An effort to refurbish the historic water tower pump house in downtown Oregon is moving ahead thanks to a resident who’s spearheading the project.
Randy Glysch moved to Oregon in June and has been working with village officials and contacting landscaping businesses about donations for the first phase of what could ultimately become a restoration of both the water tower and pump house.
He plans to begin landscaping the pump house grounds on Janesville Street next spring. At the same time, Glysch would like to replace the small building’s windows and front door.
“We’re on this parallel track of fixing up the building and doing the landscaping,” he said.
Glysch said he’s contacted several local businesses – Kopke’s Greenhouse, Winterland Nurseries, The Flower Factory and Moyer’s Landscaping – and all were willing to help with donations of plants and shrubs.
“I’m amazed and humbled by how willing people are to provide stuff and help with the project,” he said. “Basically the landscaping is being donated – the whole thing. Sometimes it just takes asking people.”
Glysch has also talked with contractors about the pump house building, which was constructed in 1899 but has been neglected for years. In addition to needing a door and new windows – which will probably have to be custom built, Glysch said – the building also needs new tuckpointing.
The village has $3,300 set aside in a Water Tower Restoration fund, which Glysch said could serve as matching funds for a couple of grants he plans to apply for.
The application for a Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission grant is due in February. Oregon Historic Preservation Commission member Julia Meyers had previously applied for the grant but was unsuccessful.
Glysch has also been in touch with an official from the Bryant Foundation in Stoughton. He said the foundation typically funds only projects related to the Stoughton community, but with a nudge from Historic
Preservation Commission chairman Arlan Kay, the foundation did send Glysch an application.
“Funding is always a huge issue, and the water tower is in need of funding,” Kay noted.
Glysch said the Bryant Foundation is done accepting applications for 2013, “so we’ll submit a grant right after the first of the year.”
He also sent a letter to businesses located near the pump house to see if they’d like to make a contribution and met with the Oregon Area Senior Center, which agreed to place a donation box in the building.
“They put a nice little article in their newsletter, as well,” he said.
Glysch established the Friends of the Historic Oregon Water Tower earlier this fall and is accepting tax-deductible donations for the project through the village. He said donations can be sent to Oregon Village Hall, 117 Spring St., and will be maintained in the Preserve the Water Tower fund.
He plans to go back in January or February with a final landscaping plan for the Historic Preservation Commission’s approval, and “probably also some final plans on the windows and the door and tuckpointing.”
In an interview with the Observer on Sunday, Glysch said was “just blown away” at how his ideas were received at Moyer’s Landscaping.
He said one of the owners, Jeff Moyers, took his draft design for the landscaping “and is going to help create a very professional plan for it.” Moyers also talked about donating plants and the edging around the plants, he said.
Glysch has also applied to serve on Oregon’s Historic Preservation Commission. That appointment was on the Village Board’s meeting agenda for Monday, as was the commission’s recommendation that the board support the grants Glysch intends to submit for funding.
“If the water tower pump house wouldn’t have come along, I still would be interested in the commission,” he said. “I live in an old house, and it’s something I like and am interested in. And I’m interested in the community, as well.”
Glysch said he learned about the pump house and water tower by reading articles written by the late Joan Gefke, who served for many years on the Historic Preservation Commission.
“After I read about all the people who tried do something with this before me, I’m sort of humbled to try to carry on what they started,” he said.
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