The Aldredge House Receives Grant For Living Play From The Texas Historical Foundation

Share News:

Texas Historical Foundation

Historic preservation is not easy. It requires passion, dedication, and persistence. It also requires financial assistance. That’s where grants can make a huge difference. The Texas Historical Foundation provides grants to nonprofits to save buildings, documents, artifacts, and even the traditions of our state’s history.

Every quarter they award grants to organizations throughout the state and have just announced eight new recipients. 

Texas Historical Foundation
The Aldredge House presents a living play on the second Saturday of every month.

“The process is open to anyone, and the grant application form is on our website,” Executive Director David Preziosi said. “We encourage applications, and this quarter provided funds for most of those we received. We complement the existing funds of these organizations rather than the sole funding source.”

Quite often, that Texas Historical Foundation grant is exactly what pushes a project over the finish line. This year, the Aldredge House received a grant aiding their efforts to expand their living play, extend visiting hours, and start a historic book club.

Texas Historical Foundation

“The Texas Historical Foundation grant is a great Attaboy,” Coordinator of Living History at Aldredge House Marianne Howells said. “That means a lot. We want to give the public more and ensure our actions are meaningful. We don’t just open the house without explaining the context of the Aldredge house within East Dallas and Texas. It’s not just a home tour. It’s only special if you understand what makes it special beyond its physical beauty.”

Other Texas Historical Foundation Grant Winners

Dallas’s Architecture and Design Foundation was awarded a Texas Historical Foundation grant for creating an exhibit based on their long-running Columns Magazine column, Lost + Found. This column investigates past and present sites in the area that have been preserved, repurposed, or abandoned.

“We are so honored to receive this grant and look forward to partnering with the Texas Historical Foundation,” AD EX Managing Director Katie Hitt said.

Texas Historical Foundation grants were also presented to two other area organizations. The Heritage Guild of Collin County in McKinney will use their grant to install a historically accurate second fireplace in the 1854 Faires-Bell House, one of nine historic structures operated by the organization as the Chestnut Square Historic Village. The North Texas Masonic Historical Museum and Library in Plano will use the grant funds to refurbish and maintain markers in the Masonic section of the historic Plano Mutual Cemetery.

Grants were also awarded to the Archer County Museum and Arts Center in Archer City, The Latinos in Heritage Conservation in Bastrop, The North Texas Society for History and Culture in Nocona, and the San Antonio Conservation Society Foundation.

Texas Historical Foundation
Archer County Museum and Arts Center

The Texas Historical Foundation is an excellent resource for anyone involved in historic preservation, whether you are seeking funding or would like to donate to ensure Texas history is preserved for future generations.

Karen is a senior columnist at Candy’s Media and has been writing stories since she could hold a crayon. She is a globe-trotting, history-loving eternal optimist who would find it impossible to live well without dogs, Tex-Mex, and dark chocolate. She covers luxury properties and historic preservation for Candys Dirt.

3 Comments

  1. Betsie Bologer on April 13, 2023 at 7:33 pm

    Wonderful explication of the significance of these historic preservation projects and the importance of the grants they’ve received from the Texas Historical Foundation. The Aldredge House is one of my favorite East Dallas neighborhood landmarks, both for its architecture and for its historical context.

    Ross Avenue was once chock-a-block with equally grand homes; by the time I moved to Dallas in 1980, the street was dominated instead by the elevated life-sized equine signage of Goss on Ross, Tradin’ Hoss — the self-proclaimed Mayor of Ross Avenue.

    But the little Art Deco Good Luck gas station still clung like a plucky barnacle to the edge of downtown, hanging on gamely in the shadow of 75/Central Expressway’s on-ramp; I loved passing it every morning on my way to work at Texas Homes magazine (a sister publication of now-venerable D Magazine, it comprised ¼ of Wick Allison’s Southwest Media mini-empire, which was still headquartered in a quirky 3-story triangular building on San Jacinto).

    The Good Luck is long gone, of course, but happily, Aldredge House continues to thrive. It is woven deeply into the historic tapestry of Old East Dallas and now serves our community by making that history come alive for 21st-century Dallasites. It’s a shining example of historic preservation done right — i.e., by keeping it relevant to our city’s present and future. Kudos, and best of luck to all of the grantees featured in Ms. Eubanks’ well-written article!

  2. Cody L Farris on April 13, 2023 at 10:14 pm

    I agree with Betsie… and this is truly a special place. In fact, I was there this evening! Congratulations to Preservation Dallas on the important work it continues to do, and thank you in particular to my friend Claudia Worme, and the rest of the board, for their work in making Preservation Dallas’ 50th anniversary so special.

  3. Nelda Baker on April 20, 2023 at 8:10 am

    The USA is among the few nations that destroys the beauty of old buildings and their history in order to build another parking lot!

Leave a Comment