Who is responsible for the pergola? It is a shame that it is in such bad shape. I hope to get a look at it when I attend a wedding there this July (eeks... July wedding outside in KC).
I have always loved Longview Farm. I have a book with a large group of pictures of it in the 1920's. Fantastic
Gale's responsible for the pergola and anything you see that's boarded up. The last time I was out there, they had put up three or more no trespassing signs at the pergola. It could be the hazards of the area (the pictures don't show that most of the walkway outside of the center area has collapsed to some degree), or someone finally did some serious vandalism to it. Either way, I don't think anything is being done until they put in streets right next to it. You can still get pretty close.
The plan was to restore all of the building out there. They got two caretakers houses and the elementary school (which they donated to the Lee's Summit school system) done and then the economy tanked. Houses are moving again and you should expect to see restoration start again too. Developer David Gale is still very involved in the Lee's Summit community.
Who is responsible for the pergola? It is a shame that it is in such bad shape. I hope to get a look at it when I attend a wedding there this July
I was out on these grounds in the late '90s working with a developer that was evaluating the entire property for development opportunities and these random structures were in a similar state of disrepair. The plan was to turn all of it into an office park. That would have been a disaster, even though they wanted to save all the historic structures. I prefer Gale's interpretation of a TND for the site. And it is good to see some of the old structures restored or converted.
I just found out the other day(not sure how) that R.A Long, founded a town in SW Washington called Longview. Apparently built to take advatage of the NW forest. I have the occasion to work in Longview and unfortunately, it's fairly scummy. Still a lumber town on the Columbia, it now known for its crime and drug scene. Just found it interesting that someone basically built a town to house workers, and that town still exists.
Picking the historical barns this week to bring you many goodies you can purchase. Most items came from the Mansion and the Show Barn. Come to the festival and OWN a piece of Longview Farm History!! 100 years in the making.
Most people probably don't keep up to date on what's going on here, so since the last post:
- Gale had a bunch of the undeveloped land foreclosed on, including the pergola, barns, retail, etc.
- There's a new developer, developing lots of apartments just west of the barns
- There's this now: http://www.longviewalliance.org/
- Apparently there was a meeting with the new developer last night with a new master plan