After several years of work to preserve the Trust Co. Building, the Friends of the Sedalia Trust have been recognized for their work to save a downtown landmark.
The Trust Building project was recognized last week at the Missouri Preservation Honor Awards hosted in Jefferson City by Missouri Preservation, a statewide organization. The Trust project was one of several to receive the Preserve Missouri Award, which recognizes outstanding efforts and projects, according to information from Missouri Preservation.
Members of Friends of the Sedalia Trust and other community members were at the banquet, which Meg Liston, board member and executive director of Sedalia Downtown Development Inc., said helped get the project in front of the right people.
“It’s a great honor,” Liston said of the award. “There’s maybe 100 people involved in the process so it really does give attention to the project that we feel is needed. I felt the board needed the recognition. They’ve done good, hard work, they’ve been successful. They’re not doing it for recognition, but I think to be recognized in the Missouri Preservation community is significant for Sedalia and for our group.”
Liston noted that the Commerce Building project received the same award several years ago.
The Trust Co. Building was constructed in 1886. Friends of the Sedalia Trust’s initial goal was to stabilize the building, which had been damaged by fire in the late 1990s and then sustained years of water damage. The organization was founded in 2014 in an effort to save the building and has since completed the stabilization phase, Liston said. Renovations included:
• Removing the south turret and closing it. The east turret was repaired.
• Stone and tuck-pointing repairs. Any loose stone was removed and everything else was cleaned and sealed.
• Replacing broken glass and missing shingles.
• Installing gutters and downspouts to protect the building from further water damage.
• Removing the front metal awning.
Liston said the main part of the project was addressing the north wall because it was in such bad shape.
“Originally we thought we’d be able to go in there and do repairs and remove bad bricks and put in a basic tuck-point and repair,” Liston said. “But we realized that with the stucco half on and off, we couldn’t really tell where it was bad. We’d be fixing spots and there’d still be spots hidden that were just as bad. So it was recommended to us to go ahead and remove all the north wall brick we could.
“We had to build a support wall in the building, all four stories, to support the roof and connected in with the remaining walls so it was stable. We took bricks out of the top three stories.”
Friends of the Sedalia Trust also purchased the neighboring property so they could do the work and support the neighboring roof to place scaffolding on it, but also to provide additional floor space for a future developer, Liston said. A support wall was built in that building as well.
Liston said they are now marketing the building to qualified historic preservation developers who will fully restore the building to be used for future business or other use. She said they’ve given three local tours so far, with the hope of working with a local developer, but the group will soon open the project up regionally. Liston added that last week’s award helped with spreading the word.
The board includes Aric Snyder, John Simmons, Bob Walters, Liston, Barbara and Bob Hayden, Barbara and James Cooney, Ron Ditzfeld, Mayor Stephen Galliher and George Esser.
Liston was the one to submit the nomination for the preservation award.
“It wasn’t mainly the Trust Building, but the group of people that really made it happen,” Liston said of the nomination. “In my mind I was saying they should recognize the Friends of the Sedalia Trust because we put out the call for help and these people came on board and have been committed and working hard through the whole project. It wouldn’t have happened without them.
“… Without them the building would have been taken down, there’s no doubt in my mind,” she added. “The problems we faced during the work had to be addressed when we did. Several of us feel like if it hadn’t been (addressed now), bricks were falling out, it would’ve only lasted another freeze and thaw cycle.”
For more information about the project, contact Liston at 660-287-6659.
