That includes the Wright-Dunbar Village, the Dayton home of poet Paul Laurence Dunbar and the Oakwood home of Orville and Wilbur Wright.
“Can you imagine if the area where the Wright Brothers had their bicycle shop was not able to be preserved?” Turner testified.
The money is not used to acquire land or properties, he said, but to help identify, document, preserve and maintain historic properties.
The program, initially established in 1976, was last reauthorized in 2006. Rep. Niki Tsongas, D-Mass., ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee’s Subcommittee on Federal Lands, said because the $150 million program is paid for by offshore oil and gas lease revenue, “it does not cost a dime to the American taxpayers, and does not contribute to the federal deficit.”
She said she is a “strong supporter” of reauthorizing the fund. “I have seen firsthand the role that historic preservation can play in protecting our history, spurring sustainable growth and maintaining our quality of life,” she said.
Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., chairman of the subcommittee, also voiced support, saying such properties offer “a tangible link to the past.”
In Ohio, six Save America’s Treasures grants — funding made available through the Historic Preservation Fund — have helped sites in Dayton and Springfield, including the Westcott House in Springfield. Money from the fund has also helped the region’s historically black colleges, including Central State.
Turner said he’s watched school children tour such sites only to be “taken to a different place.”
“They look to what they might be able to do, how they might be able to change the world,” he said. ”These sites are important for people to go to and experience them and from that get their own motivation.”
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