As one Philadelphia historic site closes its doors, another opens them

The wooden doors of La Milagrosa in Spring Garden closed to the church's congregation this year, closing a chapter from a 100-year history that witnessed generations of Philadelphians celebrate life through weddings, baptisms, funerals and community gatherings. 

For 100 years, the building was open to individuals in a city where so many doors were closed. For 100 years, Spanish-speaking Philadelphians crossed its threshold to gather together within the protection of its walls. Today, the future of the space under its roof is in the hands of its owner. The loss of control over such a culturally significant landmark prompts frustrating questions — just what does it take to preserve Latino history in Philadelphia? Just what does it take to ensure that significant landmarks are not only recognized for their past, but given the opportunity of a future? And who is responsible for preserving the fabric of our city? Who is responsible for telling the countless 100-year-old stories that have brought us to today? 

The Past

The National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 declared that, "the historical and cultural foundations of the Nation should be preserved as a living part of our community life and development." The United States government recognizes by law the significance of preserving cultural foundations within our communities each day. However, in a city that is barely preserving the foundations of its neighborhoods and its education system, there has been little investment in government-sponsored preservation. 

According to a 2000 survey by the Department of Licenses and Inspection, one in ten properties in Philadelphia is vacant, and in a neighborhood such as Fairhill, that statistic is as high as one in four. In a city where blight is not uncommon, properties of historical significance routinely stay under the radar. 

There are sites lost and gone, like St. Boniface Church which loomed mightily over Norris Square for a hundred years, first serving German immigrants before Latino immigrants in the 1920s, crushed in 2011 to make way for housing development. There's the castle-like old Edison High School, with its enormous balcony-seating auditorium and hardwood floors that have been crushed and carted away, leaving a mountain of stones on a vast dirt plot. Remnants of old Northeast High School quietly wait on the north side to be adaptively reused while the first home of bilingual Julia de Burgos Middle School, the ground on which so many Latinos in Philadelphia studied and learned, is destined to become a Save-A-Lot, Burger King, and Family Dollar.

Even when the Historical Commission's nomination process succeeds, preserving the purpose of the property remains in the hands of the owner. The building that housed the La Milagrosa congregation falls within the bounds of the Spring Garden historic district, which spans from 15th to 24th Streets between Spring Garden Street itself and Fairmount Avenue. Any changes to the facade of any building within these bounds, even as simple as the replacement of La Milagrosa's dark doors, must pass through the city of Philadelphia's Historical Commission. However, the interior and purpose will be constructed by the building's owner. 

Similarly, any changes to the red tiled-roofed homes on the southwest corner of 20th and Green Street must pass through the Historical Commission, as they are part of the Spring Garden Historic District. The were originally constructed as housing for Puerto Ricans in the mid 20th century. 

Yet there are success stories. Friends Neighborhood Guild has been registered historic since 1962 and is still actively practicing its original purpose. Founded in 1879 as a settlement house and neighborhood center, the Guild's mission was to embrace and serve its surrounding community, becoming one of the few, if only, agencies to serve Puerto Rican migrants in the early 20th century. The Guild building became the site of historical gatherings — from the first meeting of the Puerto Rican-American Agricultural Labor Union in 1949 to the Latino American Legion post 840 meetings in the mid-1950s. Today, its facade and purpose are preserved by its official designation and contemporary activism.  

The Present

Properties can be protected or recognized by the government by three levels: the city's register of historic places, under the control the Historical Commission; the state's historic marker program; and the National Park Service's register of historic places.  

The National Parks Service is responsible for National Monuments such as Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, but also for nominating national landmarks for preservation, the highest and most protected form of preservation possible. 

There are 2,540 designated national historic landmarks scattered throughout the United States, but no studies have been conducted to assess their significance by race, gender or ethnicity. In a Washington Post article, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar was quoted as saying, "Less than 3 percent of all the national landmarks that we have — the highest designation you can receive as a historic landmark — are designated for women, Latinos, African Americans or other members of minority groups." Based on Salazar's estimate, histories significant to well over half the country are represented by just 80 national historic sites, out of thousands. 

In response to the lack of diversity in nationally designated landmarks, the National Parks Service developed the American Latino Heritage Initiative in 2011, along with other diversity initiatives for women, Asian Americans, African Americans, etc, to further representation in the National Historic Landmarks Program. Between 2011 and 2012, 10 of the 51 nominations were deemed relevant to Latino American history.

Chicano Park in San Diego was established in 1970 when residents of Barrio Logan occupied park space threatened by redevelopment. Once the plans for a Highway Patrol substation were abandoned, the space became a community gathering place where murals by numerous artists depict Chicano experiences. In 2011, Chicano Park was nominated by the National Parks Service as a national landmark. 

Another nomination for the national register was Capilla de San Isidro in Colorado, a social and religious center for the Los Fuertes community in the early 20th century.  A third, Lerma's Nite Club in San Antonio, was the source of conjunto music since 1946 and hosted famous Latino musicians throughout its lifetime. Founded and built in the early 20th century, the Hispanic Society of America complex in New York City was also nominated for the national registry.

While the 10 sites nominated told diverse stories of Latinos from across the United States, they make up less than 0.4 percent of all national landmarks. None of the nominations for Latino American history were located in Pennsylvania. 

As part of its historical marker program, Pennsylvania has erected hundreds of dark blue, yellow-lettered signs throughout the city to recognize sites like the Walnut Street Theatre, the oldest theatre in America, or the 9th Street Curb Market (better known as the Italian Market) in South Philadelphia, which was established to counter food shortages during WWI and survived to serve a new generation of immigrants today. 

