Preservation month prompts friendly competition

Every year in May, local preservation groups, historical societies, and

business and civic organizations across the country celebrate Preservation Month through events that

promote historic places and heritage tourism, and that demonstrate the social and economic benefits of historic preservation.

The Auglaize County Historical Society is celebrating National Historic Preservation Month with several programs that reflect the county's unique, irreplaceable historic

buildings. In Wapakoneta, ACHS and the Wapakoneta Daily News are collaborating on the celebration with a month-long competition entitled, "Downtown Details Are Everything."

The rules of the competition are simple: throughout May the Daily News will publish a photograph of

an architectural detail in or near Wapakoneta's downtown commercial district, twenty details in all. Contest participants will jot down where the pictured detail is locatedthe specific street address and/or the business currently located in the building. Participants will then turn their completed lists into the Historical Society-206 W. Main

Street, Wapakoneta, or auglaizecountyhistory@bright.net by June 3.

Entries with the most correct answers will be placed in a drawing for a grand prize. The first place prize package includes: a one-year

subscription to the Wapakoneta Daily News, one-year membership in the Historical Society, $50 Chamber of Commerce gift certificate, $25 gift certificate for J. Marie's Restaurant, and a copy of the recent historical fiction book Blood And Honor: The Life and Times of Fur Trader Pierre-louis de Lorimier.

States Historical Society administrator Rachel Barber, "Historic buildings are more than their outer

shells. All the details of a buildingtrim, windows, doors, and more-work together to share its history and provide us with classic workmanship to appreciate and enjoy. Many folks seemed to enjoy our 'door identification' contest last year, so we thought we'd follow up with more beautiful details from

downtown Wapakoneta to highlight historic preservation month in

the community."

Sixty-five buildings in downtown Wapakoneta were listed in the National Register of Historic Places more than 30 years ago. They represent most major American architectural styles from the mid-19th century through the 1930s. They also reflect the economic, social, and cultural history of Wapakoneta.

Preservation Month began as National Preservation Week in 1973. In 2005, the National Trust extended the celebration to the entire month

of May and declared it Preservation Month to provide an even greater

opportunity to celebrate the diverse and unique heritage of our country's cities and states.

The first National Preservation Week was celebrated on May 6-12, 1973. At the annual meeting on October 27, 1972, in Washington, D.C.,

Donald T. Sheehan, a member of the Trustees Advisory Committee

on Membership & Public Relations, proposed the idea of the National Preservation Week as a "means of relating local and state preservation

progress to the national effort for the mutual benefits of both." The National Trust chose the second week of May because it coincided with the organization's annual award luncheon.

A Joint Congressional Resolution was introduced on February 15, 1973, by Sen. Henry M. Jackson (Dwash.), chairman of the Senate Interior and Insular Affairs Committee, to designate the week of May 6-12, 1973, as National Preservation Week. President Richard Nixon signed the resolution into law on May 5, 1973.

First Lady Patricia Nixon, who presented the National Trust

awards during the third annual Awards Luncheon on May 8th, also read the Presidential proclamation:

"As the pace of change accelerates in the world around us, Americans more than ever need a lively awareness of our roots and origins in the past on which to base our sense of

identity in the present and our directions for the future."

Mayors and governors throughout the country have since added their proclamations to President Nixon's.

May 2--We'll begin with one of the most iconic buildings in all of Wapakoneta, featured in countless

streetscape images.