Megan Blaha

Publication Date

Summer 2015

Abstract

In the winter 2015 term, Eastern Michigan University’s Historic Preservation Program partnered with the Leelanau Historical Society to initiate the development of a Conditions Assessment for the historic former Leelanau County Jail, located on land where the county seat had stood prior to its move to Suttons Bay Township in 2008. The purpose of this joint effort was to continue the efforts already begun by the Historical Society to save the jail. Since interest in development of the property the jail currently resides on persists, it has become imperative to create an assessment so that if the jail needs to be moved or it if remains in its current location it will be properly documented. Students in the winter 2015 Historic Preservation and Tourism class gathered the raw data for this documentation, spending a day measuring, researching, and photographing the structure. This report takes that information and compiles it as the basis for a full Conditions Assessment that hopefully can be used to help in preserving the historic Leelanau County Jail. This Conditions Assessment is my Final Project towards obtaining my Master’s degree in Historic Preservation from Eastern Michigan University. This project was one I felt drawn to because of the circumstances around the preservation of the building. The thought that this building could be torn down simply because it was in the way of new construction is one of the biggest problems anyone in preservation deals with today. New building developments are so highly desired that instead of taking the time to analyze an older structure to see if it would be compatible with the new build, they are simply torn down without a second thought. Even though this is only one small building, the possibility that this could change a developers’ mind in how they review buildings on the site is a strong motivator to create this assessment. While 4 the research is a compilation of the work done in the Historic Preservation and Tourism class, the final paper and its content are of my own creation.

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