[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 135 (Friday, December 8, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11681-S11682]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO DAVID MORGAN

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I rise today to honor a great 
Kentuckian, Mr. David Morgan, for his service to the Commonwealth and 
his commitment to the preservation of Kentucky's historic landmarks.
  For the past 29 years Mr. Morgan has worked on preserving Kentucky's 
heritage, helping cities and towns utilize and revitalize their 
downtowns and historic sites.
  On Sunday, December 3, 2006, the Louisville Courier-Journal published 
an article highlighting Mr. Morgan's many years of service to Kentucky. 
I ask unanimous consent that the full article be printed in the Record 
and that the entire Senate join me in thanking this beloved Kentuckian.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

          [From the Louisville Courier-Journal, Dec. 3, 2006]

                     Preservationist Bids Farewell

                           (By Chris Poynter)

       Most Kentuckians likely do not know David Morgan.
       But they have certainly seen his work.
       If you drive along Paris Pike--the road between Paris and 
     Lexington lined with famous thoroughbred farms--you've seen 
     the historic stone fences and picture-perfect rolling 
     landscapes that he helped protect when the road was widened.
       If you've strolled the Main Streets of Kentucky's 
     downtowns--and marveled at the historic buildings--you can 
     thank Morgan for helping revive them.

[[Page S11682]]

       And if you've seen the old trolley barn in western 
     Louisville that is slowly being transformed into the Kentucky 
     Center for African-American Heritage, Morgan deserves part of 
     the credit.
       After 29 years with the Kentucky Heritage Council--the 
     agency that oversees historic preservation for the state--
     Morgan is retiring and moving to Washington, D.C.
       Morgan, 54, and his wife, Marcia, have bought a historic 
     home just blocks from the Capitol. They have a son, Ned, 18.
       Morgan has spent his entire professional career at the 
     heritage council, rising from a staff planner in November 
     1977 to executive director, a position he's held since 1984, 
     when then-Gov. Martha Layne Collins appointed him.
       He survived through Republican and Democratic 
     administrations, which friends and co-workers say is a 
     testament to his effectiveness, and he's been at the 
     forefront of saving historic properties from Paducah to 
     Pikeville.
       His interest in preservation began as a child in Oxford, 
     Ohio, the son of a college professor and a stay-at-home 
     mother who sold antiques.
       On a fourth-grade class trip to Yellow Springs, Ohio--named 
     for a spring that supposedly had curative powers--a young 
     Morgan lamented the demolition of the old Neff House hotel.
       ``It is important to know how America was settled,'' Morgan 
     wrote in a school essay he still keeps. ``If you tore down 
     everything that was historical, people would forget how 
     America was settled.''
       Morgan laughs at his simple six-paragraph essay now--but 
     the lessons he learned on that field trip are woven 
     throughout his life.
       Preservation--though it began as a movement of upper-crust 
     white women--has expanded and matured and become more 
     inclusive. Morgan has changed the heritage council's mission 
     with that evolution.
       He helped create the African-American Heritage Commission, 
     the Native American Heritage Commission, and the Military 
     Heritage & Civil War Preservation Program. He and his agency 
     worked to raise awareness about Rosenwald Schools--one-room 
     schoolhouses for black children that at one time dotted 
     Kentucky and the South--and he has helped preserve 60 Civil 
     War sites across the state.
       In 1979, while still in his 20s, he started the Main Street 
     program to help revive Kentucky's decaying downtowns. The 
     program now includes 110 cities and towns across Kentucky and 
     is credited with helping breathe new life into desolate city 
     centers.
       And he pushed to get Kentucky buildings and properties on 
     the National Register of Historic Places. Kentucky now has 
     41,000 properties and 3,200 historic districts, such as Old 
     Louisville, on the register.
       That's the fourth-largest number of any state in the 
     nation, according to the National Park Service, which keeps 
     the register.
       Though he's had many successes--including persuading state 
     transportation leaders to make historic preservation a key 
     component of the Paris Pike widening--all has not been 
     positive, Morgan admits.
       He hasn't persuaded the state legislature to commit more 
     money for preservation.
       ``We don't have the ability to give grants out, to start 
     projects on the local level,'' Morgan said.
       He also laments that grassroots preservation groups have 
     been slow in forming. It's those organizations, such as 
     Preservation Kentucky, run by citizens, that have the power 
     to effectively lobby the legislature, Morgan said.
       ``A lot of people don't consider themselves 
     preservationists,'' he said. ``But people who live in Old 
     Louisville in an old house, for example, are great 
     preservationists.''
       Helen Dedman, whose family owns and operates the Beaumont 
     Inn in Harrodsburg, a restaurant, hotel and tavern housed in 
     an 1845 building, said Morgan had done much for Kentucky out 
     of the public eye.
       ``He has touched people and places over the whole state,'' 
     she said.
       Dedman met Morgan when they were students at Centre 
     College.
       ``He was the first person that I knew that really knew 
     about antiques,'' she said.
       The two kept in sporadic touch over the years, but it 
     wasn't until 15 years ago that she and Morgan closely 
     reconnected because of newfound activism in preservation.
       Dedman helped organize a tour of historic homes and found 
     herself ``falling in love with these old homes,'' she said. 
     She, along with others, formed the non-profit James Harrod 
     Trust to advocate for preservation in Harrodsburg and Mercer 
     County.
       ``David has never lost his passion,'' Dedman said. ``It 
     didn't matter who you were, what class you were, what color 
     you were--if you had just a little bit of interest in his 
     preservation, he was your cheerleader, he was on your side.''
       Historic preservation leaders from across Kentucky gathered 
     for a dinner in downtown Louisville last month to honor 
     Morgan. The location was befitting--inside the old Henry Clay 
     Hotel, a 1924 building that is being renovated into housing 
     and commercial shops.
       Morgan has been an advocate of saving the structure, 
     commonly called the old YWCA.
       Friends and co-workers roasted Morgan--poking fun at his 
     big nose, bushy eyebrows and black mustache--while viewing 
     pictures of him over the decades, with former governors and 
     first lady Laura Bush. Bush visited Louisville in 2004 and 
     praised Morgan and the heritage council for their work on the 
     ``Preserve America'' federal program.
       Morgan, whose replacement will be named next year, said he 
     one day hopes to return to Kentucky. For now, he plans to 
     enjoy his free time and will likely find a job in 
     preservation in Washington.
       ``Leaving this job is the hardest thing,'' he said. ``I've 
     put my whole life into it. There's not an inch of Kentucky in 
     the last 29 years I've not seen.''
       ``It's an incredible place,'' he said, ``and its greatest 
     asset are its people.''

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