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Friends of Washington Park, Christiansburg Institute seek grant and city support to rehabilitate caretaker’s cottage
Summary
Friends of Washington Park and the Christiansburg Institute Inc. urged council to support rehabilitation of the 19th-century caretaker’s cottage, said they will submit a grant proposal to the Department of Historic Resources’ BIPOC program, and described plans for a community charrette and a June nomination.
Speakers representing Friends of Washington Park and the Christiansburg Institute Inc. asked the council to support rehabilitation of the caretaker’s cottage in Booker T. Washington Park and described plans to pursue grant funding and community engagement.
Kathy Carter, speaking for Friends of Washington Park, thanked council and city staff for permission to apply for federal grants and said the group plans a charrette to gather community input. “We are planning a charrette that will further identify what the community has suggested based on the the hundreds of surveys we've done,” Carter said, and she described the cottage as an opportunity to preserve the park’s history.
Chris Sanchez, executive director of Christiansburg Institute Inc., said CI Inc. and the friends group have been invited to submit a full proposal to the Department of Historic Resources’ Black, Indigenous, and People of Color grant program and that the city manager’s office provided a letter of support to accompany the application. Sanchez framed the cottage project as an educational and heritage-tourism asset that would celebrate diverse Roanoke history and broaden regional storytelling.
Public historian Britney Flowers provided historical context and asked the council to support a community-driven and historically accountable rehabilitation. Flowers recounted the site’s layered history, including references in the record to people enslaved on the property and named individuals who have been documented in archival work. “This work ensures acknowledgement that the lives of those tied to this land indeed mattered,” Flowers said.
Speakers requested city support for the nomination process; Friends of Washington Park plans a formal nomination in June (as stated in testimony) and a commemorative event to mark Washington Park’s dedication in 1923. Council members and staff were thanked for earlier assistance; Sanchez asked to continue collaboration on reopening the site for community use.
