National Public Radio (NPR)
Morning Edition - NPR April 3, 2002
Controversy surrounding the makeover of Aurora, a historic village in New York
REPORTER: JON MILLER
SUSAN STAMBERG, host: This next story has all the elements of a 19th century historical drama: a tiny women's college, a millionaire philanthropist, an old lakeside inn. It starts with a prominent businesswoman trying to spruce up her alma mater. Her attempt has inflamed local passions and prompted historic preservationists to go to court. From Aurora, New York, Jon Miller picks up the story.
(Soundbite of students speaking Japanese)
JON MILLER reporting: Japanese class at Wells College, in a estately, Victorian building overlooking Cayuga Lake in central New York state. Like all small colleges, Wells has to compete hard for these students, so administrators spend much of their time looking for ways to make the school more attractive. Imagine then how thrilled college president Lisa Marsh Ryerson was when a wealthy alumna offered to spend millions of dollars refurbishing historic properties, both on campus and in the surrounding village of Aurora. Not only that, she said she would turn several into up-market businesses and channel all the profits to the college.
Ms. LISA MARSH RYERSON (President, Wells College): Pleasant Rowland's depth of generosity is rarely seen in society. Her aim is to make both places healthier, and she absolutely is not looking for any return on her investment.
MILLER: Pleasant Rowland is the former school teacher who created the American Girl line of historical dolls, books and accessories. Rowland, who lives in Wisconsin, said she conceived the dolls more as teaching tools than as toys, but they've been spectacularly profitable, and in 1998 she sold the business to Mattel for $700 million.
Ms. KATIE WALLER: This first picture is the oldest picture we have found from 1848 from a print of the village of Aurora.
MILLER: Katie Waller is Rowland's representative here in Aurora. She points to a 19th century print in the college president's office. The renovation, she explains, will begin with the Aurora Inn, an 1833 structure owned by the college. For years, the inn lost money. In late 2000, it finally closed. The idea now is to spend more than $4 million on a complete makeover.
Ms. WALLER: We're adding two suites on the fourth level. They will have skylights, lovely whirlpool tubs, and they'll each have kitchenettes.
MILLER: It was just those sorts of details that raised red flags last year among a small group of citizens, professors and alumni, several of whom helped get the entire village listed on the National Historic Register back in 1980. They worried that Rowland's plans for transforming Aurora were bigger on style than historical accuracy. Last winter, they sued to halt the project, but the suit was rejected.
(Soundbite of saw and hammering)
MILLER: Today, the Aurora Inn is a hollow brick box sheathed in blue plastic. Workers have knocked down a 1904 addition; now they're preparing for a year of major reconstruction. Music teacher Karen Hindenlang is spokesperson for the group opposing the project.
Ms. KAREN HINDENLANG (Music Teacher): This is not restoration. It's called a gut rehab. And more than a few professionals have told me, 'You might as well tear it down and start over and just build a new one a la Disneyland,' because what's left is not hardly going to be worth saving.
MILLER: That concern is shared by historic preservationists. In fact, the state Preservation Office and the National Trust for Historic Preservation both joined the lawsuit against the college and the village. They worry that the lack of a rigorous review here could set a dangerous precedent for other historic districts around the country. Tania Werbizky is technical director of the Preservation League of New York.
Ms. TANIA WERBIZKY (Preservation League of New York): The preservation community in the state and in the nation appreciates the change will happen, but some changes are more sympathetic and more responsive to community character than others.
Mr. AVERY AYERS: Many of us feel it's our only chance not to fall off the face of the map.
MILLER: Wells College custodian Avery Ayers heads Aurora's Community Preservation Panel, which gave the inn project the go-ahead in the first place. Sitting in a cafe across the street from the college, he says he's never seen an issue divide the community the way this has. But he also says he's confident things will turn out for the best.
Mr. AYERS: I believe Ms. Rowland when she says she cares very much for the village and the college and is trying to help us the way she sees it
.
MILLER: Still, others here have trouble with that last phrase, 'the way she sees it.' They worry that a woman who made her fortune dressing up American history may try to remake their village according to her own idea of the way it used to be.
For NPR News, I'm Jon Miller in Aurora, New York.
Return to Pleasant Page
Return to Home Page