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Category: Front Page News Front Page News
Published: 06 November 2021 06 November 2021

By Mary Alice Murphy

On Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021, Western Institute of Lifelong Learning (WILL) and the Silver City Museum presented a program at the Fort Bayard Theater on one of the options available to help restore Fort Bayard National Historic Landmark structures, many of which are deteriorating.

New Mexico Rep. Luis Terrazas, who was attending another event nearby, stopped in briefly at the beginning to say: "This event is as important as the other one I'm attending. I want to see Fort Bayard restored. I am very much in support of the fort and what it can become. I'm glad to see all of you working together."

Erin Griffith, Silver City Museum educator, led the effort that day. She introduced Jo Lutz, museum communications director, who was managing the Zoom portion to allow people from out of town to speak. Griffith asked those attending to provide a $5 donation, if possible. She said the website to keep up with museum happenings is silvercitymuseum.org.

Mary Stoecker, one of the organizers of the event, said she was coordinating Lunch and Learn with the WILL events. "It's not just for WILL members."

She said she and her husband, Rich Bigelow, a retired local builder, have participated in HistoriCorps projects over the past few years. "We have the potential to create a partnership with HistoriCorps with Santa Clara, which has a lease on several buildings here at Fort Bayard and with the Fort Bayard Historic Preservation Society."

The first to speak virtually was Liz Rice, volunteer workforce coordinator with HistoriCorps.

"We manage the volunteers who are the workforce for saving places all across the country," Rice said. "There are thousands of resources that are vulnerable to be lost to time. We are calling all those who want to volunteer to sign up at https://historicorps.org . It is free to volunteer. Each volunteer has a week-long commitment. The volunteers provide their own transportation, sturdy clothing they are willing to get dirty, and gear for camping. We provide staff on each project, and we provide all food for the volunteers, as well as the tools for the project."

She noted that every volunteer would have to affirm that they are fully vaccinated. "You register online to participate, and it is first come, first serve, so there is no application. Once you register, you must make sure you are committed to the project. You will receive a welcome packet. Each project is unique. You arrive Sunday evening, and we provide breakfast Monday morning and meals for the rest of the week. The first morning after breakfast, we have a safety circle to make sure everyone know how to stay safe. You work full days Monday through Thursday, and the project ends after lunch on Friday. We have small crews. I emphasize you don't need special skills to work. You need a preservation ethic. The minimum age to register is 14, but everyone under the age of 18 must come with a parent."

Rice said the group formed in 2009, using federal money and Colorado state preservation funding. The funding in 2009 was $200,000 under the Rescue and Recovery Act. "Most of the projects are on public lands, but we do partner with private non-profits. We are mission-driven, teaching the preservation ethic. We work with partners, which can boost our grant applications. We have seven or eight trucks or trailers, and we head to sites across the country. The vehicles are full of tools and things needed for cooking. We want you to be part of HistoriCorps' future. We are volunteers, but we do hire staff every year."

She invited the audience members to check out the HistoriCorps 10-year strategic plan. The contact phone number on the website is 720-287-0100.

The next speaker, in person, was Doug Dinwiddie, current president of FBHPS. "If it weren't for Dale and Jeanette Giese, our society wouldn't exist."

Dinwiddie went on to give a history of Fort Bayard. The 125th U.S. Colored Infantry Company F established the fort on Aug. 21, 1866, under Lt. James Kerr. Other Colored troops continued to arrive.

The fort was named after Brig. Gen. George D. Bayard, who was mortally wounded during the Battle of Fredricksburg during the Civil War two weeks before his birthday and wedding, according to information on the https://fortbayard.org website.

Dinwiddie noted that the fort was part of a system of forts in the Southwest. Fort Bayard was a frontier fort from 1866-1899, with 330-400 troops on site. The peak number was about 800 during the height of the Apache wars, which included warriors such as Cochise, Victorio and Geronimo.

"The fort was home to the Buffalo soldiers from the U.S. Army 9th Cavalry, including the 38th, 9th and 10th cavalry regiments, the 24th and 24th infantry regiments and the 125th U.S. Colored Troops," he continued.

John J. Pershing served at Fort Bayard straight out of West Point and later led American Forces in Europe in World War I.

The military base closed in 1899, which coincided with the need for tuberculosis hospitals. The climate at Fort Bayard was deemed healthy for sufferers of TB. Doctors who arrived at the fort complained about the physical plant and one, Dr. George Bushnell, who worked there 1904-1917 had a new permanent hospital built. The U.S. Veterans Bureau took over the hospital in 1922. In 1969, the then renamed Veterans Administration decided to sell the hospital to the state of New Mexico. In 2009, a new hospital was built just off the Fort Bayard Campus and the state abandoned the Fort Bayard hospital and cut off the utilities.

Dinwiddie noted that the village of Santa Clara came into being about the same time as Fort Bayard. It was called Central City, then just Central and in the 1990s, it became Santa Clara. The village was the first county seat in 1868, and the county seat was briefly moved to Pinos Altos. By 1870-71, Silver City became the county seat and remains so today.

"The Fort Bayard Historic Preservation Society began in the 1990s, and we are doing our best to save Fort Bayard. The area became a national historic landmark in 2004, when Dale Giese testified in Congress about the fort," Dinwiddie said.

He noted the Buffalo Soldier statue in the former parade ground is a fitting symbol of "those who served here." He said the museum building, which is the former commanding officer's quarters was completed in 1911. "We are planning for next steps, working closely with the village and hopefully in the future with HistoriCorps. We welcome new members to our organization."

