The sale of the land surrounding the buildings constituting Trimble-Parker Historic District was finalized on March 1st. Threat to these buildings appears to continue. Since we were able to secure only a little land surrounding each building, their physical safety is in jeopardy. It appears contempt for these buildings and their history was transferred with the sale of the land. The bed and breakfast is still scheduled to open before year’s end.
Trimble-Parker Historic District was designated by the National Park Service as a national treasure and placed on the National Registry of Historic Places in 2004. This designation has not changed the threat to this wonderful old property. Division among the partners is its worst enemy. In addition hog confinements threaten not only the tourism possibilities but offer a major threat to a well-preserved nearly 800 acre tract of land. Air, water and the land itself are in danger. The buildings are now identified as one of the top ten most endangered properties in Iowa. Help is needed.
Trimble-Parker Historic District was one of the finalists designated as one of Iowa’s Great Places. That likely will change if we can’t secure control/ownership of the buildings.
Trimble-Parker Historic District has been named one of the top 10 Most Endangered Properties in Iowa
Major need is for the barns to be donated to Trimble-Parker Historic District,” Not for profit”. Hopefully, that will happen before March 1 st .
The barns can survive hog lot issues, but their attractiveness to the public cannot. We are in receipt of two cancellations to the bed and breakfast scheduled to open within the year in the house across the road from the U-Barn.
Water is thicker than blood.
The majority (3) partners acceped the offer to buy presented by outsiders rather than the offer made by their two siblings. The offer to buy submitted by the two partners was greater than the offer prepared by the outside buyers. This might be one for the record book.
We will know this weekend if blood is thicker than water.
We have been assigned two coaches, Jerome Thompson from the Iowa Historical Society Department and Mark Eckman from Iowa Department of Economic Development. They have been asked to help establish Trimble-Parker as one of Iowa’s Great Places. By itself, it likely will not be chosen, especially now that it has been reduced by one-third. There are great places in Southeast Iowa that we might be able to partner with. We will follow up with suggestions made by the coaches. The original offer to buy the buildings extracted from the whole, will be reoffered.
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