Mumford House needs a supporter with some pull

If you weren't concerned before about the future of the oldest building on the University of Illinois campus – a building the university has historically been indifferent to – you should be now.

The turnout Tuesday at a daylong session on what to do with Mumford House, a campus fixture for 139 years, was disappointing. There were few faculty members and even fewer students – this at a university noted for its College of Engineering and School of Architecture.

Sure, the session was poorly publicized – there wasn't even a notice posted at Mumford House. And how many people have seven hours to devote to brainstorming about anything, particularly on a workday?

But the meager turnout – fewer than a dozen people who weren't associated either with the UI's Facilities and Services department or with the professional firms that had studied Mumford House and made presentations Tuesday – will give ammunition to those who think it would be just fine to level the two-story frame house stuck all by itself on the UI's South Quad.

Surely there are others who believe, as retired animal sciences Professor Philip Dziuk expressed Tuesday, that the rather modest Mumford House is an "eyesore," is not unique and should therefore be razed.

Further, the old UI Board of Trustees that "saved" Mumford House from being dismantled and moved a couple miles southeast of its longtime home, has itself been dismantled. Its main advocates are off the board. And no one knows if the (mostly) new trustees care about preserving Mumford House. In fact, given the university's and the state's finances, maybe tearing down this orphaned old building (it hasn't been used since about 1995) could be explained away as reasonable.

The issue will land in the new board's lap in the next few months, along with a report on how much it will cost to restore the building at its current site. As a result of Tuesday's brainstorming, the main suggestions for Mumford House are that it be used as some kind of hybrid residential/museum building or that it become a public office.

The professionals who went over every square inch of Mumford House, originally built as a model house for the typical Illinois farm family, said the building remains structurally sound. But every year that it remains unpainted, untended and ignored, it becomes less so. And then the folks at Facilities and Services, who don't want to care for something that needs extra care, will be able to argue that Mumford House is just too far gone to fix.

Architecturally, it's true that Mumford House is nothing spectacular. And yes, it has become an eyesore – if only because of the university's indifference to its history.

Mumford House is worth fighting for because of that history. It's not only the oldest building on campus, but it was the home of four early leaders of the university and has had a variety of other uses over the decades.

It's a survivor, with good reason.

Mumford House needs an advocate with clout. But it's difficult to see that coming from a new UI Board of Trustees or an interim administration overwhelmed with other matters. The humble old eyesore is in trouble.

New county board member. The Champaign County Republican Central Committee has named Diane Michaels of Rantoul to succeed Kevin Hunt on the Champaign County Board. Hunt resigned from his District 2 seat in late September because of a change in employment.

Hunt had been appointed to the board more than three years ago to replace Patty Busboom, who also resigned in the middle of her term. Hunt ran for re-election in the heavily Republican District 2 in northeast Champaign County in 2006 and was unopposed. His term expires in December 2010.

"Although we're sorry to lose Kevin, we're thrilled to have Diane on our team," said Champaign County Republican Party Chairman Jason Barickman. "She brings a great perspective to the board and is eager to begin serving."

Tom Kacich is a News-Gazette editor and columnist. His column appears on Wednesdays and Sundays. He can be reached at 351-5221 or at kacich<@>news-gazette.com.

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