Sheila Hudman, Santa Clara village clerk-treasurer, said she was hired to the position in 2012, and has been working with the village Mayor Richard Bauch since 2008. "Mayor Bauch was worried about what would happen to the fort once the hospital closed. In 2013, I heard visions of what he wanted to do with Fort Bayard. He hadn't put them on paper, so we got a grant for $70,000 to write a revitalization business plan. It got scary when we couldn't find a main tenant for the fort buildings. That's when the Forest Service came into play and showed a big interest in relocating their offices to the fort by leasing various buildings. They said: 'We want to consolidate our operations locally and Fort Bayard is the perfect place.'"

She said in recent years, the Youth Conservation Corps and AmeriCorps have done stints at the fort helping to secure the buildings. AmeriCorps brings in youths between the ages of 18 and 24 from all over the country. "Not only do they do excellent work, but when they go home, it gets the Fort Bayard name out there. They tell their parents about it, and they want to come visit. In December 2019, the state of New Mexico leased seven buildings and 34.45 acres of land to the village with a 99-year lease. The buildings include the large Nurses Quarters, the Administration Building, this Theater, the Commanding Officer's Quarters that houses the museum, and the building just south of the museum, which will house an education center in half and the other half will house the Chiricahua Nation headquarters. The Marine Corps League wants the Cantina to use for Toys for Tots and funerals at the National Cemetery. We are working on getting a permit for the Red Paint Powwow to be held on the old parade ground. We want to fix up and repair the windows and doors of the buildings, and get the heating repaired in them, too. The estimate to do the repairs and get the power up is about $250,000. It will likely cost about $1.4 million to get the buildings designed and repaired for the Forest Service to use. They want the Nurses' Quarters and the maintenance buildings."

Hudman noted that the village has about 1,700 residents, but she has received $2 million in grants to date. "We want to fix the gutters and pillars before we lose the upper porches."

Stoecker spoke about "if or when we get the HistoriCorps partnership, some of you might be willing to participate. Rich and I worked with 16 others to repair an old stage stop near Gunnison, Colorado. It was on the Cox Ranch, now owned by the great- or great-great grandson of the man who built the stage stop. When you're working on a project, people stop and chat with you. It's a lot of fun. The meals are cooked every day fresh and it's good, very good food. It's daily work, but it never feels like work. I know zip about building or re-mortaring, for example, but I learned. There's a lot of laughter. We're up there figuring it out. We've worked on three projects, including an active fire tower at Lassen, which unfortunately burned down in the Dixon Fire. We hiked up two miles every morning and back down in the evening. Each project has two staff members. One we had on a project, is now the Rocky Mountain project manager, who will come down to talk to Sheila and assess if Fort Bayard can be a project for the organization. At least one or both of the staff members on each project are preservationists. Our last site to work on was a lighthouse on Lake Superior. We were stripping paint and repainting the lighthouse in Point Iroquois State Park."

She noted the town of Silver City is also trying to partner with HistoriCorps on the Waterworks Building.

A woman in the audience asked if when one is applying to HistoriCorps, "are you applying for specific locations?" She was told yes, and the list is on the historicorps.org website. Rice noted that the sites for 2022 will be posted by late December or January.

Bigelow asked what the time frame for Fort Bayard would be.

Hudman said that would be determined when HistoriCorps personnel came to assess the fort but would likely be 2024-25.

Stoecker said each project is at least two weeks long, but can last 4, 6 or even 8 weeks, or people can return in future years to finish up a project.

A member of the audience asked when the Apache planned to set up their offices.

Dinwiddie said it was "up in the air. We are waiting for the state to approve the leases. We are hoping within the next year and a half. It is contingent on appropriate state sign-offs at the property level. Often the state moves at the speed of molasses at the North Pole."

Hudman clarified that the state owns the entire Fort Bayard site, and the Department of Health is the chief lessee, then everything has to go through the Historic Preservation Division, which is part of the Department of Cultural Affairs. "It takes 30-60 days at the village level to determine repairs needed, then it is sent to the engineer for the preliminary design then to the Historic Preservation office, where they say: "Yes, you may be able to do this. After the concept is approved, it is sent to the architect or engineer, then it goes to Historic Preservation for 30 days to two years. Then you have to get approval from DOH. We got our lease in December 2019, then Covid shut down everything. When Historic Preservation approves it, it has to go to the General Services Department, which goes through the engineering drawings. We hope to prove we can preserve Fort Bayard, so we just have to go through Historic Preservation to ensure it was on the proper survey and we got it approved. Now we want to get approval for subleases through the Department of Finance and Administration."

An audience member asked if the powwow would take place next year at Fort Bayard.

Hudman said it would require a concrete pad for the band and drummers, concrete for the bleachers then a dance area in the middle. "We have it approved by SHPO (State Historic Preservation Office), now we have to get it designed."

A woman asked what the funding requirement is for the village to partner with HistoriCorps.

Stoecker said she does know that the funding by the village would be for materials and part of the salary for employees, and "the volunteers need a place to camp. Yes, it is a cash share on the partner side."

A man asked what buildings the village plans to restore.

Hudman replied that the business plan encompasses all the buildings. "We want to create an outdoor historic recreation site. We have also asked for a movable disc golf facility, so it doesn't interfere with events. We presented it to SHPO, once our village trustees approved the concept. The fire department building, we would like to turn it into a micro-brewery. My vision is Buffalo Soldier Beer, Lieutenant Beer, etc. We have lots of visions. The Theater could be a community rental. Some buildings could be long-term or short-term leases. We would like an entity to take over the management of the facilities. We already have a local individual willing to take over and run an RV Park. We have ways to invest by lease, and let the lessee do the work, which will pay for the lease. Part of our business plan notes that 29 different day trips can be taken from Fort Bayard."

A woman said she had worked in historic preservation for many years, and because the site has federal historic landmark designation, as well as state ownership, it is important to have all the review processes to preserve the integrity of the site.

At the end of the session, participants were encouraged to give feedback on the meeting.