James Glass is a visionary who sees history and heritage where others see crumbling facades and abandoned downtowns. The director of the Center for Historic Preservation (CHP), Glass is part of a team of preservationists from Ball State University who are helping communities identify and preserve the unique features of their Main Streets, neighborhoods, bridges, and other built structures--features that become focal points for community revitalization. Glass says that for many years communities often felt the only way to revitalize was to tear down older structures and rebuild. Today that isn't necessarily the case. "Communities are realizing that they gain so much when they incorporate their heritage into economic development and quality of life," he explains. "They are discovering that their cultural legacy can assist them in attracting new residents, new businesses, and new visitors."

Glass's own history with the center dates to 1997 when, as director of the master's degree program in historic reservation within Ball State's Department of Architecture, he and a cadre of graduate students began working with the Muncie Public Library. The collaborators developed a series of walking tour brochures, which highlighted the historic architecture of downtown Muncie and adjacent historic neighborhoods. In addition, the program and library worked with Burris Laboratory School, Ball State's Teachers College, and Minnetrista to develop a heritage education curriculum on the history of Muncie and Delaware County for fourth graders. These projects were well received, but there were limits to the number of projects the graduate program could undertake. "I realized if we wanted to expand, we needed to think a little bigger," Glass says of the initial impetus behind the creation of the center.

He found a model for Ball State's Center for Historic Preservation at Middle Tennessee State University, where the preservation center was founded and fully funded 20 years ago by the Tennessee state legislature.

Conducting a market study, establishing an advisory council of civic and preservation leaders in the state, drafting a business plan, and raising funds were all preliminary steps in making the center a reality. Those involved agreed on a clear mission: to assist communities in revitalization through historic preservation services and providing educational and professional opportunities for graduate students in the historic preservation program. The advisory board helped Glass develop a strategy for raising enough funds to start operations and engaging in projects for a three-year demonstration period to establish a track record for larger-scale funding.

Focus and purpose nurtured the project, and the Center for Historic Preservation opened on the Minnetrista campus in May 2004. The center's location--the historic Mary Lincoln Cottage--was provided as an in-kind contribution by Minnetrista; however, the building offers more than shelter. "We're in a historic building, which is not only a valuable, visible facility, but it also is enriching for our students and a big plus for recruitment of new students," explains Glass. During the first year, 10 preservation students worked as graduate assistants on center projects overseen by Glass and project coordinator Susan Lankford, herself a graduate of the Ball State program.

A unique feature of the center is its ability to find support from many sponsors for a variety of projects. During its first year, these included the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service Historic Preservation Fund, administered by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology; the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites; the Indiana Main Street Program, Indiana Office of Rural Affairs, Office of Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Skillman; Minnetrista; Wabash Marketplace, Inc., of Wabash, Indiana; the Muncie Public Library, the Efroymson Fund of the Central Indiana Community Foundation; and matching grants from the Building Better Communities program of Ball State.

The largest of the center's first-year projects involved preparing historic structure reports for museum buildings in the Indiana State Historic Site system, including the Indiana Territory Capitol building in Vincennes, the First State Office Building in Corydon, and the Metamora Mill and Millville Lock in Metamora.

Another major type of project has been assistance projects for local Main Street programs in Bloomington, Hammond, Hartford City, and 10th Street in Indianapolis. In Muncie, the center has worked on a pictorial history of the natural gas boom in East Central Indiana, while in Wabash, three historic architecture walking tour brochures have been created. Finally, over the past year, the center has refined the Muncie heritage education curriculum for use in the public schools.

The two-fold goal of the center--to provide needed historic preservation services to communities, while offering enhanced professional opportunities for students--has created a unique town-gown connection with benefits that accrue to communities and university alike. "Our long-term goal is to work with communities and not-for-profit organizations that can't afford to raise the full cost of our projects," says Glass. "The next step is to seek legislative support or foundation grants to be able to help more communities."

As additional communities enlist the center to help use the past as an economic tool, Glass hopes many will find that their heritage can make them richer places to live.