Historic Preservation in Easton
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A Call for Volunteers
Friends and neighbors,
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The historic preservation movement grew strong throughout the United States at the time of the Bicentennial in 1976.
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In Easton, the movement stopped the Urban Renewal program that had destroyed dozens of historic buildings. The work of organizations like Historic Easton, Inc. helped lead to the preservation and restoration of such landmarks as the State Theatre, the Bachman House Tavern, the Quadrant Book Mart and Sette Luna. The Downtown Easton National Register Historic District was created, along with the College Hill Residential Historic District. Protective zoning laws were enacted in downtown Easton. Eventually, major complexes like the Simon Silk Mill were not only preserved but adaptively reused. All of this allowed Easton’s population and economy to begin growing after decades of decline.
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In recent years interest in historic preservation has declined. Easton’s city government has weakened preservation and design standards while allowing over-scaled new buildings to be built downtown, even ignoring historic street patterns that have been in place for almost three hundred years. Lafayette College has demolished more than three dozen historic buildings on College Hill. All this while the availability of affordable housing has not at all kept pace with the demand, and federal funding of programs to help create more is being slashed.
Some small steps are underway to try reversing these trends. As I’ll explain below, I’m involved with one such effort, and I am asking for a few good volunteers to join me.
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The Easton Impact Subcommittee for Historic Preservation
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In 2024, Lafayette College formed what is being called the Easton Area Community Impact Committee. Members include representatives from the College, from Easton and other local municipalities, and local organizations such as Easton Area Community Center, the Village on College Hill, NAACP and ProJeCt of Easton. Having worked with the Lafayette administration to create the committee, I am on it as an ex-officio member.
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Quite simply, the purpose of the Impact Committee is to act as a collaborative body to identify concerns and develop plans to improve the community. Early on, there was a consensus that a lack of affordable housing is a significant problem in our area. At the same time, many of us described the need for and potential benefits of stronger historic preservation efforts.
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As some of you know, my background includes extensive work in affordable housing and historic preservation. In fact, I believe these fields are closely interrelated. In addition, the practice of historic preservation is heavily tied to programs addressing environmental protection and sustainability. I proposed that the Impact Committee form a Historic Preservation Subcommittee. Prior to this being discussed, I prepared and distributed the attached presentation, describing what such a subcommittee might accomplish. Please take a look at it.
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My goal over the next month or so is to establish a group of about six to eight residents from around Easton and the surrounding municipalities to begin looking at and seeing if we can propose specific actions that address local problems related to historic preservation, affordable housing and sustainability. At this point, a few more volunteers would be helpful in different ways:
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· Since College Hill and the West Ward are already represented on the subcommittee, we’d especially welcome individuals who live on the South Side, in downtown Easton or in an adjacent municipality to join us;
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· College Hill residents or others who might not care to come to regular meetings but would be willing to research potential preservation opportunities in our community could play a vital role in what we accomplish moving forwards.
If you might be interested in getting involved, please email or call me. I expect some of us to meet (in person!) maybe once every other month, and to otherwise communicate by email. There will be as much to do as the individual members are willing to take on: certainly the needs are greater than we can completely address, but I believe we can make a positive difference. Please let me know if you’d like to help.
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Thanks,
Paul Felder
610 438 2638 (weekdays or weekends, 8 am and 8 pm)