A new Historic Properties Commission board will be established Oct. 1 to preserve notable structures as well as acquire new historic properties.
“This is a very positive step for Oxford,” said Dianne Fergusson, vice chair of the Historic Properties Commission. “Creating this board means that the city recognizes the historic properties and that the mayor also sees the value. This board shows locals that the leaders of this city are serious about preserving Oxford’s historic qualities.”
Properties with great historical value such as the L.Q.C. Lamar House and the Cedar Oaks Mansion will now be overseen by the seven new commission members appointed by the Oxford Board of Aldermen and Mayor Pat Patterson.
“This group has been made with care to efficiently manage these properties,” Patterson said. “L.Q.C. Lamar is not only significant in Oxford history but in national history with the reference made by John F. Kennedy in Profiles in Courage. The L.Q.C Lamar House and all of these sites mean so much to Oxford.”
A budget set by the commission of $75,000 a year is now at the board’s disposal to maintain the grounds, maintenance and attracting tourism to the sites.
“We will cover A to Z when it comes to these historical properties,” board chairman Jim Pryor said. “We really want to attract more tourism to these sites and especially get local and outlying schools involved in field trips to visit them.”
Pryor has referenced a possibility to draw up lesson plans about the sites to offer to surrounding schools in hopes that field trips would result from a deeper education of Oxford. There has also been talk of a possible “trunk show” based around the homes for local schools to use with lesson plans.
“These trunk shows would be another way to get the younger generation interested in our town,” Pryor said. “The trunks would be filled with history from the houses to use along with lesson plans.”
Oxford resident and renowned history buff Jack Mayfield manages a few Double Decker tours of the town that try to incorporate the historic buildings of Oxford. He also writes town history columns for The Oxford Eagle and contributed a historical overview of a portion of L.Q.C. Lamar’s life, which is located in one room of the Lamar House.
“With this board’s creation we will have someone that has direct control of our town history preservation rather than the responsibility be portioned out in several different places,” Mayfield said. “This board will help marketing for the sites a little bit better to bring more visitors out and let them gain a sense of these homes and the famous family that lived in them.”
The board anticipates another property being added to the commission with that of the conclusion of renovations of the Burns-Belfry Church located on W. Jackson Avenue. Upon completion, the building will be a multi-cultural museum with an African-American core. If the church is voted into the collection of historic properties by the commission and board, it will be one of only 15 dedicated African-American museums in the state of Mississippi.
“The people of Oxford can feel more comfortable that there will be a dedicated effort to maintain and run these historical properties,” Pryor said. “Those that managed these properties in the past also had many other responsibilities besides the up keep of these properties and that was not fair to them. A more concentrated effort is what is needed and that is what this board is doing.”
