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Grants may help save home that hid slaves
by Gregory R. Norfleet · News · November 27, 2024
If a local home that served as a stop along the Underground Railroad appears in sound condition, the City of West Branch may provide $20,000 or more to get it fixed up for tourism.
At the Nov. 4 City Council meeting, the members heard that the Historic Preservation Commission asked for $20,000 from the city’s Low- to Moderate-Income fund to fix up Traveler’s Rest on East Main Street.
City Administrator Adam Kofoed said East Central Intergovernmental Association (ECIA) acquired a combined $100,000 in federal grants, but bids suggest they need another $40,000.
City Administrator Adam Kofoed said the city recently added $40,000 to the LMI account, bringing it to about $83,000.
LMI can be used to improve a home’s interior, and Traveler’s Rest needs work to remove asbestos and lead paint.
“Given its historical significance, most people didn’t want to bid” on the work, Kofoed said. “The bids came in really high.”
The city administrator said he asked for $20,000 “because I think you guys … would want a little bit more say in what happens to the future of the house.”
“There would be at least $10,000 from local family foundations, property owners putting in money,” Kofoed said. “We’re right there at the number.”
He said that the National Park Service agreed to help get Traveler’s Rest on the National Registry of Historic Places. Also, he is working with the Hoover Presidential Foundation to try to find ways to tie the Underground Railroad to Hoover.
The Underground Railroad operated from the late 1700s to the end of the Civil War in 1865. Hoover was born in 1874.
If the city can tie the two together, that gives them more access to resources, Kofoed said.
Council member Jerry Sexton said that his experience in construction tells him to look first at the building’s foundation.
“Is the foundation in stable, good condition to do interior work?” he asked.
Kofoed said he would take that question to ECIA’s Kim Glaser, the community and economic development specialist.
The home’s current owner, Peggy Herman, said ECIA sent inspectors to the home and they spent three hours looking at the property, so they should have that answer.
Council member Colton Miller supports preserving the home, but wants assurances that the city can legally use LMI funds.
“In my opinion (LMI) funds are there to help people who are low- to moderate-income, like helping other blighted properties, not fixing up tourist attractions for the city,” he said. “$20,000 isn’t that significant amount of money, so is that something that could come out of our hotel tax, or something that is more concentrated on tourism verses using (LMI) funds to be used to help people fix up their junk houses?”
Kofoed said Traveler’s Rest appears to qualify.
“I would say that’s what we’re doing with helping improve the integrity of the building,” he said.
“But you’re doing something, eventually, that we’re going to turn over to the government, right? So it’s not even going to be a taxable property at that point,” Miller said.
“If you want to take from the Hotel-Motel (fund), you can, you just need to tell Main Street (West Branch) that they’re not going to get X amount of dollars because you give them X amount of dollars,” Kofoed said.
This answer prompted Miller to raise his voice toward the city administrator.
“OK, so you could almost say that that is going to help them because if you’re going to add this other tourist attraction that’s going to bring more people to town. … I’m not saying that’s where it has to come from, I’m saying this LMI – is that really where it needs to come from, something that’s designed for low- to moderate-income people,” Miller said.
Mayor Roger Laughlin said he is “OK” with using LMI, but believes Miller’s question is valid.
City Finance Director Heidi Van Auken also supported Miller’s question about using LMI for the project.
Council member Mike Horihan considers investing in Traveler’s Rest an “awesome idea.”
“It’s another thing where West Branch can put a feather in its cap,” he said.
He asked if relocating the home affected the building’s integrity, especially the foundation.
“If we’re going to invest our own money in it, I’d like to have some assurances that we’ll have some control over what happens to it,” he said. “I’m 100 percent behind this … but I also think we should make sure we have some way of maintaining our investment.”
Horihan said he believes the historic value of the building will help raise donations for preservation.
Sexton noted that the exterior of the building will eventually need work, too.
“I would like to know what the overall project would cost,” he said. “If this is an inside project, how long is it before the outside needs to be done? … If they are already having a hard time getting contractors to do this anyway, how much more is it going to cost to get it to the end? … It could be another $80,000 or more.”
Kofoed said the council needs to decide within six months “or they’re going to say, ‘no,’” on the grants.
He said that, in his experience, Traveler’s Rest would qualify for LMI money.
“Most of our other funds are not in a good position where we can make improvised expenses,” he said. “We do have this opportunity in LMI. I 100-percent agree with having a financial plan, but this is something very different. Who knows what happens to this house if the internal improvement doesn’t happen? We don’t know. We run the risk of that home maybe not having the correct integrity to keep standing.”
