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Dallas historic commission to write narratives after CLG grant funds digital walking tour
Summary
A Certified Local Government grant will pay for a website and audio walking tour of Dallas—s historic district; commissioners were asked to expand short map narratives into full building histories by Sept. 12 and split roughly 30 contributing buildings among the five commissioners.
The City of Dallas Historic Preservation Commission was told it has been awarded a Certified Local Government grant from the Oregon Department of Parks and Recreation to create a digital walking tour covering the city—s historic district.
Tyler (historic preservation officer) said the grant will fund a website and an audio tour and asked the commission to provide the full historical narratives for the contributing buildings that will appear as individual tour pages and as the audio script. The commission was told there are about 30 contributing buildings and that commissioners should divide the work so each member prepares roughly six narratives; staff set a submission deadline of Sept. 12.
Commission Chair described the short narratives that appeared on a previously produced paper map as the logical starting point and noted the new format removes the word limits of the paper product. Tyler said contractors will build the website and produce photographs but welcomed historical photographs or additional materials from commissioners.
Staff advised that the audio tour will total about one hour (approximately two minutes per building) and suggested a practical upper limit of about 1,200 words for particularly rich building histories. Tyler said the city will supply a $12,650 match for the walking-tour project; the CLG grant covers the other 50% of that particular item.
Commissioners discussed research sources: the reconnaissance survey report, museum files, and family archives were identified as potential sources for deeper material beyond the short map narratives. Tyler said staff will coordinate assignments and the logistics of collecting and delivering photographs and text to the contractor.
The commission also discussed signage and wayfinding: city staff are working with county public works to place brown signs in county right-of-way so ODOT can add highway signs leading to the downtown historic district.
At the meeting the commission approved the April 9 minutes by unanimous voice vote.
The commission scheduled a training and goal-setting session in October to orient new members and to guide longer-term preservation priorities. Staff recommended an initial presentation by preservation consultant Curry (Curry Gill) followed by individual exploration and a follow-up session to set priorities and resources.
Why it matters: The work will produce publicly accessible, citable histories for the district—s buildings and a mobile-friendly audio tour intended to support heritage tourism and local preservation work. The deadline and the city match mean the commission must complete the writing on a set timetable so contractors can finish the site and the printed graphics.
Provenance: first related remarks begin at 00:12:27 when Tyler said, "Yes. So the city applied for and was awarded a certified local government grant from the Oregon Department of Parks and Recreation." The commission later set a deadline at 00:16:37: "So we would like to have the narrative work done, by September 12, of this year."
