The Historic Preservation Committee announces the 

Save the Window Campaign

The Mt. St. Mary’s Preservation Committee (HPC) announces a campaign to save the large Stained Glass window in the Hall. The campaign will include fund raising events, letters to members, local residents and alumni of the old school, and advertising in the media. 

The HPC developed the campaign at their September meeting when the Executive Director reported a State funding agency rejected a request to use money already spent on restoring and preserving the historic buildings as a match to a new grant. One Director noted that “…we cannot let this moment pass; we must start fund raising now if we ever hope to preserve this precious part of Grass Valley history.”

This is the one hundredth and tenth year for St. Joseph’s Hall and the Stained Glass window, which depicts the resurrection. Before the building was built, a San Jose man, whose daughter was to enter the convent in Grass Valley, told the Chapel’s architect he would donate a large Stained Glass window to the Sisters of Mercy. The architect then designed the building with the exact measurements to place the window in the nave.

More than a year ago, local Stained Glass window expert, Bob Flanagan, in a report to the HPC, stated: [The window] 

“is buckled both at the top and the bottom, and at the top it has pulled away from either its border lead or has just come out of the frame. This tells us that the structure of the window is failing. The lead, which holds the glass in place, is deteriorating and could soon release the glass which it holds in place.”

At the same time the Sacramento architectural firm of Rauschebauch Marvelli Becker issued a report on the Stained Glass window, the wall in which the window hangs and the foundation of the back of the Hall. [They] “found the window is under stress (low section bowing out to exterior side); wood frames and trim around the window has deteriorated through age and water damage.” Their recommendation was to restore the window, remove all wood siding from the back wall, put in a new concrete foundation, refurbish the wall structure, and install new siding. The approximate cost is $150,000.00.

For the last sixteen months the HPC’s Executive Director has been following the trail of State money left over from Prop 40, the California Clean Water, Clean Air, Safe Neighborhood Parks, and Coastal Protection Act of 2002 (Proposition 40), which included $267 million for historic and cultural resource preservation.

In September 2002, Governor Davis signed The California Cultural and Historical Endowment Act, which established the California Cultural and Historical Endowment in the California State Library (AB 716, Firebaugh, Chapter 1126, Statutes of 2002). The Act requires the Endowment to use Proposition 40 funds to make grants and loans to public agencies and nonprofit organizations to protect and preserve California’s cultural and historic resources.

In August 2003, the state budget authorized the Endowment to spend $128 million of Proposition 40 money to carry out its programs. (The other $139 million of Proposition 40 funds have been spent on projects specified in Proposition 40 and the Governor’s Opportunity Grants authorized by AB 716.)

At the CCHE Board of Directors meeting in August in Los Angeles, they voted to require all applications for funding to match grant funding dollar for dollar. So that kind of spelled doom for all small town California non-profits that own Historic Landmarks. But the HPC remains determined to preserve the window and thus the Save the Window campaign was created to raise funds to match a grant from the CCHE.

Another catch is that the CCHE will not fund half of an approved project until after the project is completed. Because of that the HPC must raise the entire amount necessary for the work. A further requirement of the CCHE grant application is to demonstrate community support for the project. This can be accomplished with letters from local organizations, businesses, public officials and citizens.

Since the Historic Mt. St. Mary’s Preservation Committee incorporated as a non-profit in 1971, the sole purpose has been to preserve a Historic Landmark for use by the community. We have been successful in creating a Cultural Center and making it a vibrant location for cultural and community activities for over 30 years.

The HPC’s goal is to raise $150,000.00. The campaign begins immediately. Please consider making a contribution to the campaign, and remember all donations are 100% tax deductible. Thank you for your support.

WHAT YOU CAN DO!

Make a tax deductible financial contribution to the Save the Window Campaign.

Write a letter supporting the Cultural Center as important to the local community and the Historic Landmark as preserving local history. Include words of support for grants.

Attend the fund raising events for the Save the Window campaign.

Make bids on the silent auction of art donated by artists who have studios at the Cultural Center.

Consider becoming a  member of the Cultural Center