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Renaissance Main Street - The Liberty Street Campus
By Rhonda Riherd Trautman

Time seems to fly! It's been a while since my last article about the Renaissance Main Street Program and a lot has certainly happened during that short time. In this edition, I would like to cover some of the specific projects Renaissance Main Street is currently working on. The largest of these projects, the Liberty Street School, is a good place to begin…

The Liberty Street School Campus, listed on the National Registry for Historic Places, is located one block west of the downtown business square. The historic campus includes over 98,000 square feet of usable space housed in three primary buildings traditionally referred to as The Grade School, The Music Hall and the Old High School building. The Liberty Street Campus is one of downtown's historic links to the town's educational past. Liberty Female College was constructed on this site in 1875 and continued until the college closed. The buildings were eventually sold to the Glasgow School System where it operated the high school. During the past 70 years, the buildings have housed grades 1-12 in three architecturally significant Colonial Revival structures dating from 1927-1931. Two of the structures are the current home for Western Kentucky University's Glasgow Campus. WKU is scheduled to move into its new facility in the spring of 2002.

So, the reader might be asking "What are the plans for all this space once WKU moves?" Good question….By taking no action, these wonderful buildings are destined to experience further deterioration, vandalism and ultimately demolition. Although there is strong consensus in the community that something should be done with the campus exactly what should be done has been a source of ongoing debate and discussion.

The options have been considered, studied and researched by the Steering Committee for the past 2 years. During the first public forum held in September 1999 to discuss the Renaissance program, residents overwhelmingly supported the restoration of the Liberty Street School. In addition, the results of a market survey, conducted in June 2000, reinforced this idea. Many ideas such as housing, retail shops, a library, a community center, the recreation department and others were considered. As a result of these ideas, extensive research, community input and many committee meetings, Renaissance Main Street Glasgow has recently put plans into motion to begin the process of restoration and reuse.

First, the Old High School building has been designated for senior housing. The plans include between 20-24 one-bedroom apartments specifically designed to meet the needs of seniors in the area. Since Glasgow was just recently recognized as a Certified Retirement Community by the Kentucky Department of Tourism, the apartments will add to the variety of options available to local residents and those who move here in the future. Although completion of this project is a year or so away, my office has already received a number of phone calls from local residents interested in the apartments, a very encouraging sign of the need for this sort of facility.

The concept of converting part of the school campus into apartments is based on similar "school conversion" projects from all across the country. A wonderful example of this type of project is the Midway School Apartments in Midway, Kentucky. The development contract for the housing renovation was recently awarded to Gray Construction who will be working in partnership with the developer of the Midway project, AU Associates, to make this a premier housing complex the community can be proud of. The apartments will be "privately developed" and thus will receive no direct funding from the City or the Renaissance Main Street Glasgow Program. Financing for the project will include historic tax credits, private financing and HOME funds. Construction is expected to begin next year.

I realize the reader might now be thinking, "That's great but doesn't that leave a lot of other space? What's going on with the other parts of the campus?" To help answer that question, the Renaissance Main Street Program recently applied for a Major Revitalization Grant from Renaissance Kentucky to go towards renovation of the other buildings and fortunately, Glasgow was one of a number of cities to receive funding. At a recent awards ceremony in Danville, Glasgow was presented a check for $350,000 to go towards the local renovation/revitalization projects.

A large portion of this money, $250,000, will go towards renovation of the Old Music Hall (the middle building) into a new home for the Glasgow Parks and Recreation Department. The remaining money will be or has been used for a number of other smaller projects including additional streetscapes, funding for the Mary Wood Weldon Library feasibility study, and a "Guidelines to Downtown Renovation" booklet to assist building owners with renovation projects.

The Renaissance Main Street Committee believes the idea of moving the Recreation Department to Liberty Street is a great one for many reasons; due to current federal regulations related to ADA compliance and space requirements, the building currently occupied by the Glasgow Parks and Recreation Department is considered obsolete. Lack of ample storage, office space and conference rooms, insufficient parking, and complete lack of handicapped access have severely limited recreational programming, development and administration.

The additional space, the two gymnasiums and handicap accessibility improvements make the Liberty Street Building a logical location for the Recreational Department. By relocating the Recreation Department to the Liberty Street School Campus, the recreation programs and services will be more accessible and many residents, including the future apartment tenants, will be within short walking distance of the facilities.

Renaissance Main Street has yet to determine a specific use for the third remaining building on the campus although several ideas are being considered. The Committee believes this building is in the best shape of the three buildings and could serve a variety of community uses in the future. For example, the large kitchen and cafeteria space on the ground floor can be renovated into a reception hall and community room. The full-size commercial kitchen facility also allows for both catered and on-site dining activities. Alternative uses include a place for wedding receptions, civic meeting or rehearsal space, lectures, conferences, corporate training sessions, bridge clubs, reunions and annual meetings.

The upper two floors have many spacious rooms with large windows and ample space for potential public and non-profit organization office space, meeting rooms and other uses. WKU has already made many technological upgrades in parts of this building that could accommodate, for example, a community web-based resource room and Internet communications facility. Other available technology upgrades may also expand on these capabilities.

Renovation of this building will ultimately be dependent on future community needs, funding options, fundraising efforts, etc. Whatever the future use, the space will complement the other buildings and provide a central location for many services.

The remaining one-story buildings connecting the three larger buildings will be torn down. As many readers know, these buildings are not original to the campus; they were built in the 1950's and actually comprise a majority of the structural problems for the campus. By tearing these buildings down, the historic nature and individual architecture of the remaining buildings will be highlighted.

The Renaissance Main Street Program is commissioning a "Master Plan" for the campus in order to assure that all future uses complement each other and provide ample parking, sidewalks, green space, new exterior lighting and handicap access. The primary goal of the project is to make the Liberty Street School Campus useful once WKU vacates and most importantly, to identify uses that will serve the diverse needs of the community for many years to come. The Committee believes the uses identified and described in this article meet these criteria.

Strong community partnerships and support will be an important factor in the successful and continued operation of the Liberty Street School facility. Development of support groups and activities that promote downtown cultural/economic development initiatives will help sustain its operation. Renaissance/Main Street Glasgow, the City of Glasgow and others will continue to develop community partners for this project to ensure a viable, long-lived facility.

Numerous individuals, businesses, civic groups and clubs have written Renaissance Main Street Glasgow offering assistance, support and encouragement for this project. As program director of Renaissance Main Street, I welcome feedback and comments from the community. For information about this project or others related to the Renaissance Main Street Program, please contact me at 659-2183 or email renaissance@glasgow-ky.com.

Finally I ask readers to make a note of the following events planned for the downtown in the next couple of months. On September 22, the B & PW's Annual Arts and Crafts Fair will be held on the Square offering products from a wide variety of local and regional artists and craftsmen. Also on September 22, the "Global Fest in the Barrens" will be held in the Barren County Cultural Center parking lot. The Global Fest, a new event for the area, will offer musical entertainment and educational booths, beginning at 9:00 am. Food with an international flair will be available from 3:00pm - 9:00pm with along with continuous entertainment, children's events and educational booths.

On October 8 beginning at 7:00 pm, the Glasgow Community Band will hold a fall concert on the square so plan to come and enjoy music under the stars. Finally, the Renaissance Main Street Program will be hosting the first annual "Cruise Into Fall on the Square" on Saturday, October 13 from 10:00 a.m - 4:00 p.m. The Cruise In will showcase classic cars from far and wide. There will also be plenty of local musical entertainment, fun and food for everyone. Watch for specific information on these upcoming events in the few weeks. I hope to see everyone there!