On November 7, 2017, the Clark County Historical Society is asking Clark County voters to approve a new five-year 0.3 mil property tax for operational and maintenance purposes. The levy is for major repairs and/or upgrades including elevators, heating and air conditioning system and roof repairs at the Heritage Center, home base for the Historical Society.
The Richardsonian Romanesque styled Clark County Heritage Center is one of the most beautiful and imposing buildings located in downtown Springfield. The building was constructed in 1890 by local Architect, Charles Creager, for city offices and a farmer’s market. The heritage center has housed and assembled an extensive array of artifacts, archival materials and other mementos of Clark County history since 2001, after having gone through an extensive renovation. Over 13,000 feet of modern, permanent exhibitions and 3,000 square feet of rotating exhibit galleries are found in the first and second floors of the center, all under the auspices of the Clark County Historical Society.
Roger Sherrock, CEO of the Historical Society, has reported that this levy would allow the historical society to continue to operate at current levels and allow for necessary maintenance and capital improvements to the Heritage Center. According to the Clark County Auditor’s office, the levy would generate approximately $680,000 and cost the owner of a Home valued at $100,000 about $10.50 per year.
On behalf of the New Carlisle Historical Society, its officers and members, I urge the voters of New Carlisle and Clark County to support this important issue. Why? Because history provides extensive evidence of how societies function simply to run their own lives. The past causes the present, and so the future. Any time we try to know why something happened- whether a shift in political party dominance or the World- we look for factors that took shape earlier. Only through studying history and understanding the past can we grasp how things change; only through history can we understand what elements of an institution or a society persist despite change.
B. Berry
