Page 90 - UB Church and Shen Univ
P. 90
Volume 6 Relation of U.B/EUB Virginia Conferences to Shenandoah University Dec. 26, 2013
terminated and the unit relocated, the city officials were free to sell the property or dispose of it as they
chose.
The University was negotiating with the City on several issues at the time and President Pro-Tem
of the Council, Charles Gaynor, worked with fellow councilpersons to offer the land and facility to the
University for $750,000. The Board of Trustees accepted the offer and paid the City for the transfer of
the property nearly 3 years before the new Armory was completed. The University allowed the National
Guard unit to use the old facility rent-free and honored the lease to maintain the facility for the
government use. As soon as the Guard unit was able to move into the new facility, the University
cleaned up the old fencing and small metal buildings, and it began planning for the future use of the
property as part of the University’s master plan. This negotiation to acquire the land and building had
taken almost 20 years and had involved dozens of public officials at the local, state, and federal level, as
well as university trustees and friends. This action further illustrated effective cooperation that can exist
between levels of government, a private university, government agencies, and interested citizens.
Everyone involved agreed that all parties benefitted from the transactions and that the community would
be well served by the outcomes of this project.
Tourism Bureau and to the Battlefield Foundation. A similar but different project was being
negotiated at the same time that the Armory arrangement was about to be concluded. The University
had received a federal appropriation to help provide a center for coordination of tourism and the
preservation of historical resources such as local museums, civil war battlefields, monuments, and other
historic sites. Congressman Frank Wolfe and Senator John Warner provided leadership for the creation
of a new Civil War National Park in the Shenandoah Valley and helped to create the Battlefield
Foundation to guide and help interpret the historic resources in the Shenandoah Valley. The City of
Winchester owned a small parcel of land that had the old remains from the City’s former waterworks,
which was located between the former rescue squad building on Pleasant Valley Road and the Historic
Abrams Delight property. The University proposed that a new building be constructed on the site to
serve as a Tourism Center for the area, but also serve as the Winchester-Frederick County cluster site for
the Battlefield Foundation and as a home for the History Department and institutes related to history at
the University.
The City agreed to lease the property to the University long term for a minimum payment; and
the University agreed to build and own the facility with support of a federal appropriation, a city
contribution of $750,000, and more than one million dollars from university sources. The University
then leased portions of the building to the Tourism Bureau and to the Battlefield Foundation for their
functions and coordinated the construction and build out of the facility. The University created a
coordinating council headed by Pat Zontine, a local leader of historical groups, to bring all the parties to
the table to work out the sharing arrangements. She successfully met the needs that each party requested
made the facility work well for everyone. A Richmond architectural firm that had experience in
building on historically-sensitive property was chosen by the advisory group to design the facility that
would adjoin one of the most sensitive historic sites in the City, Abrams Delight. The final design was
chosen and approved by the coordinating council, the City Council, and the University Board of
Trustees. The resulting design had a large “barn like” structure with grey stone, red and gray metal
walls and roof, and extensive landscaping that followed environmentally-sensitive water-containment
ponds and preserved much of the historic water works in the spring and pond area. The building became
another public landmark for cooperation of all interested parties and demonstrated what can achieved
when goodwill and sensitive leadership work together.
Davis on History of S.C., 1982-2008 80
terminated and the unit relocated, the city officials were free to sell the property or dispose of it as they
chose.
The University was negotiating with the City on several issues at the time and President Pro-Tem
of the Council, Charles Gaynor, worked with fellow councilpersons to offer the land and facility to the
University for $750,000. The Board of Trustees accepted the offer and paid the City for the transfer of
the property nearly 3 years before the new Armory was completed. The University allowed the National
Guard unit to use the old facility rent-free and honored the lease to maintain the facility for the
government use. As soon as the Guard unit was able to move into the new facility, the University
cleaned up the old fencing and small metal buildings, and it began planning for the future use of the
property as part of the University’s master plan. This negotiation to acquire the land and building had
taken almost 20 years and had involved dozens of public officials at the local, state, and federal level, as
well as university trustees and friends. This action further illustrated effective cooperation that can exist
between levels of government, a private university, government agencies, and interested citizens.
Everyone involved agreed that all parties benefitted from the transactions and that the community would
be well served by the outcomes of this project.
Tourism Bureau and to the Battlefield Foundation. A similar but different project was being
negotiated at the same time that the Armory arrangement was about to be concluded. The University
had received a federal appropriation to help provide a center for coordination of tourism and the
preservation of historical resources such as local museums, civil war battlefields, monuments, and other
historic sites. Congressman Frank Wolfe and Senator John Warner provided leadership for the creation
of a new Civil War National Park in the Shenandoah Valley and helped to create the Battlefield
Foundation to guide and help interpret the historic resources in the Shenandoah Valley. The City of
Winchester owned a small parcel of land that had the old remains from the City’s former waterworks,
which was located between the former rescue squad building on Pleasant Valley Road and the Historic
Abrams Delight property. The University proposed that a new building be constructed on the site to
serve as a Tourism Center for the area, but also serve as the Winchester-Frederick County cluster site for
the Battlefield Foundation and as a home for the History Department and institutes related to history at
the University.
The City agreed to lease the property to the University long term for a minimum payment; and
the University agreed to build and own the facility with support of a federal appropriation, a city
contribution of $750,000, and more than one million dollars from university sources. The University
then leased portions of the building to the Tourism Bureau and to the Battlefield Foundation for their
functions and coordinated the construction and build out of the facility. The University created a
coordinating council headed by Pat Zontine, a local leader of historical groups, to bring all the parties to
the table to work out the sharing arrangements. She successfully met the needs that each party requested
made the facility work well for everyone. A Richmond architectural firm that had experience in
building on historically-sensitive property was chosen by the advisory group to design the facility that
would adjoin one of the most sensitive historic sites in the City, Abrams Delight. The final design was
chosen and approved by the coordinating council, the City Council, and the University Board of
Trustees. The resulting design had a large “barn like” structure with grey stone, red and gray metal
walls and roof, and extensive landscaping that followed environmentally-sensitive water-containment
ponds and preserved much of the historic water works in the spring and pond area. The building became
another public landmark for cooperation of all interested parties and demonstrated what can achieved
when goodwill and sensitive leadership work together.
Davis on History of S.C., 1982-2008 80
