This Old House Honors Springfield
This Old House Magazine has listed Soringfield, Ohio's South Fountain Avenue in it's Best Old Neighborhoods for 2011 issue.
The area is already on the National Register of Historic Places.
I previously posted on the neighborhood here (with pictures!)
The South Fountain website appears to have disappeared. great timing....

Noose Son story here.

Springfield to Compete for America in Bloom Award

This summer, the city of Springfield will compete against similarly-sized cities in a national competition called America in Bloom, which concentrates on community efforts in categories such as tidiness, environment and heritage preservation.

Tidiness & environment aside, over the years, Springfield has demolished it's train station, essentially it's entire downtown, recently, an entire neighborhood, it's Memorial Hall is abandoned & slated for demolition, it's old city high school is abandoned, it's old men's club is abandoned, numerous old schools are vacant lots....
lotsa luck on the heritage preservation part, folks....

Noose Son story here.

Springfield Post Office Restoration Underway
Springfield's post office was built in the 30s and, surprise, was an Art Deco design. In utilitarian government fashion, a lot of the design elements were ignored and, in the 70s beautiful drop ceilings were installed covering up the upper portions of the rooms and hiding murals by Cincinnati artist, Herman Wessel. The Springfield Preservation Alliance knew about the murals depicting scenes of Springfield's industries of agriculture manufacturing and publishing. They considered moving and restoring them but figured it was cheaper ($78k) to just restore the post office including restoring the marble floor.
The Springfield post office is at 150 North Limestone Street (north end of downtown).

Noose Son story here.

Springfield's Historic Design Guidelines to get Update

The Springfield Historic Landmarks Commission is going to re-evaluate and update their guidelines for historic design issues for the first time in 24 years.
This is being done due to the historic and environmental review prompted by the hospital project (the one that eliminated an entire neighborhood and part of another).
A meeting will be held to get input from the public 7/30.

Noose Son story here

Resistance is Futile

photograph by William Fischer Jr
Springfield's Healthy City Investments has purchased the Clark County Memorial Hall.
The building, erected in 1915, was purchased for $400 thousand. Restoration is estimated at $12-15 million. Since such costs are prohibitive they are planning on demolishing the building, saving the facade and incorporating it into a new building. They might want to turn it around to face north towards the new hospital.
The Memorial Hall was home to The Springfield Symphony Orchestra for many years, hosted pop concerts, and small conventions. Most of these functions are handled at the Clark State Performing Arts Center, nowadays.

For more of William Fischer's pictures of the building go to HMdb.org

Noose Son story here.