Once a staple of Lincoln industry, the Cushman Motor Works factory has sat mostly vacant for the past decade.
But when the University of Nebraska-Lincoln started tearing down the derelict factory this week, preservationists started to feel like another part of the city’s history is being lost and forgotten.
Cushman Motor Works, incorporated after cousins Everett and Clinton Cushman capitalized on the need for mechanized farm implements in Nebraska, has stood at 21st and X streets since 1913.
For the next 90 years, the factory and foundry manufactured scooters, golf carts, farm equipment, turf-care equipment and other service vehicles. Textron acquired the company in 2002 and announced plans to move the plant from its home overlooking Antelope Valley to Augusta, Ga.
Textron sold 17.8 acres of the Cushman property to UNL for $4.9 million in 2003, and Speedway Motors bought the remainder north of a set of railroad tracks bisecting the property.
UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman said then the building could become research lab space, but those plans never came to fruition, and revitalization plans connected to Antelope Valley restoration washed through the area without touching the plant.
Part of the Cushman factory was dedicated to the university’s Online High School until about a year ago, when the school moved to a spot near 20th and Holdrege streets, UNL spokesman Steve Smith said.
The rest of the plant fell into “massive deterioration,” he said, becoming an added liability to UNL. Copper wiring valued at more than $4,800 was stolen from the empty factory in February.
“If the building were to somehow be repurposed it would be massively daunting,” Smith said.
UNL requested bids to demolish the building and its additions in September and awarded the job to Dore and Associates Contracting of Bay City, Mich., in October for $614,400, plus about $243,000 in asbestos abatement and administrative costs.
Dore and Associates is salvaging as much of the building as possible, according to the bid request for proposals.
That stipulation on the demolition bid gave Speedway Motors an opportunity to save part of the original facade and add it to the Museum of American Speed in Lincoln.
Mike Tavlin, chief financial officer for Speedway Properties, said it bought the main entryway to be displayed at the privately owned museum near about half a dozen Cushman scooters.
“We worked out an arrangement with folks doing the demo to buy some stuff as it’s being demolished,” he said. “The plan is to install that portion of the entrance with the marquee name above it inside our museum to complement our display of Cushman scooters.”
Building preservationist Matt Steinhausen said any effort to preserve the early art deco design from the 1913-14 facade is in “the 13th hour,” and Lincolnites should look to preserve a part of their manufacturing heritage.
“I do not think it’s reasonable or even feasible to save the entire factory facility,” he said. “But I think this has been done under the table without a lot of public input. It appears nothing like a historical survey or a feasibility study to save the original building façade was ordered.”
On Monday, Steinhausen asked UNL to share any such surveys, not knowing the deconstruction was slated to begin Tuesday. He said he was told no information is available.
Smith said plans to tear down Cushman were far along, and community input was sought during meetings throughout 2012 and 2013 as part of discussion of UNL’s Master Plan — the governing document outlining the next 15 to 20 years of facility and landscaping projects.
The plan, approved by the NU Board of Regents in September, doesn’t give any real indication about the future of the Cushman site. While a few potential buildings are present in the plan, Smith said there are no plans for the site.
Steinhausen said that with no plans available for review, ideas from the community wouldn’t go very far.
“When there is no plan for the site, how do you solicit future input?” he asked.
