DALLAS -- Texas' most endangered historic places include a former county jail, a drive-in theater and a swimming pool, a preservation group said Thursday.
The seven places listed by the nonprofit Preservation Texas Inc. were: the Austin Women's Club in Austin; the Brazos Drive-In Theatre in Granbury; Herff Farm in Boerne; downtown Austin's historic assets; Old Llano County Jail, known as "Red Top," in Llano; the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site in La Porte; and the Swenson Swimming Pool and Bathhouse in Spur.
Susan Lassell, president of Preservation Texas, said the main purpose of the list is to draw attention to the historic places. She said the group hopes it will help the sites get funding for renovations, which has been increasingly difficult as organizations make budget cuts.
"My hope is that they go home from today really energized and inspired to keep doing the work they've been doing," Lassell said.
The Swenson Swimming Pool and Bathhouse in the town of Spur, population about 1,000, has been a summer destination for West Texans since it was completed in 1937, but had to close after a few weeks last summer because of leaks in the pool, said Harry Bob Martin, chairman of the Dickens County Historical Commission.
"That pool serves about three or four different counties in West Texas," Martin said.
Mary Ann Golden, president of the Austin Woman's Club, said she hopes to get some tips on renovation work during a two-day preservation summit. The woman's club is in an Austin home designed by San Antonio architect Alfred Giles in 1874. The Austin Woman's Club purchased the building in 1929.
"It suffers from the ravages of time and water," Golden said. "A lot of our wiring was done when electricity first came in, and it's never been replaced."
Carolyn Chipman Evans, founder and executive director of the Cibolo Nature Center, said that the 62-acre Herff Farm, which is part of the nature center, was founded by her great-great-grandfather. Built in 1883, the two-story, limestone farmhouse overlooking Cibolo Creek needs extensive repairs before it can be opened to the public, she said.
She said the farmhouse doesn't have water or electricity and the entire north wall needs rebuilt. They would also like to open trails on the land situated in German-settled Texas Hill Country.
Michael Holleran, who is a spokesman for the Heritage Society of Austin, said the nomination of downtown Austin's historic assets is an effort to make sure historical sites are recognized and preserved as the city is in the middle of preparing a plan for downtown development. He said that the last time Austin did a comprehensive historical survey of downtown was in 1984.
"Healthy and vibrant downtowns are not made at once with new buildings," he said. "If you think of cities that you love and think of what they look like, they don't all tend to have been built in the last 10 years."
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