Decades of work recognized

Historic District Committee member Connie Banwart cuts the ribbon on downtown Fort Scott Saturday morning during the festivities celebration downtown Fort Scott's inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. Banwart was joined by local, state, and national leaders as well as the Historic District Committee and Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce representatives. (Michael Pommier/Tribune)

With the slice of a large pair of scissors, decades of work came to fruition as the community celebrated the inclusion of downtown Fort Scott on the National Register of Historic Places.

"All of us who live in Fort Scott know it take a long time for things to happen," Historic Downtown Committee member Becky Mann said. "We start on projects and sometimes it takes years ... in this case it took decades."

Downtown Fort Scott was listed in the Register of Historic Kansas Places on Aug. 15, 2009 and in the National Register of Historic Places on Dec. 18, 2009. The Historic District Committee and the Downtown Division of the Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce organized a weekend celebration to commemorate the achievement.

The highlight of the event was the moment Historic District Committee member Connie Banwart cut the ribbon Saturday afternoon alongside local, state, and national leaders.

Mann thanked former Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce President Gary Emry, who was unable to attend the event, for getting the second attempt at nomination to the National Register of Historic Places after coming up short in the 1980s. Emry was also responsible for the creation of the Historic District Committee which consists of Mann, Banwart, and Kate Emmett-Sweetser.

Mann said Banwart was the one who did the majority of the documentation for the history of the downtown buildings during the first attempt at nomination which proved to be helpful during the second attempt. Mann said Emmett-Sweetser was the mind behind the celebration.

Other events hosted during the celebration included: a cooking demonstration by local chef Vincent Waide, Farmer's Market, Festa Italiana, guided tours of downtown and the Fort Scott National Historic Site, Hunt for History scavenger hunt and trivia contest, bicycle rodeo hosted by the Fort Scott Police Department, signing of Historic Reflections of Bourbon County by Don Miller and Fred Campbell, showing of Dreams and Dilemmas: Fort Scott and the Growth of a Nation, live entertainment by the local band Triple Threat.