Moline salutes homeowners, Meyer landscape business

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By alma Gaul | Monday, May 19, 2008 10:55 AM CDT | () comments

Curt Roseman and his wife, Libby, moved back to Moline from California to claim and preserve a Craftsman-style home built by Curt’s grandfather.

Dick and Kathy Potter spent years restoring a house on 25th Street, inside and out.

Gorman & Co. of Madison, Wis., saved the old Moline High School on 16th Street, converting it into 60 apartments aimed at artists.

For their efforts, the Rosemans, Potters and Gorman will receive three of six historic preservation awards from the Moline Preservation Society during ceremonies Wednesday at Butterworth Center.

For the past 21 years, the society has recognized property owners for exceptional efforts to preserve, restore and protect properties that are more than 50 years old. The society also gives awards to people or groups who contribute to the advancement of historic preservation.

The society’s goal is to educate the public on the importance of maintaining and preserving the city’s older residential neighborhoods and commercial districts, thereby improving the quality of life for the entire community.

Following is a list of the awards, with information supplied by the preservation society.

Exterior residential paint and maintenance award: Curt and Libby Roseman, 2120 12th St.

This large Craftsman style bungalow was built in 1924 by Curt’s grandfather, Gustavus Adolphus Reynold Johnson, who built about 75 houses in Moline and surrounding towns.

The house remained in the family and when Curt’s mother died in 1996, Curt and his brother and sister decided to keep the property. Although Curt and Libby were living and working in California at that time, they bought the house from Curt’s siblings and moved back into it in 1999.

The kitchen contains the original cabinets, icebox, and 1934 stove and the dining room has the original buffet.

Exterior restoration award: Dick and Kathy Potter, 1136 25th St.

The Potters bought this house in March 1995. They were about to be married and each had two children from previous marriages. They wanted to stay in Moline, needed five bedrooms and really loved the untouched old fireplace and foyer of this 1907, Victorian style house.

The fact it was not in good shape, and would need a great deal of work was not a deterrent.

The Potters spent about six years working on the interior before they could even get to the outside.

The exterior work began with tearing off the aluminum siding in 2001. Next came scraping the old paint; Dick did this all himself because he feared a contractor would not do the job properly.

Then came new paint, a new roof, the replacement of 40 aluminum-framed windows with wood frames and the removal of concrete steps that were replaced with wood.

Adaptive re-use of a historic building: Gorman & Co., Inc., Madison, Wis., Moline High School Lofts, 1000 16th St.

Opening in 1915, the 87,000-square-foot Collegiate Gothic-style Moline High School served the district for 33 years until the high school moved to what is now called Avenue of the Cities.

The building then became Moline Community College, later known as Black Hawk College, until Black Hawk moved to 34th Avenue.

The building then served as home to Beling Consultants, but after the firm merged with Raymond Professional Group, the building was put up for sale in 2000. A large fire in 2003 had many in the community wondering if the landmark building had a future.

In 2005, Gorman came to the rescue with a $9.4 million public/private investment that included the city of Moline and the Illinois Housing Development Authority.

The school was turned into 60 apartments targeted for artists. Toward that end, the building includes a business center, community room, stadium-style theater, dark room, woodworking shop, kiln and gallery space.

In doing its work, Gorman preserved the building’s original grand entrance, terrazzo floors, monumental stairways, period lighting fixtures, chalkboards and wall sculptures.

Quality of Life: Moline Downtown Commercial Historic District, Moline Historic Preservation Commission, and special recognition to Barb Sandberg

The creation the historic district had an innocent start. Local developer David Wise needed historic preservation incentives to make his project financially feasible, but to qualify, his buildings had to be in a historic district.

Enter Barb Sandberg and the Moline Historic Preservation Commission, who spearheaded a successful effort to nominate the downtown commercial district to the National Register of Historic Places.

Collectively, the district includes 113 buildings and the Josephson’s Jewelers clock, spread out on 33 acres, and centered on Fifth Avenue between 12th and 18th streets.

Although the creation of outlying shopping malls forever changed the use of downtown buildings in Moline and across the nation, many of these buildings now are being revitalized. Sandberg and others hope that the availability of historic financial incentives will spur the work of more projects.

Family business heritage award: Meyer Landscape & Design, Inc., 2819 47th St.

In the spring of 1950 Ed Meyer Jr. and his wife, Gayle (Cramer), bought a one-room house and four acres of land from the estate of Gayle’s uncle, who owned and managed Feliciana Gardens at 2819 47th St., opening a business they called Meyer’s Flower Farm.

They began with wreaths and grave blankets, then expanded into rose bushes, tulip bulbs and irises. Jack was born in 1952, followed by Kurt in 1954. Gayle stayed home and ran the business with the help of two part-time employees.

When flower sales slowed, Ed planted maple trees and in 1963, the business name was changed to Meyer’s Tree Farm.

From there Meyer’s blossomed into a small landscape and nursery business. Jack and Kurt officially entered the business in the 1970s after graduating from the University of Illinois with degrees in ornamental horticulture and design.

Through the years land was added to the Moline site, and farms for nursery stock were purchased near Andalusia, Ill.

The 1990s brought residential and commercial projects of all sizes and as Meyer’s celebrated its 50th year in business in 2000, the name was changed to Meyer Landscape & Design to better reflect its services.

In 2006, the two growing division farms were sold and 200 acres were purchased in the Taylor Ridge, Ill., area. The Taylor Ridge Garden Center opened this month.

Today Meyer employs a certified irrigation designer, three landscape architects, four landscape designers, and 75-85 others for crews and to staff the garden centers. Family is still very much at the center of this landscape business.

Commercial restoration of a historic building: Alsene Flats, 415-421 13th St., David Wise (see story elsewhere on this Web site).

Alma Gaul can be contacted at (563) 383-2324 or agaul@qctimes.com.