Miller said that the house has lasted for nearly 175 years, so he is not so concerned with it coming down in the short term.
Herman noted that she had a building inspector look at the home in 2011 when she purchased it from her mother, Verlene Herman.
“Well, that’s a long time,” Sexton said. “I’d hate to put a lot of money into this and not have it inspected.”
Council member Jodee Stoolman suggested borrowing money from LMI and paying it back if there are legality concerns.
Kofoed stated that John Brown, a famous abolitionist, visited the property several times after it was built around 1850. The property was owned for several years by James Townsend, one of West Branch’s early settlers.
“Townsend may also have used the property as a station on the Underground Railroad,” read a memo by Kofoed to the council.
The State Historical Society of Iowa maintains a list, the Iowa Freedom Trail Project’s “Inventory of Places,” that does not list Traveler’s Rest among significant Underground Railroad stops.
However, according to an article on NPS.gov, “Traveler’s Rest,” Brown first stayed at the home in 1856. A chair reportedly used by Brown during his stay is on display at the Cedar County Historical Society and Museum in Tipton.
Another Underground Railroad home, the Maxson Farm in Springdale, no longer exists but is listed on the state’s Inventory of Places. So, Traveler’s Rest is the only other local stop remaining from the days when people transported escaped slaves.
“Many of these buildings across the country are no longer standing, so, 1. It’s extremely unique, and 2. Given the historic significance of our town being where a president was also born could be an even bigger highlight in our historic tourism,” he said.
In 2017, the city began a historic preservation plan and Kofoed remembers attending graduate school at that time and helping craft 10 goals, one of which included preserving Traveler’s Rest.
That would also place it on the National Register of Historic Places.
Kofoed said the Historic Preservation Commission unanimously supports directing the administration to “seek incentives to help renovate” the property, which includes removing any lead paint and asbestos.
While Traveler’s Rest remains, the home was moved in 1892 a bit east of its original location, Herman said. During the move, workers filled in the hiding cave that concealed slaves from slave hunters.
If Traveler’s Rest is renovated and preserved, part of the plan includes replicating the hiding cave.
In other business, the city:
• approved a special event permit from Main Street West Branch for Christmas Past 2024.
This year’s event will take place Dec. 6-7 with activities throughout downtown, Town Hall, the West Branch Fire Station, Heritage Square, the Rummells Center, and the National Park Service Visitor Center.
MSWB predicts up to 1,000 visitors on each of the two days.
Volunteers will begin setting up 11 a.m. Friday, Dec. 6, with the event starting at 5 p.m. that day and running through 8 p.m.. On Dec. 7, the event will start at about 10 a.m. and run through 8 p.m. Clean-up will finish by 5 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 9.
The group requested stop signs on Main Street at Poplar and Second streets to help pedestrians cross the road safely.
The group noted the possibility that someone may “play gentle holiday music downtown both days” from 5 to 8 p.m.
One of the new activities this year is the “Snowball Sprint” set for 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 7.
• appointed Erin Monaghan to the Parks & Recreation Commission. In her application, she states that she lived in West Branch for 13 years as a child and moved back to town a year ago. Monaghan’s application mentions that she worked for 16 years directing non-profits that manage state and federal funds, worked in community outreach and development, and worked in strategic planning.
• approved the third and final reading of an ordinance that limits parking in front of City Offices to 30 minutes during the work week.
• approved the third and final reading amending the ordinance for police officer residency requirements, extending it from eight to 30 miles.
• approved a resolution to “set aside a percentage of the incremental tax rebates to be used for assistance for low-to-moderate income housing assistance.”
“The (Tax Increment Financing) rebate agreement between the City and KLM Investments approved on Oct. 1, 2018, with Resolution 1743, did not specifiy LMI percentage of 33.32, and therefore, the LMI amount was not certified to Cedar County,” according to a memo sent by City Administrator Adam Kofoed.
The resolution creates a debt obligation for LMI “that should have been created in 2018 to certify incremental tax revenues” amounting to $131,600.
• approved a Quit Claim Deed that would “clean … up” a title opinion for the property at 326 North Fourth Street. City Clerk Leslie Brick wrote a memo to the council stating that alleys located on or near the property were vacated in 1883 and 1895, according to Cedar County records, “but that the city never conveyed the alleys to the property owner.”
City Attorney Kevin Olson said this will help the property owner sell the property.
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