Richardson Cares More about Celebrating History than Preserving It

Four years ago, I wrote a blog post ("The Ice House Goeth") giving the history of a little, neglected, unused commercial building on Richardson's Main Street in old downtown. I didn't stop at the history. I also advocated for the City of Richardson to do something to preserve this little bit of its history. I didn't hear from the City at the time. I still haven't, but this week the City of Richardson's Facebook page dedicated to posting history for the City's sesquicentennial celebration lifted my blog post without attribution. They included the history I had researched, but left out all of my advocacy for the City to preserve that history. I conclude the City is interested in celebrating its history, at least every 150 years, but is less interested in preserving the history they extol.

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I know the photo of the Ice House used by Richardson 150th is mine. It has the watermark "Copyright Steger" in the lower right. The City plans a crowd-sourced photo scanning event at the Richardson Library in April. I hope, without much confidence, that the City will do better at recording where they will be sourcing these photos from. That information is as important to history (and historians) as the old pictures themselves.

My photo also provides a natural frame for the Ice House, two beautiful old trees on the other side of the street. Ironically, those trees are, sadly, gone, cut down by the City when it realigned and widened Main Street. In their place, the City erected a modern art sculpture that reminds me of an oil derrick after a tornado passed by. Maybe my art appreciation in this instance is colored by my irritation at seeing Richardson's history given lip service, but no effort at preservation. The City's interest in planting trees has not been the same since it let its late, great, "Tree the Town" program go away a decade ago. Maybe Richardson 150th will find a place for it, too, on its Facebook walk down memory lane.