The Scott-Barker House and St. Paul Baptist Church contribute to worries about preserving the past of fast-growing Melissa in Collin County, Texas.
In the 1870s, a two-story Victorian-style home was erected in the newly founded town of Melissa, Collin County, Texas. The town came into being due to the Houston & Texas Central Railway, and along with this house, several other structures were quickly built to serve this new stop along Texas's first north-south railroad. Shoot, the town was even named after the daughter of one of the railroad's executives.
Over the years, the house was owned and occupied by members of two families -- hence, its name, the Scott-Barker House. It's now owned by the city, but it seems as if its days are numbered. In May 2024, the citizens of Melissa voted AGAINST a bond that was proposed to restore the house. The bond was defeated by a relatively small margin, most likely by people upset about the bond's temporary tax increase. Now, without the necessary funds, the house will either be sold & moved, or demolished.
This isn't the city of Melissa's first rodeo with destroying its history. In late 2023, a downtown building from 1906 that once housed the city's bank and a pharmacy was demolished as it was oddly considered a "fire hazard." Now, downtown Melissa -- unlike its sisters along the historic H&TC and Interurban lines, Anna and Van Alstyne -- looks completely forgotten.
It's a real eye-opener that while Melissa suffered a tornado in 1921 that killed over a dozen people and ruined several buildings, the true murderer of the town is its own shortsightedness. Twenty years ago, just a little over 1,000 people called the hamlet home. Now, the population is almost 19,000, and it's doubtful that most new residents feel a connection to the town and therefore, towards historic preservation.
Melissa's neglect of its history makes me worry for a similar fate for St. Paul Baptist Church, once home to the town's black congregation that formed around 1872. The little building that stands along Highway 5 in Melissa was erected after the horrible tornado of 1921, but as the population shifted, so has the congregation, and one of Collin County's oldest churches might eventually become another victim to reactionary growth.
Imagine if cities in Europe maintained their histories by placing preservation questions at the ballot box? Places like Melissa need leaders who ACTUALLY TAKE THE LEAD to safeguard history from short-sighted, spur-of-the-moment decisions captured in ONE moment of time by a transient electorate.
I think that historic preservation should never be left to a vote, as it takes both foresight AND hindsight to recognize its ultimate value. What do you think -- should historic preservation be left up to voters who happen to be present during one election cycle? And, a bigger question: what could the city do with this house, the downtown, and the church that would make them viable for the town's future?
