Untitled (11)Beautification still
chugging along
n Wappingers Falls
The Wappingers Falls visual en-
vironment committee has been doing a
lot of work in the village over the past
few months but, ironically enough,
most of it has not been visible to local
residents.
According to the committee's
chairman, Norman Nussbickel,
Wappingers visual environmentalists
have spent the past eight months
cataloguing village houses for possible
inclusion in the National Historical
Register, and have little to show for it—
yet. The project entailed physical
in-
spection and historical research into
189 homes in the village. A building -
structure inventory form had to be
completed for each house, later to be
sent on to Albany for scrutiny by the
division of historic preservation.
The inspection of the horses, most of
it done by a core of committee mem-
bers including Nussbickel and his wife
Rita, was conducted in six historic
,districts in the village. These districts
were delineated by state preservation
officer Lawrence Goldbrick when he
first outlined the project for the
Nussbickels.
.,He told as it wouldn't be easy,"
Norman says, "but he didn't tell us how
much was involved. People have no
idea how much work went into this.
Each house had to be thoroughly
researched, architecturally hed,
historically, had to be photographed,
P
and had to have a small map of the area
included on its inventory form."
The project cost $4,008. Two thousand
dollars of that came from the state in
the form of matching funds. The village
Of Wappingers Falls contributed $800,
Dutchess County landmarks, a local
preservation society, donated $200, and
the Wappingers Falls Chamber of
Commerce, with which the visual en-
vironment committee is affiliated, gave
$1,000.
According to the Nussbickels, most of
the money went to pay the salaries of
two decorative art consultants who
worked on the project. The rest of the
money went for supplies. All of the
work done by committee members and
Wappingers Falls
their friends was volunteer
labor.
"W a saved ourselves a lot
of money by doing it our-
selves," Norman says.
"Many people put time in on
the project, but I have to give
special thanks to Elaine
Bass, who did so much
typing for us without being
paid.,,
Now that the 189 houses
deemed to have "possible
historical significance" by .
the state have been
catalogued and the in-
formation sent to Albany,
what happens?
" preservation
The state
office decides which houses
have true historical value,
and then sends the list baric
to us," Rita says. "After
that, we have to do a more
detailed inventory of the
houses on the list. Even-
tually„ Washington decides
which of these will be
eluded in the National
Historical Register."
"So we still have a little
way to go," Norman smiles.
And exactly what does i
mean to be in the Nations
Historical Register?
"Well, besides being
as a place to visit," N
says, ,the owner of the h
.e un;hiPfor matciringfund
-- cont.
if he decides to renovate the
the Wappingers Falls visual
committee be
outside of his home. Tbat
doesn't mean putting up
environment
undertaking
really like to
aluminum siding, though. It
le in the
neat is get People
means restoring it to its
village involved m what
vi
original state
"Eventually, we'd like to
we're doing," Norman says.
"Most people aren't aware of
have regular walking tours
This
what we're doing. We w9uld
through the village.
kind of historical recognition
like to have a public con-
on what people want
canbe very helpful to village
sensus
their village to look like.
businesses in terms of
to the
"Getting these houses on
bringing people to
village.,,
One particular problem
the Nussbickels faced was
obtaining the of the
houses. This they solved by
gathering some of the
village's longtime residue
and showing them
of the houses.
"You'd be surprised at the
things they remembered,"
Norman says- set each
nd Once
they got going, they
other off. one, for instance,
In-
eluded
would remember who��e
the house, while
else knew who moved into
next,,'
Besides the oral history of
t the village's senior citizens,
I the Nussbickels say they are
particularly grateful to labor
listed volunteered by Carelton
otznan Relyea, who did much of the
°
structure tue�uturprojects will
thehistorical register is only
the first step in a long range
plan for improving the
aesthetic quality of the
village. W e` would like to see
old style street lights put
back up. We would like to
work on cleaning up the
creek. But we need input
from village residents. We
want to know what they want
for their village.,,