Tuesday, February 16, 1999
Oxford takes stock of its historic past
Architecture, culture going online
BY RANDY McNUTT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
OXFORD — The city is filled with an eclectic blend of buildings, some of them surprisingly old.
That's why this Butler County city — the home of Miami University — will start surveying its architecture next month.
The project, “The Future for Oxford's Past: Oxford's Internet-Based Historic Information System,” will preserve cultural and architectural history with a database available on the Internet.
“It will provide a lot of recognition for our historic areas,” Planning Director Jane Howington said. “For example, yesterday a developer came into my office with plans to tear down a building. I said, "You do know that the building was the original post office.' He said, "Why, no.' This project will help us to know — and retain — information about our buildings.”
Work on the project will start next month and end in May 2000.
Recently, the Ohio Historic Preservation Office awarded Oxford a matching grant to conduct a computerized “historic architectural survey” of the Original Mile Square, including three locally designated historic districts.
The Original Mile Square is bounded on the east by Patterson Avenue (U.S. 27), on the north by Sycamore Street, on the west by College Avenue and on the south by Chestnut Street.
Ms. Howington said many of the buildings date to the mid-1800s. The neighborhood to be studied includes the original Miami University, founded in 1809.
“It is a university-city partnership project,” Ms. Howington said. “The university is a significant part of our historic infrastructure. So it needs to be involved.
She said the project's database also will feature cultural information.
“Oxford had a number of stops on the Underground Railroad,” she said. “We want that — and other cultural history — used as well in the project.”
Planner David M. Efland, who developed the project, said a goal is to increase cooperation and coordination among the university, city and community in general.
The grant will make the city eligible to apply for additional grants to help with preservation efforts.
“We'll use a new computer system to take historic inventory,” she said. “The information will become available and tied to other things — an integrated system for the rest of our land-use issues, including zoning. Ultimately, the information will be available to citizens if they want to look up the property through the city's Web site. The project will give more widespread recognition to where our historic properties are.”
The public needs such an accessible system, Mr. Efland said. “What better way than to use the most recent advances in technology to explore, visualize or debate an issue?” he said. “That's what local government should strive to do.”
The project, which will cost $15,000, is to be jointly financed by the Ohio Historic Preservation Office ($9,000), the city ($4,000) and Miami ($2,000).
Progress reports and reviews will be discussed during monthly meetings of Oxford's Historic Architectural Preservation Commission, which meets the first Wednesday of the month.
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