By Elizabeth Dubrulle
Correspondent

Goffstown News/Bruce Preston Lisa Thibault, left, and Hugh McQuarrie enjoy a leisurely breakfast at the Happy Tomato Cafe on Main Street in Goffstown. The cafe is located in a building that is more than 100 years old and is part of the area that could be named to the National Register of Historic Places.

Goffstown News/Bruce Preston Karen Henderson is co-owner of the True Value Hardware Store in Goffstown, also located in the historic part of town.

Main Street Goffstown may soon take its place among Colonial Williamsburg and Times Square as notable places in American history if the town decides to go ahead with plans to nominate the area for listing on the National Register of Historical Places.

In May, the town received a substantial grant from the National Park Service, which sponsored the recent effort to evaluate the feasibility and desirability of such a move. The National Park Service, which maintains the National Register, awarded the funds in a nonmatching grant, meaning that the town was not required to contribute any of its own funds to receive the money.

“Such grants,” said Assistant Town Administrator Jim Bingham, “illustrate how important the NPS and the Department of the Interior think the National Register is.”

A product of the 1966 National Historic Preservation Act, the National Register is a massive listing of all properties deemed historically, architecturally or culturally significant to U.S. history.

The listing is not intended to honor only the famous, however. It also seeks to commemorate ordinary Americans from all walks of life.

“Not just the picturesque,” said Christine Fonda Rankie of the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources, “but where everyday people worked and lived – not just buildings but all kinds of structures and larger environments.”

Where it would be

The area under consideration for inclusion on the National Register runs along both sides of Route 114 in the village from the corner with True Value Hardware all the way down to the Vestry Church. Collectively, the region would be designated a National Historic District.

The district, once established, could be enlarged at a later date.

According to Rankie, inclusion on the National Register has a number of benefits and almost no drawbacks.

“The program is meant to be the carrot rather than the stick,” Rankie said.

Property owners are not restricted in any way from modifying their structures. There are no design or review requirements associated with the register. Property owners can even tear down buildings if they so choose.

But, theoretically, owners would consider other alternatives before taking such drastic action or before modifying their property in a way that does not contribute to the historical character of the village once their property is listed on the National Register.

When asked about the potential ramifications of historic district designation, Bingham said, “It’s the hope that if a building burns down, we won’t end up with a red and yellow gas station in the middle of the village.”

What it means to Goffstown Benefits include an increased understanding of the history and character of the village, recognition that Rankie says often leads to economic revival for an area.

Property owners seeking to renovate buildings within national historic districts are also eligible for grants to assist them, particularly if the owners are nonprofit or public organizations. All owners who earn income from their property may be eligible for a 20 percent tax incentive program when seeking to renovate their buildings.

“Property owners have nothing to fear from a national registry designation,” Rankie said.

Local historic districts, however, often require property owners to submit renovations to a review process and tend to be much more stringent.

Goffstown currently has three locally designated historic districts: Grasmere Village, Parker Station and Carr Court.

To prepare the nomination for the National Register, the town has commissioned preservation consultant and architectural historian Lisa Mausolf, who will compile a detailed history of the area.

Her final report will include a property-by-property inventory of the proposed district, a narrative of the district’s development from its inception up to the present day, a discussion of its significance to the region and its conformity with the National Register’s various criteria and a series of photographs.

Mausolf believes the district’s significance lies in the span of time covered by the buildings in the village, from some of the older houses built along the street in the 1810s to more modern structures like Sully’s Superette.

“The village was the center of commerce, government and community life for this area for almost 200 years,” Mausolf said.

“Its buildings represent the evolution of architecture from the 19th century to the present.”

Anyone with old photographs of the buildings in the proposed district or information about their architectural history should contact her at (781) 942-2173. Currently, just two buildings in the village are listed on the National Register: the public library and the Congregational Church.

The process

Mausolf will be working around the village for the next several months in preparation for submitting the final nomination to the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources in September, an organization that will then conduct its own stringent review of the nomination and will solicit letters from property owners in the proposed district asking whether they support the designation. Technically, not all property owners within the district must agree to the nomination, although a majority must for the proposal to move forward.

Rankie said she has never known an instance when a majority of property owners did not support a nomination.

Once the nomination is cleared at the state level, it will be sent to the National Park Service for review and then inclusion on the National Register.

Before the nomination passes to the state level, however, it must first gain the support of Goffstown’s Board of Selectmen, who said they need a clear expression of property owners’ views on the matter to go forward with the plan.

Support needed

To allay any possible concerns among property owners, town officials have sent letters to all owners within the proposed district and hosted two informational public meetings with Rankie and Mausolf on hand to explain the ins and outs of the National Register and to answer any questions.

Neither meeting was well attended, an apparent lack of interest on the part of property owners that Bingham fears may undermine the entire effort.

“The selectmen won’t approve of the nomination unless the property owners actively support the idea,” he said. “It must be more than the absence of opposition.”

Two of the area’s most substantial property owners, Larry Brown of Goffstown True Value Hardware and John Denoncourt of Sully’s, support the effort to get the village listed on the National Register.

“I think it will be good for the area,” Denoncourt said. “I haven’t thought about it much but I’m generally positive about it.”

Brown concurred, saying “I haven’t studied the issue as much as I should have, but the brief information I’ve received was enough for me to know not to worry about it. It’s certainly not a bad thing.”