KALAMAZOO, MI – The national historic district that includes Western Michigan University's East Campus was nominated this week for America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.



Friends of Historic East Campus submitted a nomination to the National Trust for Historic Preservation for the Western State Normal School Historic District, which includes the four buildings of East Campus – three of which are slated to be torn down by the university.

"The goal is to bring national attention to the fact that this important historic resource is threatened," said Robert Dunbar, longtime member of FOHEC and the son of former WMU history department head Willis Dunbar, after whom Dunbar Hall was named.

Dunbar is scheduled to speak in front of WMU's Board of Trustees to urge them to reconsider the decision at their next meeting Feb. 27.

The decision has attracted its share of controversy, with preservationists urging the university to explore other alternatives to demolition.

A petition to save East Campus launched by Rodger Parzyck, owner of the Heritage Company in Kalamazoo, collected more than 700 signatures.

The annual "11 Most Endangered" list has been compiled since 1988 by the nonprofit National Trust for Historic Preservation, which works to save historic buildings in the United States. Nominations are due March 1.

If the Western State Normal School Historic District was chosen for the 2013 list, it could serve to galvanize the save East Campus effort, members of FOHEC said.

"This nomination would be important not only for the Kalamazoo community but it also represents an issue that takes place nationwide on college and university campuses," said Pam O'Connor, adviser for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a past president of Michigan Historic Preservation Network and a former chairwoman of the Kalamazoo Historic Preservation Commission.

"Demolition of campus historic buildings has been a challenge nationwide for decades," said O'Connor.

The 20 acres on Prospect Hill on which the Western State Normal School was built were donated by the city of Kalamazoo more than 100 years ago.

The 12 buildings that comprise the Western State Normal School Historic District were added to the National Historic Registry in 1990. East Hall previously had been added in 1978.

WMU announced plans Dec. 10 to demolish historic West Hall, North Hall and the Speech and Hearing Building.

The university cited cost in its decision to tear down the three buildings, which have been sitting vacant for years. Five years ago, it was estimated it would cost $74 million to renovate North, West, East Halls and the Speech and Hearing Building. Using a 5-percent per-year escalator, WMU officials projected it would cost $94.5 million to renovate East Campus. By comparison, WMU received $95.5 million this year from the state of Michigan.

WMU did not return calls for comment about the nomination.

In December, WMU said it would borrow $15 million to renovate East Hall, the university's birthplace, and turn it into an alumni center. The Archives Collection, which is currently housed in East Hall, will be moved to the new Zhang Legacy Collections Building currently under construction. The fate of East Hall's two wings, which were added later, hinges on whether enough money is raised to save them, administrators said.

As long as no federal funds are used, the university is free to raze the buildings in the historic district. But it is possible that the demolition of the three buildings could cause the Western State Normal School Historic District to be delisted, O'Connor said.

That would not carry any penalties, she added, but would mean that federal historic preservation tax credits would no longer be available for any of the other buildings for future rehabilitation projects.

Yvonne Zipp is an education reporter for MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette. You can reach her at yzipp@mlive.com or 269-365-8639.

