BISBEE, Ariz. (KGUN) — When walking through the Warren district of Bisbee, one can see history around every corner. The historic Warren Ballpark, for example, has been around since 1909, which is why the community and city officials want to get a historic designation for the area.
“To raise public awareness consciousness that, hey, there's this beautiful community right down the road that's got a story in history, and there's still things happening there today," said Warren resident, Mike Anderson. "I think that would be a wonderful thing to happen.”
On Friday, the State Historic Preservation Office approved the city’s nomination.
“This is sort of like seeing a family member or a friend or somebody that's important that's been neglected for a long time, they just ignore it, that has done great things, and nobody's been willing to listen to their story. Now, people will get an opportunity, hopefully, to listen to Warren’s story,” Anderson said.
The decision moves one step closer to federal approval.
"I want to supply the [decision maker] with the most complete application so that maybe this time, when we send it there, then it will come back with an approval on it,” said Bisbee City Manager Stephen Pauken.
This is the city’s second attempt. The last time, they didn’t complete the final steps of the process.
"I was sure 10 years ago that we were there, and then it didn't happen, but I know we're going to finish it this time,” Pauken said.
Anderson says a historic designation is “like a hook just to get people in,” which could have a positive effect by bringing more tourism dollars to the area, and possibly more residents.
"We all want to share this neighborhood, this wonderful, relatively unknown part of Arizona, [and] we would really like to show them that this is a great place," Anderson said. "It might even think about moving here.”
There’s no timeline for the city to get the final designation.
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Alexis Ramanjulu is a reporter in Cochise County for KGUN 9. She began her journalism career reporting for the Herald/Review in Sierra Vista, which she also calls home. Share your story ideas with Alexis by emailing alexis.ramanjulu@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook.
