RELEASE
May 23, 2007
8th and Pennsylvania: Past, Present & Future
Lecture and Walking Tour
Saturday, June 9th at 9:30 a.m.
Poehler Building, 619 E. 8th Street
Members Free
Non-members $3
Lawrence Preservation Alliance is pleased to announce a special public tour of a unique corner of old Lawrence soon to undergo redevelopment. Join us for a fascinating program at the Poehler Building that will include remarks on the early history of the area by Helen Krische, archivist for the Watkins Community Museum of History, and information on the current buildings and future plans by project developer Bo Harris, owner of Harris Construction. After the presentations, Mr. Harris will lead us on a walking tour of the area, including interior walkthroughs of four buildings in the 800 block of Pennsylvania. This is a “can’t miss” opportunity to tour an historic corner of old Lawrence before redevelopment writes a new chapter in its already rich history.
While it is important for residents interested in city history to tour the vacant remnants of this early Lawrence industrial part before redevelopment, the fact is this area, known as the East Bottoms, has served as home to several ethnic enclaves. Several native tribes lived in or passed through the area from 1800-54. Just after the Civil War, clusters of small structures housed freed Blacks who had traveled north to make a new life. Later, when he Santa Fe Railroad came through, the company built a housing complex known as La Yarda that was home to Mexican immigrants recruited to work repairing the tracks. Many descendants of these early residents still call Lawrence home to this day.
The 800 blocks of Delaware and Pennsylvania streets, as well as light industrial areas east and north to the Santa Fe tracks, are all part of a proposed Urban Conservation Overlay District. Included in this area is the new East Lawrence Industrial Historic District, featuring the old Poehler Warehouse and a mix of other industrial buildings dating from the 1880s through the 1920s, which will undergo adaptive rehabilitation using federal and state tax credits.
Press Contacts:
Dennis Brown, LPA President, 841-2460
Phyllis L. Hunter, Executive Assistant to Roger N. "Bo" Harris, 841-4163
For further information for the public:
Dennis Brown, LPA President, 841-2460
back to Events