Historic preservation and revitalization done right
Story by Paul South
Photos by Graham Hadley
When Brad Waid, a Bloomfield Hills, Mich.,-based motivational speaker returns home to this St. Clair County town of Springville and pops into Nichol’s Nook Coffee Shop or Laster’s Sundries or any of the other downtown shops, the warm, comforting, kind feeling never changes.
“When my son visits, he says (Springville) is a perfect little town, right out of a Hallmark movie. You walk into Nichol’s and you could do a Hallmark movie in there.”
Frank and Carol Waid, lifelong town residents lead a small army of volunteers who want to keep things that way, preserving the landmarks that give a deep richness to Springville.
The Springville Preservation Society began its work restoring the 1902 Old Rock School, the Presbyterian Church, the Springville Museum and historic homes that adorn the city’s streets.
The Society celebrates historic buildings to be sure. But it’s also about people. Springville has its share of famous folks, like Detroit Tiger pitcher Casey Mize and Pat Buttram and Hank Patterson, stars of the wacky 1960s classic comedy sitcom, Green Acres.
But the human story runs deeper. Families have called Springville home for generations. At the turn of the past century, ancestors hauled boulders to help build the school, now part of the National Register of Historic Places.
Work on the beloved school continues.
“The whole upstairs is completed,” Frank Waid said. “The floor’s completed. The kitchen is in. The bathrooms are in. Heating and cooling in the kitchen are in, and two of the main rooms are completed.
Close to completion is an event space made from two rooms where a wall has been knocked out.
“That’s where we’ve had to stop right now because we need to put heating and cooling in those two rooms, and we just don’t have quite enough funds to do that. We’re real close to having the funds.”
The Society needs another $2,000-$3,000 dollars to add the HVAC system.
The organization is also working to repair and restore the floors and the front of Springville’s History Museum, housed in the old Masonic Lodge, which was built in 1903. The organization is seeking grants to make needed repairs.
“The whole front of the building is kind of like laying on the ground,” Waid said. “The beams have started to settle and the walls are starting to settle. That’s our big project right now.”
He added, “It’s a bigger project than we can do fundraisers for. It desperately needs to be done or otherwise, we will eventually have to close if we don’t have the funds to get it done.”
Work has also continued on the Presbyterian Church and the accompanying manse, where damaged roofs were replaced on the two buildings. The church building is being used as an event venue, and the manse is a treasure trove of information for amateur and professional researchers.
“It’s a full heritage center,” Waid said.” It’s a research center and a genealogy center. We have lots of books and records that folks can use for family research and genealogy. We have a computer and Wi-Fi for research.”
Are there other projects on the Society’s plate? “That is enough,” said Waid.
“It’s about all we can handle right now.”
The Society has a schedule of events to raise funds for its many efforts and to build community and awareness. A recent yard sale raised enough money to replace the heating and cooling system at the old Presbyterian church.
Springville has rallied to support preservation efforts and with good reason. The Rock School could well be called the cornerstone of historic Springville. “It has ties to all the families, all the way back to the original settlers of the area,” Waid said.
The Society has an active membership. More than half of the 65 members are involved, not just names on a membership roll. “The people who are our members are some of the greatest in the world,” Waid said.
Along with its building and restoration efforts, Springville celebrates its storied heritage in other ways. It’s one of some 30 Alabama cities that hosts walking tours to highlight local history each April. “We get a lot of visitors,” Waid said. “And a lot of visitors tell us that they’re glad to see what we’ve done.”
If time allows, Society members are sure to take visitors, many born and reared in Springville, back to The Rock School. “It brings back so many memories. They love it,” Waid said.
Springville’s preservation push also brings repeat visitors from outside St. Clair County who are smitten with the town. Many make donations, and others even join the Society.
“A lot of people come to the area, and they just love the area, and they see what they are doing to protect the history and buildings so they can be maintained and used for the betterment of the community,” Waid said. “They just love what we’re doing.”
Earlier in June, the Preservation Society hosted a Tablescapes fundraiser, and representatives of the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service were expected in Springville to tour the Society’s work.
In the fall, Green Acres Day returns to celebrate Green Acres and the Hollywood careers of Buttram and Patterson.
Beyond brick and mortar, at its heart, Springville is special because of its people, who make it a place where friendship or a helping hand isn’t hard to find, Waid said.
“It’s just a loving, caring city. Anytime there is an event in the city, people come out to support it … Everybody just jumps in to help. It’s that small town you grew up in and even though it’s gotten bigger, it’s more family oriented.”
As for the Hallmark movie analogy, walk into Nichol’s or Laster’s for a taste of something sweet or most anywhere in the heart of Springville and Frank Waid says simply, “It fits.”
And the Springville Preservation Society fits, too.
“We’re here to preserve our heritage and our history,” Waid said. “That’s what we do through all these buildings – telling the story of our little hometown and the people in it and try to save all those memories.”
Those remembrances of days gone by, like when downtown stores used to give away $10 gold pieces, or even Frank Waid’s own father, Fred, who didn’t miss a Springville High football game for 20 years, are sweet and rich like a Laster’s sundae.
What would previous generations who built the city think of society’s work? “I think they would be pleased,” Waid said. “We support our town. If it weren’t for those little Mom and Pop stores, which was all they (our ancestors) had, we wouldn’t have been able to make ends meet.”
