Neighborhood organizations put focus on revitalization

As more people take on the restoration and remodeling of homes in the city's older neighborhoods, they are forming active neighborhood groups focused on revitalization, beautification and preservation.

The Midtown Neighborhood Association presents a number of events each year to promote awareness of its historic heritage and to raise money for neighborhood improvements.

Midtown's No. 1 fund raiser is the annual Christmas Homes Tour, held on two consecutive days the first week of December. The tour allows people from outside the immediate area to view some of the showcase homes and participate in holiday festivities connected with the tour.

The Midtown group also hosts an Old Fashioned 4th of July Celebration complete with a parade. Booths are set up on the Drury campus and on the porches of historic homes in the area, according to Paula Ringer, Midtown representative to the city of Springfield's Landmark Board.

According to Ringer, the primary purpose of the neighborhood's annual events is to bring the public to the area to see how people have revitalized it and to get more people interested in renovating older properties.

"It is also a way to bring identity to a housing stock that is both limited and diminishing," she said.

Historic sites are ranked the second or third most popular tourism interest nationwide, Ringer stated. Springfield touts a number of national historic sites, including seven to eight buildings located on the Drury campus, she said.

Woodland Heights, an addition north of Commercial, just completed its first home and garden tour June 3 and 4. The tour included five Queen Anne Victorian homes and one patterned bungalow.

In addition to the home tour, an antique show was held in Lafayette Park, one of the oldest parks in the city, said Phyllis Ferguson, secretary of the Woodland Heights Neighborhood Association.

"The park was platted in 1859," Ferguson said. "The original park was fenced to keep the cattle out."

Since its inception, the neighborhood association has raised funds for a new drinking fountain in the park, plus flower beds and security lighting.

The members of the West Central Neighborhood Alliance have worked on a number of issues to help improve their area, according to alliance President Jack Pugh.

West central's first homes tour was held June 10 and included two Victorian homes, two bungalows and a combination business and residence that began its life as a neighborhood grocery store, Pugh said. The west central organization is also working with McGregor Elementary School and the city on a school-park project to complement the rebuilding of McGregor as a state-of-the-art facility, one of the improvements funded by the April school bond issue.

Pugh said the group recently received a $2,000 grant from CitiMortgage Inc. to help fund its efforts, and the alliance also is working with other groups to help senior citizen and low income families with needed home repairs and improvements.

A Neighborhood Assistance Program is also being considered. Through an NAP, businesses could receive 50 percent tax credits for donations of funds, materials or labor for home repairs.