Gaston historical preservation organization accepting nominations for award ceremony

In 2019 a group of Gaston County residents formed a nonprofit organization with the express goal of stabilizing Dallas’ Smyre-Pasour house, and eventually selling it to a buyer who would be willing to preserve the historically significant building.

After five years of working on the historical preservation of Gaston County buildings, Preservation Gaston is planning to host an award ceremony on May 21 to recognize those leading the charge in historic preservation in the county, according to Patricia Rudisill, a representative of the organization.

Preservation Gaston started with a focus on Dallas.

“Sammy’s did a wonderful job preserving that façade over there on Trade Street, then the Melvins have done a great job on the old jail, you know, they’ve renovated that into an event venue and they did a great job. There’s several buildings directly across from the courthouse… that have been restored or renovated. The Hoffman Hotel of course is on the other side of the courthouse on Main Street, you know it’s holding that block together,” Rudisill said.

“If we can get someone to buy the Smyre-Pasour house and renovate that, then that entire four block area around the court square will have been stabilized by at least one historic structure,” she added. “So, you can begin to tell the story of the court square in Dallas because you still have original structures all the way around it. Dallas is unique in that there aren’t a whole lot of towns in the state that have the courthouse, the jail, and the hotel still standing on their court square.”

Selling the Smyre-Pasour house is still the top priority for Preservation Gaston.

However, the organization has expanded in recent years to purchase, stabilize, and sell historically significant buildings across the county to buyers interested in preserving their history.

In celebration of Preservation Month, which was established in 1973 by the National Trust of Historic Preservation, the Gaston organization will host an award ceremony to recognize preservation projects in the county and works of art that tell the story of Gaston County.

Preservation Gaston is accepting nominations for the awards on their website preservationgaston.org until May 5.

Winners will be announced after the ceremony in May. Those interested in nominating a project can contact preservationgaston@gmail.com with questions.

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Gaston historical organization accepting nominations for awards