenest option. 

“With climate change and a lack of resources, it’s not as easy to get limestone in riverbeds,” Ammerman said. 

Ammerman finds the 50-year time frame useful for multiple reasons. For one, she said some people are still alive from when the buildings were constructed. 

This allows her to verify the information she finds. 

The other reason Ammerman finds the time frame valuable is due to the changes that happen over time. 

“A lot changes in 50 years,” Ammerman said. “It moves history forward. Instead of just thinking about the 1800s, this is about learning to appreciate our own past.” 

This is what draws Ammerman to the job. 

“It’s easy to dismiss our own significance in our communities if we’re only looking at the past,” Ammerman said. “A lot of times, we think former people were more important.” 

Ammerman also uses her time in communities to research people who weren’t documented, as well as others. 

“It’s important to highlight people not getting attention,” Ammerman said. “Thinking about [them] creates a broader narrative in our towns.” 

This has been an interest of Ammerman’s since she was a child. Ammerman said she grew up in a small town with family farms on both sides of her family. She spent her time exploring abandoned houses and cemeteries. 

Although she’s done this work in larger cities like New York, Ammerman said she prefers towns like Newton. 

“I enjoy working in rural communities,” Ammerman said. “Those roots won’t ever leave me.” 

“Example of the community precedent for creative uses of mid-century modern preservation.” Ammerman said. This is at the Axtell Educational Center. Photo by Cynthia Ammerman  

“The school building and site is a great example of preserving key elements, stories, and art of the Newton community. “Ammerman said. The paintings are at the Santa Fe 5/6 building. Photo by Cynthia Ammerman