THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 2, 1995 TAG: 9503010205
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
SOURCE: JOHN PRUITT
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
SOS - Save our Station - has generated so much steam that its leaders already are looking beyond its current mission - saving the former Seaboard Railroad Station on Main Street.
They want to give new meaning to SOS - Save Old Suffolk - to prevent more of Suffolk's history from meeting the wrecking ball or being covered in plywood.
The fuel for this drive comes from the public rally to keep the station from being demolished after a fire in November damaged much of the structure. While several organizations had worked quietly behind the scenes for years to put the dilapidated building into caring hands, there was no impetus quite like the threat of losing the downtown landmark.
Now, it seems, pieces of the complicated puzzle of preservation are falling in place. CSX, which owns the property and which had said it had no further use for it, has agreed to sell the station and some surrounding land; the city has applied for federal funds; station boosters are planning ways to keep the station in people's minds and to raise money.
Indeed, the effort got a healthy boost recently with an anonymous gift of $5,000 to SOS. Even if federal funds are forthcoming, the effort will require $40,000 to match an equal amount in city funds or in-kind services.
In a city of about 54,000 people and in a region with huge numbers of citizens interested in railroad history and historical preservation, that should not be too great a challenge.
The more people respond to this SOS, the broader the ``ownership.'' And who wouldn't be proud to say he had a part in preserving so familiar an attraction as the railroad station?
Just as advertisers feel they're on the way once they find the ``hook'' that grabs readers' and viewers' attention, the people who have tried so valiantly - and with marginal success - to awaken residents to Suffolk's historical charm are hitching the wagon of further preservation to the train station.
There's plenty to be done. The Nansemond-Suffolk Historical Society recently identified seven properties in downtown alone that are endangered, either by neglect or the threat of demolition.
In some instances, deterioration is so extreme that heaven only knows what it would take to make them usable. But people like Betsy Brothers and Sue Woodward are not easily deterred, and that's good for all of us.
They know that other cities have dealt with similar problems. All sorts of groups have bought historical properties elsewhere - including New Bern, N.C., where SOS members and others will visit next month - and made them usable as residences, offices and public facilities.
There is no reason SOS or other interested groups couldn't do it in Suffolk as well. Maybe, after all the years of ``Plywood City'' - the label for boarded-up homes along the entrance to downtown - and all the years of ``progress'' at the expense of beautiful, historical buildings there is reason to hope that there will be no more losses without a heck of a fight.
The overwhelming response to the possible loss of the train station would indicate so. Nearly 400 people wrote letters saying they want the depot left standing.
``In the near future,'' Betsy Brothers writes, ``. . . people from other decaying towns will ask, `How did you do it?' We'll tell them, `On. Nov. 23, 1994, our historic train station caught on fire. The flame of preservation was ignited!' ''
It's a great dream that we can help make come true by telling city officials it's important to us and by contributing money and work. History is a worthwhile investment. MEMO: Comment? Call the editor: 446-2494, any time. by CNB