Though the Lincoln Center was built well over 100 years ago in the area that is lovingly referred to as ‘El Corazón de El Paso,’ the centenarian building has been the center of an emotion-filled controversy as of late. In the center of this squabble is a battle between impassioned preservationists and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). ó
It’s been almost a decade since the Lincoln Center has been in operation—the center had closed in 2006 after the building was allegedly damaged by the sudden floods that rampaged the city. City documents reveal that local analytics company, Sun City Microbial Inc., ran a study that found asbestos throughout the building and determined that the air was completely contaminated by mold—even the employees had started to complain.
TxDOT originally purchased the building in 1969 and co-habitated the space with the City of El Paso until the floods forced the evacuation of the building. Since then, the center has been empty and complete ownership legally fell back to TxDOT.
The threat of demolition reared its ugly head in 2011 when TxDOT publicly announced their intent to demolish the center. Among the reasons that they provided were that the building has been vacated for too long, no one has stepped up to take on ownership, analysis found the building to be hazardous and—most obvious of all—they want to build a bridge that would connect I-10 to U.S. 54 and the Border Highway, alleviating some of the traffic congestion that affects the area.
“We’re fighting an uphill battle with misinformation,” remarks Lincoln Park Conservation Committee President Hector Gonzalez. “The city has portrayed that the building had been damaged by floods, and that just isn’t true. I have a copy of the report. Nowhere in the report does it say that the building was flooded; the report does say that there were some leaks in the ceiling and window cracks. The problem with mold was caused by the evaporative cooling and poor maintenance on the city’s part when they occupied the building. As for the asbestos—any building built before the 1970’s has asbestos. Even some building materials sold now have asbestos. Asbestos is perfectly safe as long as it is contained within the building materials as it’s intended. The report simply states ‘asbestos is present’ and nothing else.”
The center is a part of Lincoln Park, nicknamed ‘El Paso’s Chicano Park’ because of the intricate murals covering the highway pillars lining the entire public space. The committee was established in 2005 and charged itself with maintaining the murals in the park, organizing large-scale events and maintaining the general upkeep of the park.
When TxDOT deemed the building void of historical significance, it was a scathing misrepresentation of the true origins of the center. Miguel Juarez, an accomplished writer, Chicano activist, historian and member of the Conservation Committee, painstakingly researched the center’s history in an attempt to educate the El Paso community at large and the government agencies of the true significance behind Lincoln Center.
The history that Juarez unearthed shows that the life of Lincoln Center began in 1868 as a one-room schoolhouse. Back then it was known as Concordia School and served the children of the military families that lived in the neighborhood. Over the next several decades, the school would see many additions and changes up until 1915, when it had grown to have a basement and 13 rooms. Prominent El Pasoans have attended the school, such as basketball player & coach Nolan Richardson, poet and writer Jose Antonio Burciaga, State Representative Mauro Rosas and Dr. Manuel Hornedo, who became a member of the United States Health Reserve and strove to create a healthier El Paso.
Lincoln Center has endured many maintenance costs over the last century—$100,000 to renovate the Center in 1976, approximately $57,000 to install an elevator in 1978, close to $25,000 to replace the roof in 1987 and $29,000 to make repairs and renovations to the restrooms in 1988.
In October 2013, Senator Jose Rodriguez successfully convinced Ted Houghton, Chairman of the TxDOT Administration Committee, to give the city a year extension, giving the city up till October 2014 to come up with a plan for Lincoln Center.
As most governmental agreements, this one came with major caveats: someone must sign a Lincoln Center Multiple Use Agreement. The signee would receive the building for free but would be in charge of maintaining it. Sounds good, right? That last part has even more concessions tacked on: the signee would have 120 days to renovate the center & bring it up to code. If the organization fails to renovate, TxDOT would demolish the building within 30 days and whomever signed would be responsible for the cost of demolition.
Gonzalez says “TxDOT continues to put hurdles in the way of negotiations. “We continue to meet their requirements but one requirement that we can’t meet is that TxDOT will not turn the building over to a non-profit entity—that they wanted a public entity.”
A few weeks after TxDOT’s extension agreement, Mayor Leeser sent a letter to TxDOT that asked them to, “…consider transferring ownership of the building and possibly the surrounding land (…) to the City of El Paso, if the City is able to identify a partner that will be able to renovate and utilize the building to its fullest potential.”
It’s in these same letters that the city repeatedly mentions that the building is culturally and historically significant, especially the murals inside, which were painted by local artist Carlos Flores.
Present and Future
Despite the wide spectrum of stories surrounding Lincoln Park, the stark reality is that no one has signed the dotted line to take ownership. Although the City was recently granted the temporary restraining order against TxDOT, the injunction will only delay the inevitable if the city can’t make a decision as to who will take on responsibility of the building.
“Negotiations had always been between us and the Senecu Fine Arts Society and now the City of El Paso,” Gonzalez says. “At one time, the community college showed interest but never came through with the funding. EPCC has offered to help us with capital campaigns and applying for grants, so they’re going to help us in a support role but not in ownership.”
According to City documents, if EPCC takes over the operation of the building, they plan to turn it into a learning center, offices and recruitment center. If the City takes over, they’d like to see it be turned into a Mexican-American and Chicano Indigenous Cultural Center. Money for such a project has already been allotted for in the 2012 Quality of Life Bonds. Several other historic buildings have been rehabilitated or are in the process of adaptive re-use—such as the Luther, Mills, Martin and Bassett buildings, thanks to incentive packages from the city or private investors.
As of the writing of this article, the fate of Lincoln Center continues to be at a standstill despite the interested parties who are vying for ownership of the building. It’s possible that Lincoln Center could once again become the hub of cultural dialogue that it was for many decades but only with complete transparency of the facts and an unshakable partnership between the city and its community leaders.
TEXT: CRYSTI COUTURE | PHOTO CREDIT: FEDERICO VILLALBA ©2014