The number of requests for funding from La Plata, Montezuma and San Juan counties prompted the State Historical Fund to open an office in Durango.
It will be the organization’s first presence outside Denver.
“We want to be able to interact with grant applicants in a timely manner,” said Heather Bailey, who will start working in Durango on March 3.
Bailey comes to Durango from eastern Tennessee, where she did preservation planning for a 16-county area. Earlier, she was the state and national register historian for the Colorado Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation.
Bailey’s office will be in The Commons building at 701 Camino del Rio.
“This is a big deal for us,” said Ruth Lambert, the cultural programs director at the San Juan Mountains Association. “It’s more difficult to deal with the office in Denver, so it will be nice to have easier access to a preservation specialist and the grant process.”
Lambert has received State Historical Fund money for projects involving rural schools, rural cemeteries, a former Civilian Conservation Corps camp in Disappointment Valley north of Dolores and early-day shepherd tree carvings north of Bayfield.
San Juan County has been a major recipient of the fund’s largesse.
“It’s wonderful news,” said Bev Rich, San Juan County treasurer and chairwoman of the county’s Historical Society. “We’ve received millions and millions of dollars from the fund.”
Among the grants, Rich said, were four to restore the old county jail, now a museum, and three to restore the historic Mayflower Mill.
The county also has received several grants for projects at the old mining community of Animas Forks as well as grants to restore two buildings in downtown Silverton that burned a couple of years ago and a mini-hydro project, Rich said.
Mark Varian, research and education chairman at the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, said State Historical Fund grants over 20 years have permitted him to do projects that otherwise wouldn’t have been realized.
“The grants have allowed us to carry to a higher level projects in all three segments of our mission – archaeological research, public education and partnerships with Native Americans,” Varian said. “We’ve been able to produce tangible products.”
The Animas Museum in Durango also has received numerous grants from the fund, including one in 2008 to reroof the museum, a former elementary school.
The State Historical Fund was created in 1990 by a constitutional amendment that permitted limited gaming in the towns of Black Hawk and Central City in Gilpin County and Cripple Creek in Teller County. As a condition, the towns had to set aside a portion of their gaming tax revenue for historic preservation.
The three historic mining towns saw their main source of revenue dwindling so they decided to tap a new source, Bailey said.
“The revenue comes from only three sources,” Bailey said. “But it provides a wealth of funding.”
Grants, which are awarded for restoration of historic buildings, archaeological excavation, interpretation of historic places, preservation planning and education, vary from several hundred dollars to more than $200,000.
The fund to date has made 3,885 grants for a total of more than $254 million in all 64 Colorado counties.
daler@durangoherald.com
