The National Trust for Historic Preservation has released their annual list of endangered historic places in the US. Over the past 36 years, they’ve listed 350 places, which usually galvanizes local or government entities to put forth efforts to preserve these places. The reasons these historic places are in danger of destruction vary. Any house with no one living there will deteriorate, and eventually become more expensive to preserve than it’s worth, unless people think its history makes the difference. Some historic neighborhoods suffer from the very value of the land, as corporations move in and knock everything down to build new buildings. A historic business on Route 66 has been unused since the interstate routed people in a different direction. Historically ethnic neighborhoods lose their flavor when longtime residents can no longer afford to live there.
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Whether a place is “historic” enough to preserve is a matter of opinion. Some spaces might be better used for something else. Maybe preservation is worth the effort and money, or maybe not. And sometimes market forces are just too much to fight back against. Read the stories of these places and ponder those questions those questions for yourself. -via Kottke
(Image credit: Joe Mabel)
Source: neatorama