Field work for the first phase of an intensive historical survey in Mineral Point is going on this week.
Rowan Davidson of Legacy Architecture in Sheboygan said he would be on foot, walking through the city to update photos and information on historic structures for the reconnaissance survey.
About 20 people, many of them historic building owners, attended an hour-long public information meeting last week about the architectural and historical intensive survey.
A certified local government program grant of $32,500 from the Wisconsin Historical Society was awarded to the city to pay for part one of the survey. Approval of a grant application for the second phase is expected.
Part two will include a study of documents, photographs, files at state and local archives, city assessment and building records, and publishing the full report.
The last survey was in 1991-92, and covered buildings constructed up until 1943. That survey, which runs almost 300 pages, is available for check out at the Mineral Point Public Library and as a PDF online at the city Historic Preservation Commission’s resource page on the city web- site.
The ongoing survey will update the report and evaluate all buildings in the city that are not already included in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) district. The NRHP district is a list of properties that meet federal criteria.
Contributing historic buildings can be associated with significant events, people, or architectural styles.
Of 1,400 properties in the city, 1,000 are already included in the NRHP district. This is much larger than the local historic district, where the city can regulate property changes that might impact its historic character.
“It will give us better information on what’s out there,” said Jason Tish, local government and preservation education coordinator for the state historical society. “Mineral Point is a different animal when it comes to historic districts.”
The NRHP historic district, which is one square mile, was formed early and in a simplistic way, he said.
Neither the NRHP nor local historic district will be expanded.
“The survey is simply information the commission might use to make decisions, not drive decisions,” said Matthew Payne, chair of the Historic Preservation Commission.