Sometimes, great projects start with delightful coincidences.
Doling Neighborhood Association President Christina Dicken had her eye on the 1907 house at 2601 N. Grant for a while.
“I’ve always loved that house because it’s so neat and historic,” Dicken said. “It sat empty for a couple of years.”
She said the Doling Neighborhood Association was looking into the possibility of partnering with another agency to purchase a property for community use, similar to Grant Beach Neighborhood Association’s Hovey House.
“I thought this house would be the perfect choice,” Dicken said.
Dicken said the property’s location at the corner of Grant Avenue and Talmage Street, and proximity to both Watkins Elementary School and Doling Park is ideal.
When an auction sign went up at the house in October, Dicken made a mental note to attend. Then she got busy with activities in the neighborhood and her job as a real estate appraiser and didn’t make it to the sale.
Meanwhile, Fran Young and her husband Paul, who co-owned Young Family Farm and several rental properties in Springfield, were driving by the auction that Saturday in October, and stopped by out of curiosity.
[pullquote]“There was nobody bidding, and my heart went out to this gorgeous property … the auctioneer was saying it could be torn down. I just couldn’t let that happen, so I bid on it,” Young says. “It was just too good of a deal to pass up.”[/pullquote]
The Youngs, former international teachers who moved to Springfield in 2008 after years of living abroad, left the auction as the new owners of “The Big Yellow House,” as she calls it.
Young, who dabbles in art and writing, envisioned turning the house into a studio and office space for herself and her artist friends to share.
“But as I thought about it over the next few weeks after I bought it, I realized the property could be much more than just studio space,” Young said. “It has a barn with a stage. It has this huge, double-wide lot of a yard, which would make for fantastic community gardening space. The more we thought and talked about it, my family and I felt that this house was just begging to be used as a community resource,” Young said.
Dicken, who said she was upset with herself for missing the auction, hoped that the new owner didn’t plan to tear down the historic house. She did an online records search and found out that a limited liability company bought the house. Young was listed as the LLC’s registered agent.
“I searched Fran on Facebook and found we had several friends in common,” Dicken said. “So I messaged her to ask what she planned to do with the house.”
The two chatted on Facebook about the house, and Dicken told Young that she thought the property would make an ideal neighborhood hub.
“Wow, talk about delightful coincidences … ” Young messaged Dicken. “I bought it expressly because I want to develop it into a … wait for it … community center.”
They exchanged phone numbers and made plans to meet in person.
“I knew right away that her intentions were pure and she wanted to do something to help the community,” Dicken said. “We came up with tons of ideas for programming.”
Young is now in the process of renovating and repairing the property, and is working with the City’s Planning & Development department on rezoning.
Young said she plans to invite the neighborhood over to “The Big Yellow House” on Memorial Day to show off what she’s done so far on the place, as well as demo another new Doling initiative – the Doling Block Party Tool Kit – which the neighborhood association purchased with grant money awarded through Community Foundation of the Ozarks and contains all the materials to plan and execute a block party and start a Neighborhood Block Watch through the Springfield Police Department.
Watch for a story on the Tool Kit in the July edition of SGF Neighborhood News
Immediate plans for the property include a community garden with a mini-orchard, which Young and her family are already working on with the help of Doling resident and Master Gardener Jean Ackley; an after-school program and community arts events.
Additional ideas include family movie nights, porch concerts, a Little Free Library, tutoring, hobby clubs, special events, family game nights and barn dances.
The hub will also serve as a home base for the neighborhood association, Young said.
“We think this center will have a good mix of a lot of different things and will be a place to celebrate our neighborhood and our neighbors,” Dicken said. “We’re all about getting to know the people in our neighborhood so we can build that sense of community.”
Young said Dicken, Ackley and others in Doling, along with Zone 1 Councilwoman Phyllis Ferguson, continue to inspire her.
“They’ve been instrumental in keeping the conversations going about all the possibilities,” Young said. “Our shared vision for this property is that it will become a venue for enrichment, learning and where neighbors gather to socialize and help each other.”