MUSEUM WANTS LANDMARK BILLING

The former police and fire station at Frederick and Independence has been an unofficial, local landmark for years. But it soon could be official.

If the Cape River Heritage Museum has its way, the city council will recognize the 86-year-old structure that houses the museum as a local landmark.

The first step in that process will occur at 7 tonight at city hall when the city's Historic Preservation Commission considers the matter.

The request must first gain the blessing of the preservation commission and then the planning and zoning commission before the council can consider it.

"We are thinking more of the community than the museum," museum President Dan Back said Tuesday. "We feel it has historical significance to the community so we kind of want to protect the facility."

The museum's director, Patty Mulkey, said that designating local landmarks could help promote public interest in the city's historic buildings.

"It's a matter of pride," she said.

The two-story brick building was built in 1909 as a jail, police court and fire department, and early on housed horse-drawn fire engines. By 1932, the building had been enlarged four times.

The jail and police station were relocated in 1960. The fire department closed its doors there in 1981, moving to its current station at Sprigg and Independence.

John Schneider, chairman of the preservation commission, said the landmark designation would call attention to part of Cape's history.

"There is no financial benefit to this," he said. "It is a prestige thing. It is something that gives people coming into the community an idea of what the history is."

The city still owns the building, but the museum has been housed there since 1981. Cape River Heritage Museum Inc. pays the city $1 a year to lease the structure.

Schneider said the landmark designation won't assure the building will never be torn down, but it would make it more difficult.

To be considered as a local landmark, a building or site must be at least 50 years old and have had some historic or architectural significance.

The landmark program is in its infancy. Schneider said two structures already have been designated as local landmarks -- the Old Lorimier Cemetery and the Charles Stiver house on Louisiana.

He said the city also has several structures that have been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Those also should be recognized as local landmarks, he said.