Reunión de la Orden Internacional de Hermanos Extraños en la Plaza de Arcata, 1888, con valla blanca y acera de madera. Todas las fotos son de dominio público; subtítulos y fotos de la aplicación.
El Registro Histórico Nacional lista alrededor de 95,000 sitios dignos de preservación en todo Estados Unidos. Los nueve de ellos ubicados en Arcata son importantes, excelentes ejemplos de su historia y cultura, y sin embargo, la Plaza, uno de los lugares más icónicos de Arcata, no está en ella. Eso podría cambiar pronto.
El Comité de Lugares Históricos de Arcata votó la semana pasada para aprobar una solicitud pidiendo al Registro Nacional de Lugares Históricos que agregue la Plaza a la lista. La comisión de planificación y el concejo municipal todavía deben aprobar el envío de la solicitud a la Oficina de Conservación Histórica de California, el departamento responsable de la administración del registro en California.
La solicitud fue preparada por Patrick O’Rourke y Jeanette Cooper, miembro del Comité de Lugares Históricos y de la Instalación de Recursos Culturales de Cal Poly Humboldt (O’Rourke también fue miembro hasta diciembre de 2025). Está repleta de información sobre la Plaza y su historia, e intenta mostrar que la Plaza es digna de ser incluida en el registro porque está “asociada con eventos que han hecho una contribución significativa a los amplios patrones de nuestra historia”.
“Un lugar en el Registro Nacional de Lugares Históricos subrayaría el papel indispensable que juega La Plaza en la vida de los residentes y visitantes del condado de Humboldt”, dice la solicitud.
Historiadores locales y preservacionistas han buscado durante mucho tiempo agregar la Plaza al registro, pero sus esfuerzos se vieron obstaculizados por una regla que excluye a sitios que han sido muy modificados de sus contextos históricos, dijo Alex Stillman, miembro del consejo municipal de Arcata y entusiasta de la historia local, a Outpost. Muchos de los edificios originales del siglo XIX alrededor de la Plaza se incendiaron en algún momento, por lo que el comité solo está tratando de agregar la manzana delimitada por las calles 8th, 9th, H y G: “El espacio verde en el medio”, como lo describió Stillman.
1878. Muestra el asta de la Libertad, presente 1876-1897.
Adding the Plaza to the register protects it from development; in California, sites listed in the register can’t be destroyed or altered significantly. It’s different from being marked as a National Historic Landmark (NHL); only 3% of the sites on the register are also an NHL, which has to have significant national context. The only NHL in Humboldt County is Tuluwat Island.Adding the Plaza to the register might also draw more tourists to town and local businesses, Stillman said. They’d be able to install a brown sign advertising the destination on Highway 101, and visitors quickly googling a list of local historic areas would see it too.
“There are so few downtown plazas that are even close to how nice ours is,” said Dan Tangney, a member of Arcata’s planning commission and an early influence on the project. “People should come off the highway to experience it. It’s a great stop. To me, that brown sign on the highway or in people’s phones, wherever they find where they’re going to stop on their drives; I think they should stop at the Plaza…And it’s by far the cultural hub of Arcata, for 145 years now.”
O’Rourke, who prepared much of the application, told the Outpost it was also a chance to compile a unified historical record of the Plaza. Much of the information in the application was scattered around various documents from past local historians. O’Rourke said he talked to local historians and long-time residents for information on the Plaza, and said he was indebted to the late historian Susie Van Kirk for her research.
The Plaza, during its long history of use, has changed many times in both form and function, something that may count against it. O’Rourke isn’t 100% sure that the state will approve the application, but said it has a strong chance.
A photo of a long-gone bandstand and graveled walkways in the Plaza from 1888.
O’Rourke and Stillman told the Outpost that the Plaza should be included on the register because of its long history of use and as a community center. It’s remained in the same place since Arcata was founded (under the name Union) in the 1850s, and has been used from everything as a pastoral grazing land to a concert venue, but it’s always been a place where Arcatans and visitors have gathered.
“It’s always been a focal place for downtown Arcata,” Stillman said, running through a quick history of its many uses. “Economic and social.”
“The main thesis is its continued use as the center of community for Arcata,” O’Rourke said. “And so most of that is unchanged. The things that are interesting to me are the uses over time that have faded away: for instance, it was for cattle grazing initially, because the entire divide between city and countryside hadn’t come about yet. It was also used as a baseball diamond for local local amateur teams, which I thought was a really interesting use, because to think about a baseball flying out of the Plaza and into one of the windows of the local businesses probably happened a lot. I didn’t see any evidence of any disgruntlement about that, but I’m sure there’s a story somewhere.”
Historic Landmarks Committee member Jeanette Cooper did not respond to requests for comment.
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