Request for Proposal for National Register of Historic Places Nomination for the Arkansas City Downtown Commercial Historic District Revisions

The City of Arkansas City applied for and received a grant from the Kansas State Historical Society and funded in part by the National Park Service, Department of the Interior, to hire a consultant to conduct a historic resources survey of downtown Arkansas City. That project was completed in 2018. This project follows up the 2018 survey by seeking to amend the existing listing on the National Register of Historic Places of our Downtown Commercial Historic District. 

The primary purpose of the survey project was twofold, to update records for buildings within the existing downtown district and reevaluating their contributing/non-contributing status based on dates of construction and level of historic integrity, and to evaluate the historic properties adjacent to the existing designated district (established in 1983) to determine if the district could or should be expanded.  The survey created a proposed boundary for an amended Historic District.  The proposed boundary provides adjustments to exclude vacant lots and contemporary buildings where historic buildings have been lost as well as expansion of the district to include intact clusters of historic commercial, social/civic and institutional (non-residential) resources adjacent to the existing district.  The proposed boundary encompasses 87 properties (buildings), 61 of which were determined to be contributors to the district.  About Thirteen properties would be nominated to be added to the National Register and Historic District.  About five vacant properties would be removed from the district, as the historic structures have been demolished since the district was originally formed.

The determination for eligibility for listing on the National Register of Historic Places was made based on exterior site investigation and research, with some properties possibly requiring further interior inspection.    The existing Downtown Commercial Historic District consists of five commercial blocks along Summit Street and 2 ½ blocks of 5^th Avenue adjacent to Summit Street.  The existing district extends from approximately Chestnut Avenue to Jefferson Avenue, generally alley to alley on both sides of Summit Street and on 5^th Avenue from 2^nd Street to “A” Street.  A map is included in this document to show the entire area.