The Cavalier daily :: Thursday, May 10, 1973 :: University of Virginia Library

Mike Gleason, chairman of
the Albemarle Charlottesville
American Independence
Bicentennial Commission, feels
"people have a staid attitude to
history, they feel it is a
chronological listing and the
account of events. This makes
the subject of history very dull
to them."

"This is a very significant
area," he pointed out. "This
community had more to do
with the expansion of the West
than any other area. If
youngsters are exposed to this
local history early in school,
they are being asked to take an
interest in the community."

According to Dr. Francis

CD/Larry Mann

Mr. Gleason: People-Oriented Bicentennial

Duke, a former professor of
the University, all but 11 of 34
historical landmarks in the area
have been destroyed in the past
decade. This is one example,
Mr. Gleason noted: "people are
apathetic and too concerned
with today – the present, and
life's trivia."

Through the interest stirred
up by the up-coming
celebration he hopes to obtain
a major goal: participation by
everyone. "We want to have a
purposeful, meaningful
organization, with different
people on the committees –
not the same ones,
businessmen, prominent
people, the town elite, that
have dominated the
committees for so long. The
housewife is just as important
as the professional woman,
who is just as important as the
black, and they all have
something to offer."

"I feel very strongly about
people involvement," Mr.
Gleason stressed. "Right now
there is pretty good public
interest. The community is
beginning to come around, and
realize this celebration will be a
major point in their personal
lives."

Many civic organizations
are getting involved, young
people are becoming interested
and there is a substantial
amount of support from the
University.

The Bicentennial
Commission is mainly
interested right now with old
Court House Square, which
contains a fine grouping of
some very old and worthwhile
buildings. The University, too,
though already registered as a
National Historical Site, still
maintains the Commission's
interest.

"The University is in the
right hands right now, so we're
not worried about it's future. I
think the efforts at restoration
and the Restoration Ball are
fantastic," Mr. Gleason noted.

"The Bicentennial has quite
a bit of support, and I hope it
continues to grow."

Mr. Gleason observed that
the impetus for support usually
comes from the University, not
from the City. "An excellent
rapport exists between them in
these matters, as the
community has been very
receptive to ideas proposed by
University students," he
concluded.

Our heritage should be very
precious to us, he contended,
yet it can be considered as an
endangered species, since
people in the past have not
been foresighted enough to
preserve sites for future
generations. People have
recently begun to realize that
progress may be doing more
harm than good to the relics of
American society.

Thus, this week has been
designated as National Historic
Preservation Week, and the
University and Charlottesville
have been taking part in the

CD/Larry Mann

Prof. Nichols: Preservation

proceedings. Last Friday,
Charlottesville Mayor Francis
Fife and Albemarle County
Board of Supervisors Chairman
signed a joint proclamation
reading, "As we approach the
200th anniversary of the
founding of this republic, it is
appropriate, indeed it is
imperative, that the American
people give heightened
attention to the preservation of
towns and villages, the
buildings and places across the
land that have shaped our lives
and are the tangible evidence
of our past as a people."

Tonight, the University will
sponsor an open forum in
Campbell Hall featuring Mr.
Gleason, Prof. Frederick D.
Nichols, and Mrs. Hiram B.
Ely. The forum begins at 6:45,
and everyone is invited – in
fact urged – to attend, not
only to learn about what has
been done and what can be
done, but also to raise
questions and complaints they
may have about preservation.

"The main thing is
preservation," according to Mr.
Nichols, Cary D. Langhorne
Prof. of Architecture. "It is
part of our historical heritage,
and it is part of ecology. That
is why there is so great an
interest among students
today."

"Our Lost Heritage is the
great cultural heritage we have
that is lost or already
destroyed." There are several
areas within the University that
are in danger of destruction,
the Amphitheater, the
Rotunda, and University
Avenue are the most
controversial.

"The Amphitheater would
be a big plus to the central
University, if even the cars
were just removed, "Mr.
Nichols pointed out. "A tunnel
from Alderman Library to the
C&O overpass has been
proposed earlier by Edward
Statinnius, a former rector of
the University." The Statinnius
proposal, as it was known,
provided for the development
of a second Lawn, on the other
side of Madison Hall, as Mr.
Jefferson had suggested.

"Mr. Jefferson was one of
the earliest people to be
involved with preservation. In
fact, he bought the Natural
Bridge to preserve it so no one
would exploit it or spoil it for
future generations. While
traveling in Europe, he
remarked on the destruction
that was already occurring
there."

"The proposed alteration to
the west front of the Capital,
to make room for tourist
parking and a cafeteria is not
needed," Mr. Nichols stated
emphatically. "If this front is
extended, the last of the
original capital building will be

CD/Larry Mann

Court House Square: A Major Concern of Commission

lost, since the rest has already
been extended."

As for student
participation, Mr. Nichols had
nothing but praise. "In the
University Avenue widening,
they were great, they really
tried. If more students would
join the SAH, they could lend
their support to lobbying and
the other work they do."

CD/Jim Brunetti

Mrs. Ely: Green Springs

The SAH is the Society of
Architectural Historians, open
to any student interested in the
history and preservation of our
architectural heritage.

"I hope the Bicentennial
will have enough effect to get
groups interested in
preservation. The theme of the
Bicentennial is preservation,"
Mr. Nichols noted.

"The Restoration Ball was
the first organized effort for
Preservation of the Rotunda; it
gave impetus to the movement
it would not have had," he
continued. "Interest was
aroused with a party, which
kept everyone interested and
sympathetic to the movement."

"Buildings must be evaluated
for intrinsic value," he felt,
"not what we consider to be
valuable now, but what was
considered valuable for others,
and what will be considered
valuable in the future."

"We must start now to
preserve buildings for the
future, so that people after us
will know how we lived. For
example, the hi-rise, is one of
the most significant
contributions to architecture,
and early examples of these are
beginning to be torn down.

An entire area that is
threatened due to the influx of
modern progress is Green
Springs, a 14,000-acre region
designated as a Historical
District, and entered as such in
the Virginia Landmarks Registrar.

Concerned citizens
originally formed Historic
Green Springs, Inc. to protest
against the maximum security
penal institution proposed by
the state. More recently, the
citizens have also been faced
with the possibility of a strip
mining operation in their area.

Mrs. Hiram B. Ely,
spokesman of the citizen's
group, will speak tonight on
"The Continuing Threat To
Our Architectural Heritage",
discussing the Green Springs
dilemma and bringing the case
up to the present time.

The designation of the area
as a national landmark would,
according to Mrs. Ely, "be a
very useful tool in protecting
the area."

Green Springs, which
pre-dates the Civil War, is
attempting to participate in
National Historic Preservation
Week to the fullest extent. Mrs.
Ely has no definite plans as yet
for their participation in the
Bicentennial celebration, but
they will offer their services in
any way possible.

Preserving the past is, in
any event, the wave of the
future. Membership in historic
preservation organizations has
tripled in the past five years, as
more people become aware.
Tonight's lectures hope to
further just that goal.