DEADWOOD | A proposal from Cadillac Jack’s parent corporation seeking permission to demolish or move two of the last remaining residences on Lower Main Street is drawing the ire of local residents and historic preservation officials who say the move could jeopardize Deadwood’s designation as a National Historic Landmark.
If approved by the Deadwood Historic Preservation Commission, the company says it would move the Fountain House at 370 Main St. to a vacant lot at 33 Lincoln Ave. in the city’s Presidential Neighborhood. Its neighbor, the Shea House at 366 Main St., would either be demolished or moved.
“Based on changes to the original neighborhood that have occurred primarily since the institution of gaming, the house can no longer serve its original function,” attorney Roger Tellinghuisen stated in a memorandum accompanying the application for Optima, which owns Cadillac Jack’s. “The City of Deadwood has through a long, incremental process of decisions and court decisions made the determination that Lower Main Street is in a predominantly commercial/retail corridor — making Lower Main, and thus the Fountain House’s present location, entirely unsuitable for a single-family dwelling.”
Deadwood Historic Preservation Officer Kevin Kuchenbecker said he has learned the casino wants to use the lot to expand parking.
Marlene Todd, a 57-year Deadwood resident who grew up in that neighborhood just doors down from the Fountain and Shea houses, said Tuesday the casino’s request flies in the face of why the town introduced legalized gaming in 1989.
“I struggle with the direction we’re going with historic preservation,” Todd said in a phone interview from Arizona. “We’re losing what gaming came into the community to preserve. That was the whole premise behind gaming — historic preservation. I grew up in the Methodist Church, now gone, my neighborhood, now gone, and now they’re going to destroy the remainder for what, a parking lot? It sickens me.”
The wife of City Commissioner Gary Todd said she fully understood Deadwood business owners’ desire to expand their gaming operations and remain profitable, but she wondered what local residents would sacrifice in the process.
“When we brought in limited stakes gaming it was for historic preservation. It was going to restore our town,” Todd said. “I didn’t have any idea that it was going to tear down the fabric of our community and all we were going to have was casinos. It boils my blood to be real honest and, sometimes, it makes me want to cry.”
The request has generated extensive study by Deadwood Historic Preservation officials who fear the move might result in a reassessment of the town’s Historic Landmark District designation by the National Park Service.
“Both are listed in the National Register of Historic Places, one as contributing structure, that being the Fountain House, while the Shea House is listed on the National Register as a non-contributing resource,” Kuchenbecker said Tuesday. “This is based on the 1993 architectural survey of Deadwood done for the community.”
Kuchenbecker said that his office would recommend against granting permission to demolish or re-locate the residences because such action would “damage the site and setting of the Historic District and would have an adverse effect on both the resource and the district as a whole.”
“The mission and purpose of this office and the Deadwood Historic Preservation Commission is to preserve, promote and protect that status,” he said. “Deadwood has been a National Historic Landmark since July 4, 1961. These are the cream of the crop, the top of historical significance to the nation.”
Deadwood had previously been on the National Park Service “watch list” for endangered districts due to heightened development and visual integrity issues, Kuckenbecker explained.
It was moved to the “satisfactory” list in 2008 when city ordinances pertaining to historic preservation were strengthened, he said.
The Deadwood Historic Preservation Commission will conduct a public hearing on the request from Optima LLC at 5 p.m. today at City Hall.