Grant would interpret Palmer's past

PALMER -- The Mat-Su Borough Assembly approved a resolution last week seeking to establish a stronger link with the area's historic past.

The resolution moves forward a grant application by the

borough's cultural

resources division that seeks funding for the second phase of a

historical interpretative sign project for the Matanuska Colony Historic district. In this phase, about $27,000 is requested to put up permanent panels and pedestals depicting the development of Palmer during the 1930s.

The grant, if secured, would also pay for the development and printing of a walking tour brochure that would have a detailed map of Palmer's historic district, highlighting the 16 buildings and one structure that make up the district, as well as the Colony House Museum that once served as a colony farmhouse.

According to information from Fran Seager-Boss, the borough's cultural resource specialist, most of the signs would be placed in the quadrangle that separates the Palmer Public Library from the Borough building, formerly the Colony Central School.

The quadrangle, in addition to the historic buildings around it, were accepted in 1991 to the National Registry of Historic Places. The buildings and the layout of the colony were designed by David Reichart Williams, architect for the Federal Emergency Relief Administration under Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Williams, according to information from Seager-Boss, was a former planner of remote towns for oil workers and was responsible for planning 84 of the 99 resettlement communities that were part of Roosevelt's New Deal.

Not all the money requested would come from federal funds. The grant, if obtained, would provide only 60 percent of the total project cost. The remaining funding would come from in-kind services from the borough -- mainly payment for Seager-Boss and an assistant to work on the project.

Setting the signs up would be the second phase of the interpretive sign project. During the first phase, a grant was obtained last year to pull together photos and text, in preparation for the signs.

"The text and everything has already been completed," Seager-Boss said.

A wide range of photos and accompanying information have been selected for placement on the signs, including headlines from local and national newspapers about the proposed Matanuska colony and photos of the colonists heading out from the port of Seattle, complete with ticker tape streamers and a band. Farmhouse and barn designs and photos are set to go on one sign, with a map of the proposed community layout, the existing community layout and information about why the two are different. Photos of the land lottery drawing, as well as those of the tent city the colonists spent their first months in after arriving at the colony are set to illustrate other signs.

The interpretative project, Seager-Boss said, would be a nice accompaniment to the recent designation of the Glenn Highway as a National Scenic Byway. And although her grant application included a project timeline that puts the signs in the ground by 2005, she was careful to mention that the project is still in its infancy.

"We're only in the asking stage right now," Seager-Boss said.