Saturday, July 19, 2008

Our P.L.A.C.E in Petersburg

Welcome to P.L.A.C.E (Poplar Lawn Alliance for Conservation and Education) in the upcoming years we hope to advocate the complete adaptive restoration of the 11 acre Poplar Lawn Park to it's turn of the 20th century heyday.

Poplar Lawn Park (Central Park) has been the recreational center of the City of Petersburg for many years dating back to the later 1700s before its incorporation in the City in 1844. The Park was also the center of many monumental events in the City's History, from its place in the City's War of 1812 history, General Lafayette's return to the City after he sought to defend the City from the British 43 years earlier, and its use during the Siege of Petersburg during the Civil War.

Like many mid-sized aging cites, Petersburg had also suffered decline beginning in the 1960s. As money became tight, the grand Poplar Lawn Park also suffered from dwindling budgets and other social factors. The park was left to deteriorate, but thankfully the 100 year old plans to continue South Adams Street through the middle were never acted on when they resurfaced.

The last major improvements to the park took place sometime in 1982. Of those improvements many today would not be consider acceptable to historic fabric of the park. Since 1982, many dedicated residents have sought improvements and to stop further deterioration in Poplar Lawn Park with much of the work being done by themselves.

Today Petersburg is in the middle of a Renaissance. The Poplar Lawn National Historic District established in 1979 has been encouraging positive changes as older homes are being restore. Historic Poplar Lawn Association (HPLA) has been a great force in helping to advocate on issues involving the homeowners of the area. HPLA, however, has been unable to focus resources on monumental changes that are needed in Poplar Lawn Park. It is for this reason that P.L.A.C.E was formed. In the Spring of 2008, the concept of P.L.A.C.E was established to act as a vehicle to encourage work to be done in Poplar Lawn Park by the City of Petersburg, as well as addressing health and safety issues. Another goal of P.L.A.C.E is to be a non-government organization to seek out grants in order to pay for improvements and restoration of Poplar Lawn Park that may not be available to local governments.

In the next 10 years, there are mile stones in which P.L.A.C.E hopes to have some phases of restoration accomplished by.

2012- 200th Anniversary of the War of 1812
2014- 170th Anniversary of the purchase of the Poplar Lawn,
- 150th Anniversary of the start of Civil War attacks on Petersburg
2019- 175th Anniversary of Poplar Lawn Park