MOUNT VERNON – The Knox County Landmarks Foundation told the Mount Vernon City Council it was upset with city plans to tear down three historic properties downtown even as the city closed on the fourth and final property for its municipal court project.
The city announced on July 26 that it had finalized contracts for the purchase of four buildings in downtown Mount Vernon, at 3 E. High, 16 N. Main, 4 E. Chestnut and 6 E. Chestnut streets. The city paid $350,000 for the last property at 16 N. Main St.
The High Street property on the northeast side of the Public Square will be the location of the new Municipal Courthouse and the offices of the City Law Director, the city said in its release. The properties on North Main and East Chestnut streets that are directly north of City Hall will be used as an annex for city offices. The city now owns these four properties.
But a day earlier at the City Council meeting, Phyllis Williams of the Knox County Landmarks Foundation urged the city to consider what the buildings meant to Mount Vernon’s history and heritage.
“Mount Vernon has already lost too many defining historical buildings,” she said. “Driving down West High Street one is amazed at what has gone - empty lots and generic chain concepts replacing what used to be a vibrant tax producing and very unique landscape.”
Removing the facades and the historic properties on the northeast corner will hurt the pride the community has in its history, she said.
“Destruction of these buildings is just one more step erasing the beauty of a unique and charming town, turning it into a non-place, a place that once was somewhere that people came to admire, that could be anywhere now in a bland, indefinable landscape of sameness,” Williams said. “A place that will not be memorable in the way we Americans remember and love our small towns.”
She commended the efforts to slow the loss of the city’s architectural history, such as the resurrection of the Grand Hotel, the restoration of the Woodward Opera House and the CA&C Depot.
The Landmarks Foundation has petitioned to direct the architects and planners for this development to prioritize saving the facades of the properties. She asked what community leaders other than the courts and police were on the committee for this development, and what commitment City Council had to save the facades.
“The city is researching ways to retain retail space downtown, and if necessary develop new retail space,” Mayor Matt Starr said in the city’s release. “Throughout this process, we will be focused on respecting the historical and architectural character of downtown as these new facilities are designed.”
Renovating the Plaza Building has become prohibitively expensive, he said. City Engineer Brian Ball said that $631,053 was spent on capital improvements on the building from 2016 through 2021, with another $91,000 slated to be spent this year.
“The Plaza Building is reaching the end of its life,” Ball said in the release. “Five years ago structural engineers advised us that the facility had about 10 years left before a complete structural overhaul would be required.”
Costs became a factor in considering other locations in downtown Mount Vernon, the release said.
“In researching a new location for the Court, we were focused on looking several decades down the road,” said Municipal Court Judge John Thatcher. “A city’s downtown is traditionally seen as the seat of government. The public should be able to find us easily.”
