Facade rehabilitation grant helps woman turn her dream into reality
The house at 104 Temple looked much different in March (top photo), when Patricia Ford bought it, than it does today. Renovations on the house’s interior are still ongoing, but the exterior was done with help from a grant through the Downtown Excelsior Partnership.
By ERIC COPELAND
Managing Editor
 She started with a Victorian home with blue “fish scales” on Francis Street, then moved on to a shell of a home on Bell Street. Then she tackled another house on Francis, distinctive because of its copper roof.
But as Patricia Ford was rehabbing these older, promising homes for resale, she always felt drawn to another house—at 104 Temple Ave.
“Whenever I drove by, I’d always slow down,” she said. “There was something about it. And now I can’t believe we’re here.”
Earlier this year, Ford learned that the house was available for sale. The men who had been working on it had been living in a small area while they redid the rest of it, but the job was too much for them to continue with it.
In late March, Ford acquired the home and, while there’s still work to be done on the inside, the outside shows a world of improvement.
Where the exterior walls were peeling and decaying, now sharp gray siding is in place. And after Excelsior Springs Planning Director Nick Pappas provided her with a photograph of the house during earlier days, she realized that shutters would be a perfect addition. She chose maroon as the color.
The exterior work was made possible through Ford’s participation in a special facade grant available through the Downtown Excelsior Partnership. Grants are available for businesses or homeowners to add a fresh coat of paint—or to do more extensive exterior work.
Obviously, Ford chose the more extensive work.
She spends her days working in the benefits department at a trucking company in Overland Park, Kan., but she and her sons, 29-year-old Shane and 16-year-old Keanu, work on the house in the evenings and on weekends.
“We love doing this kind of work,” she said. “Painting, chatting… There’s no deadline. We’re just having fun with it.”
She says the renovations provide her and her sons with some family time, when they can work together on something they enjoy.
The siding, the shingles and a few windows that hadn’t already been replaced by the former owners were done professionally, and Ford said she also had pros redo the hardwood floors throughout the house. She found some of the details in the wood floor to be fascinating, but said there are some things she feels are best left to an experienced professional.
But much of the other work is done by the family, and they have learned a lot about rehabbing old houses along the way.
The family has recently been working on a house in Gladstone for her older son, Shane.
Keanu is a junior in high school and doesn’t want to move until he graduates, and by that time Ford expects this house to be complete and ready for them to move in. Still, while she is renovating the home on Temple to be their own residence, she doesn’t expect that it will be the end of her mission to spot old houses with potential and turn them into something nice.
She’s not even done with this one. In addition to finishing the rooms that are currently being redone, she also would like to expand the deck on the west side of the house and add a white picket fence. The house doesn’t have much of a yard with it, she said, but she’d like to do work to maximize the yard that it does have.
“Those are still ‘wish list’ items,” she said. “There are so many things I want to do—we’re really happy and really excited to be able to take on a project like this.”
And she encourages others to take advantage of the tools offered to them. She’s noticed some of her neighbors already taking steps with their own properties, either maintaining them or undertaking improvements of their own.
“I hope we’ve inspired some other people,” she said. “There are so many things you can do that don’t really cost much at all, like keeping your lawn, trees and bushes trimmed.”
Ford’s house qualified for the grant in part because it lies within the boundaries of the Boarding House Historic District, one of three historic districts in Excelsior Springs.
For more information about the Downtown Excelsior Partnership’s facade grant, who is eligible and how it can help you, contact DEP Executive Director Keith Winge at (816) 522-4362.
Bridge quietly re-opens
By ERIC COPELAND
Managing Editor
Parents and students learned this week that the bridge on Tiger Drive is basically finished, but it could be sometime today before the project reaches full completion.
“We started this week to have it open while we aren’t working,” explained Public Works Director Chad Birdsong on Wednesday. “The crews usually get there at about 8 a.m., so the before school traffic has been able to use the bridge.”
That’s an important detail for many students who drive themselves or have their parents drive them to school. City crews began redoing the bridge late this summer, placing a new culvert and rebuilding the road bed above the culvert.
However, the late summer start meant the project wasn’t finished in time for the first day of school. That meant that on that first day, traffic was backed up considerably as motorists went around a detour using Tracy Avenue, U.S. 69 and Wornall Road.
The daily traffic jam has esaed, but Birdsong predicted the guardrail would be finished by sometime today and the bridge could fully re-open.
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Holiday won’t delay Standard
The office of the Excelsior Springs Standard and Town & Country Leader will be closed next Monday for Labor Day, but the holiday won’t affect the Standard’s publication. The newspaper will still be published on Tuesday and Friday, as usual.
However, the Town & Country Leader will be one day late due to the closure, and accordingly the advertising deadline will be moved to noon Tuesday instead of noon Monday.
33 Miles to perform Oct. 2
The Crescent Lake Christian Center’s Concert Series welcomes Christian band 33 Miles in a special performance at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 2.
The concert will take place in the Performing Arts Center at Excelsior Springs High School, 612 Tiger Dr., and is sponsored by 97.3 K-Love, 91.9 Air-1, the Excelsior Springs Standard/Town & Country Leader, Walmart and Dari-B.
Advance tickets start at $12 and can be purchased at itickets.com, Crescent Lake and at several area Christian stores, Family Christian stores in Independence, Lifeway Christian stores in Olathe and Tiffany Springs, Christian Bookshelf in Lee’s Summit and Mardel Christian and Supplies in Overland Park and Independence.
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