Historic Preservation as an Economic Planning Tool: the Case Study of Mount Vernon, Missouri

Date of Graduation

Fall 1995

Degree

Master of Science in Geospatial Sciences

Department

Geography, Geology, and Planning

Committee Chair

Burl Self Jr.

Abstract

Historic preservation is the act of conserving the culture heritage of a nation or a people. It is a commitment toward safeguarding those sites, buildings, districts, and objects which visually reflect the cultural heritage of our forefathers. As a significant force in America today, historic preservation works to unify a community, build civic pride, educate the young and revitalize the economic atmosphere of blighted urban areas. The Missouri Main Street Program is intended to revitalize historic small town commercial districts. Using techniques developed by the National Main Street Center, the program seeks to foster economic revitalization by encouraging improvements in four basic areas: organization, promotion, economic restructuring, and design. Correlations calculated from the data gathered from the first ten Missouri Main Street communities demonstrate the high correlation between historic preservation and downtown economic revitalization. As the amount of historic preservation work increases, this in turn increased the economic benefits in those communities. This study has shown that the opportunity exists for Mount Vernon to realize the benefits of historic preservation if a historic preservation program is initiated.

Subject Categories

Earth Sciences

Copyright

© Harry Jason Combs

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Dissertation/Thesis

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