     |
RELEASED: Aug. 1, 2002
DANVILLE, KY-Centre hosted a conference this past Thursday, Friday and Saturday that dealt with preservation issues important to communities and individuals throughout Kentucky. The college was home to most sessions of the 2002 Kentucky Historic Preservation Conference held in Danville.
The conference, themed "In Tune With Preservation," focused on many timely issues, including preservation of historic and endangered buildings, downtown revitalization, community development, neighborhood design, historic military sites, heritage education, heritage tourism, architectural studies and preservation financing. In addition to three days of educational sessions, activities included Preservation Kentucky's Advocacy breakfast, dinner and auction; a bookstore and exhibit area; and tours of historic sites, including several National Historic Landmarks.
An especially appropriate venue for the conference, Centre has engaged in a systematic program of historic preservation during the past 15 years. Its signature building, Old Centre, was began in1819 and completed in 1820 and is Kentucky's oldest continuously operating academic facility. During the Civil War it was used as a hospital by Confederate troops and then by Union soldiers after the battle of Perryville.
The college has 14 buildings included in the National Register of Historic Places on its 115-acre campus (see www.centre.edu/web/news/blds02.html).
Keynote speakers at the conference were Joseph P. Riley Jr., mayor of Charleston, S.C., nationally known for his leadership in preservation and urban revitalization issues; Edward McMahon, vice president of the Conservation Fund of Arlington, Va., an author and nationally known speaker on conservation issues; Dwight Young, senior communications associate for the National Trust for Historic Preservation and author of the back-page feature in the Trust’s monthly preservation magazine; and Crit Luallen, Secretary of Kentucky Gov. Paul Patton's Executive Cabinet, who spearheaded Gov. Patton's Smart Growth Task Force. Luallen is a 1974 Centre graduate.
"We are extremely delighted to be working with Danville Mayor Alex Stevens, Centre President John Roush, the Heart of Danville staff and other volunteers who are working very hard to make this conference such a wonderful event," said David L. Morgan, executive director of the Kentucky Heritage Council and state historic preservation officer, who is a 1975 Centre graduate. "Danville is the perfect location to host our statewide conference, given the community's emphasis on preservation issues, the pride that its citizens take in their homes and the city's designation as a Great American Main Street by the National Trust for Historic Preservation."
Located in Frankfort, the Kentucky Heritage Council was created in 1966 to preserve the Commonwealth's historic and prehistoric resources for future generations.
- end -
Communications Office
Centre College
600 W. Walnut Street
Danville, KY 40422
Public Information Coordinator: Telephone 859-238-5714