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Morning News

Preservation Group Moves to Save America's Historical Landmarks

Aired June 26, 2000 - 9:18 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: A national preservation group is warning Americans to act now to protect their historic sites. The National Trust for Historic Preservation releasing a report today listing 11 places it considers most endangered.

Topping that list: Abraham Lincoln's Retreat - the Soldiers' Home in Washington, D.C., where he drafted the Emancipation Proclamation. Also on that list: Dwight D. Eisenhower V.A. Medical Center in Leavenworth, Kansas; historic neighborhood schools nationwide; Hudson River Valley in New York; Fifth and Forbes historic retail area in Pittsburgh; number six, Nantucket in Massachusetts; Okeechobee Battlefield in Florida; Red Mountain Mining District in Colorado; ninth on that list, Santa Anita Racetrack in Arcadia, California; followed by Valley Forge National Historical Park in Pennsylvania; and number 11, Wheelock Academy in Millerton, Oklahoma.

Hope I got them all right.

Here's Bob Franken who knows a lot more about this than us -- hey, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Bill.

And where I'm standing right now is right in front of the Anderson Cottage. It's an obscure historical site, but a really important one. You spoke of it a minute ago. It's where Abraham Lincoln considered, in effect, his summer home. It's where he put the first drafts of the Emancipation Proclamation in. And right now, the inside is deteriorating. That's why it's on the list of the 11 most endangered historical sites this year by the National Trust For the Preservation of History.

Inside, the paint is peeling. It is used now as an administrative office. They have not retained the character of when it was Abraham Lincoln's summer home. As a matter of fact, his bedroom is now used as a conference room for the administrative offices of this soldiers and airmen's home three miles from the White House in Washington.

The National Trust would like to see some attention paid to making sure that the deterioration doesn't continue and that restoration goes on. This is just one of the sites. As you pointed out when you read them, Bill, it's really quite a diverse list. We include the island of Nantucket, so historic of course. The Trust is concerned that it's being overtaken by development and that this has become the vacation paradise that so many think it is. Many people are building residences there and tearing down old buildings. That's why it's on the list.

A really diverse list, as I said, including the Santa Anita Racetrack outside Los Angeles. Art Deco in its style, although it keeps on getting restored, taking away the character that was such an attraction to so many movie stars from Clark Gable and the like to present day. But now it's being modernized. And that oftentimes is what the complaint is about the National Trust.

And why is this all so important? Well, to find out we asked the president of the Trust, Richard Moe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD MOE, NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION: Our heritage is at risk in all kinds of different ways. As this list attempts to illustrate, there are different kinds of threats to different kinds of historic places all over the country. And these threats could take all kinds of different forms, whether it's weather, or neglect, or demolition, or underfunding, or public support. Our past can be lost. And once it's lost, it's lost forever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: And oftentimes, on the other side, are people who say that many of the arguments here for losing one of these buildings or monuments or areas is because of progress. The concern is, is that progress can sometimes obliterate history -- Bill.

HEMMER: Bob, quickly here. This list is not binding. Whose influence are they trying to garner here? Is it lawmakers in Washington? Is it the public? Is it private groups?

FRANKEN: The answer is yes.

HEMMER: To all of them, I'd say, and probably more.

FRANKEN: Yes, what they are trying to do is to generate some public concern for the variety of places here, to get people up in arms to make sure that they in fact can put some pressure on the political people to try and avoid some of the tear-downs of areas -- like, for instance, the one in downtown Pittsburgh. There's a real fight going on right there. The Fifth and Forbes area is an area of buildings that date to about 1900. Right now the plans call for putting in a modern entertainment complex there.

So there's a big fight going on. It's the classic battle between the preservationists and those who want to make more modern, for instance, a downtown area -- Bill.

HEMMER: A call to action, we will see if it works, Bob Franken, thanks.

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