The program recognizes a foundation's significance, preserving its memory but not the structure itself. The nomination process weighs heavily on individuals, communities, or organizations such as historical societies to provide essays, letters of support from experts, and evidence for a site's significance. Just 15 sites across the state were approved for historical markers in 2013. 

Old St. Mary's Church in Spruce Hill, which has not been added to the city's historic registry, was approved by the state for a plaque that recognized it as the first Catholic Cathedral, the site of a Continental Congress services with France and Spain, and the first public religious commemoration of the Declaration of Independence. However, it was not recognized as the first home of La Milagrosa. No other markers recognized histories that represented a Latino American experience. 

The most local form of preservation which protects the outside facade of a building or location of a site is the city's Historical Commission. The commission's responsibilities include addressing building permit issues for the city's 12,000 properties on the Philadelphia register of historic places which account for 2 percent of all properties in the city, accepting nominations for historic designations, maintaining a database of the register and files on the National Register, providing information to assist individuals in nominating or maintaining historic properties as well as information on tax credits, and nominating structures, all with a staff of six, a 14-member board that meets twice a month, and a budget that accounts for 0.01 percent of the city's operating budget.

City Planning Commission Chair Alan Greenberger is responsible for overseeing growth and development in Philadelphia through a number of departments, including the city's Historical Commission. 

"The Historical Commission is five or six people with a lot of property to manage," Greenberger explained. "There are many historic sites in the city that are landmarked by the city, there are many historic districts that are landmarked by the city, and so there are many properties that, as they change, come through the historical commission for review."

Greenberger said that most of the commission's time and resources are spent addressing applications to make changes to the thousands of properties on the city's historic registry. Changes could be anything as small as replacing doors and windows, adding security features, or painting. If the department of licenses and inspections receives a building permit application for a property on the historic register, it is also referred to the Historical Commission. The backlog of applications prevents accomplishing tasks related to community outreach, organizing a searchable historic registry database, and actively nominating and preserving deteriorating properties. 

"The commission does not have enough staff to be the entity that nominates properties for historic consideration," Greenberger said. "Almost all of the nominations for historic consideration come from outside--outside the government, not just outside the historical commission."

The Historical Commission created reports for five of the 15 properties nominated this year, leaving the rest to individuals with backgrounds in history or preservation, historical societies or the Preservation Alliance. Two of the nominations included Bethel Burying Ground, a 19th century African American burial ground that was discovered beneath a playground in Queen Village, and the Chinatown YMCA Community Center. None of the properties represented a history centered around Latino Americans. 

Greenberger argued that the nominations should come from the community. 

"There's paperwork to fill out, there's justification, there are standards," Greenberger explained. "But the queue is created from the outside world, not the inside world."(A property must meet at least one of the criteria to be considered for the historic registry.) 

Anyone can nominate any property, site, or object in Philadelphia without consent of the property owner. However, because reports must be descriptive and comprehensive, the process takes time and intensive research, leaving most nominations to individuals with know-how or outside organizations.

The Preservation Alliance nominated seven of the 15 properties this year for historic consideration, more than the Historic Commission itself. Patrick Hauck is the Director of the Neighborhood Preservation Program, an effort launched in 2005 by the Preservation Alliance to increase outreach and education to provide tools for neighborhood preservation. So far, the program has included an African American Heritage and Preservation initiative, but Hauck said that the Alliance is looking to expand outreach to the Latino community. 

"We see preservation as a community development tool," Hauck said. "How do we make sure that each community can tell their own story?"

The first step, Hauck explained, is to foster a culture of preservation and to give individuals the tools the would need to identify and advocate for landmarks in the community.

But preservation is taking shape in the community, and it has taken a form that circumvents government and organized bodies altogether. 

The Future

For 18 months, Rev. Dr. Jacinto Benitez has been holding services while renovating the old Teatro Puertorriqueño at the intersection where 6th Street, Diamond Street and Germantown Avenue meet. 

Built in in the 1920s and known as the Cohooksink Theatre before its more popular name, Diamond Theatre, the old movie house was one of many ornate constructions that sprang up as the popularity of American film grew. As the neighborhood changed, so did the theater, and in the 1960s it became known as Teatro Puertorriqueño, popular for showing Mexican films before it later embraced more mainstream movies. 

After years of vacancy the theater was bought for $40,000 in the late 1980s and was renovated into La Luna nightclub, splitting the large space that once seated nearly a thousand into multiple floors. However, the nightclub was closed when its owner was convicted of drug-possession charges.

Rev. Benitez bought the old theater and nightclub so that he and his wife, Rev. Maria Benitez, could turn it into a Pentecostal church.

"It was cheap," Benitez explained. "$50,000."

Today, the slanted theater floor has been filled and flattened with cement, the cloth seats replaced with pews that can hold less than half of what the original theater used to. Remnants of the original theater are most evident on the facade where, just above the old marquee, faint letters spell out, "Diamond." The original ornate flowers and wreaths that decorate the outside have been repainted in bright colors, remnants of the past.  

"People call and ask, 'Where is the Puerto Rico Theater?' People show up. A lot of people show up," Benitez said. 

Benitez said that he has plans to finish the renovations of the interior in the next five years so they can hold "classes and Bible study, weddings and birthdays" in the place.

Just as they did over fifty years ago, individuals come from the neighborhood and across the city to participate in the church's services — down from Roosevelt Boulevard, from Bristol, from Trenton. 

All the while, Benitez is fixing the place, planning for the future while preserving a piece of the past, a part of Latino history in Philadelphia, that was neglected by so many for half a century. While one church, one landmark, closed in Spring Garden, another opened in North Philadelphia to a generation ready to celebrate the present and creating its own history.