Submitted by Thurston County Board of County Commissioners
Historic preservation programs in Thurston County have been given a boost, thanks to grants authorized by the Board of County Commissioners on Friday, December 14, 2018. The Board approved seven grant application requests for 2019 heritage grant funding.
Funding for the grants comes under an enactment from the 2005 legislature that sets aside $1 from each $5 historic document recording fee collected by the county auditor. The grant program is managed by the Thurston County Historic Commission who review and recommend funding in compliance with guidelines established by the Commissioners.
The Thurston County Historic Commission received and ranked eleven complete applications. The seven grant applications that were awarded 2019 grant funding were:
- Olympia Film Society – Restoration of the Capitol Theater façade windows, $5,000
- City of Lacey/Lacey Museum – Interviews and cataloguing of photos from the first and only city newspaper the ‘Lacey Leader’, $5,000
- Olympia Tumwater Foundation – Replace HVAC system in the historic Schmidt House, $5,000
- City of Rainier – Renovate and preserve historic Rainier School/Lutheran Church, $5,000
- The Sand Man Foundation – Deck repairs and dry rot replacement throughout the tugboat, $5,000
- NW Institute for Leadership & Change – Conduct interviews and document the history of African Americans who came to our area between 1950 and 1975, $5,000
- YWCA Olympia – Transfer historical documents to the Washington State Historical Society for preservation, Phase II, $2,200
