Abilene Preservation League

Today's venue is the National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature (NCCIL)! They will be showcasing the importance and impact that railroads have had in influencing children's books for decades!

This year's focus will be Brian Floca's book "Locomotive"! This book is a great introductory piece that goes over the history of locomotives in America while also teaching children how a steam locomotive operates and the role they can play in their everyday lives.

You don't want to miss this detailed look at "Locomotive", or any other family friendly activity planned for the Abilene Railroad Festival (September 6-7), so mark your calendars and make sure to pay close attention to the times and dates of all things rail fest through the documents you'll receive upon registering through abilenepreservation.org!

Abilene Railroad Festival registration is NOW LIVE! Go to abilenepreservation.org to learn more, register, and download festival material you'll need such as maps, itineraries, and more to ensure you have the best experience possible! Ticket upgrades will provide you with some extra items to take home and merchandise will be for sale on Friday and Saturday Sept. 6-7! So, be sure to get there before the train leaves the station! ALL ABOARD!

Make sure to be on the look out for our next post as it's almost time for the Abilene Railroad Festival website to launch! This is where you'll be able to learn more about the festival, register, and download the documents you'll need to have the best experience possible! Stay tuned!

Leading up to the Abilene Railroad Festival, we will be showcasing more details as to what each of our venues and vendors will be offering!

Today's venue is Abilene Public Library! They graciously opened their auditorium space for Texas Operation Lifesaver, whose presentations will be focused on teaching the next generations of Abilene about railroad safety!

During the weeks leading up to the festival, the library will have many railroad related activities and other engagement opportunities including, but not limited to, scavenger hunts, a name train art craft, a drive a train photo shoot, an "Identify That Train" game, and scheduled story-times! Stayed tuned to the Abilene Public Library's page for specific dates and times.

You don't want to miss these family friendly activities planned for the Abilene Railroad Festival (September 6-7) so mark your calendars and stay tuned to our page for further ticket information, registration, and updates on all things rail fest!

THE GROUND IS RUMBLING ‘CAUSE WE’RE STEAMING INTO TOWN! The Abilene Preservation League is excited to announce the RETURN of the Abilene Railroad Festival. Once an Abilene spectacle in the 90’s has now been brought back to life from the scrap line with a new passion!

Check out the projected itinerary to familiarize yourself with the weekend schedule and mark your calendars because you won’t want to miss this! Also, stay tuned to our socials for more detailed information on venues, vendors, tickets and more!

Our events this past weekend were an absolute success! Thank you to all who joined us and another special thank you to our sponsors: Condley and Co., First Financial Bank, First Financial Trust, Butler Construction, and McCullar Properties. Also, special thank you to our donors: Seven and One, Texas Star Trading Co., Frontier Texas, Living Chic, Hazel on Pine, Pate's, The Arrangement, Abilene Cultural Affairs Council, Abilene Convention & Visitors Bureau, Roll Shack, Poppies & Pearls, The Grace Museum, Kao Lounge, The Leaf, Peacock Patio, Sway, The Pour House, The Antique Station, Cypress Street Station, AW Merchandise, LLC, Vagabond Pizza, Revive, Lynn German and Barbara Fahrlender. We could not have pulled this off without you!

We look forward to sharing more in our upcoming newsletter and can't wait to see you at our next event!

It's about that time! We are so excited for our event, An Evening to Preserve, this Friday! Ticket sales have closed, but there's still time to join us for our free event on Saturday! Check out our profile page, or click our events tab to learn more!

Friendly reminder! Join us for our annual meeting TOMORROW at 6pm to hear what we have accomplished this year, what we have in the works, and to meet new and returning members of the League!

We look forward to seeing you and as always, thank you for your support!

We are officially two weeks out from An Evening to Preserve and Preservation Town Hall! First and foremost, a special thanks to all of our sponsors and donors! We are so grateful for your support and participation.

Get your tickets to An Evening to Preserve today to tour the King Estate and Fulwiler House followed by a presentation and dinner catered by Taylor County Taphouse at the Elks Arts Center on Friday, May 31st, 2024! We will also have a silent auction, door prizes, live music and more! Home tours will be available to ticket holders from 5-7pm and dinner will begin at 7pm. Tickets can be purchased at aneveningtopreserve.eventbrite.com.

**AND/OR**

Join us for Preservation Town Hall Saturday, June 1st, 2024 at the D&W Underground Venue at 4pm for a FREE presentation on incentive programs that could help you save money on your historic home and/or storefront! There will be Q&A and door prizes!

As always, thank you for your ongoing support of our organization and its mission to preserve historic properties and promote preservation. We hope to see you all soon!
-APL

Josh Black, Executive Director, introducing Corrender Taylor, head of the Abilene Railroad Festival, to the venues and vendors at our first official Abilene Railroad Festival meeting!

Things are quickly tracking forward for this event and we are so thankful for the outpouring of support we have received thus far! Stay tuned for more.

THANK YOU
to our 27 donors for making AbileneGives '24 another successful year!!

Shoutout to our 23 donors! Thank you SO much for your support!

If you have yet to donate, there are 2 hours left in this beautiful day of giving! Head to abilenegives.org, search for Abilene Preservation League and choose your desired amount!

As always, thank each and every one of you for your continued support of our organization and our mission to preserve our beloved Abilene!

It is Match Minute Magic! Donations given during 5-5:30 and 6-6:30 will be matched dollar-for-dollar!!

WE ARE OFFICIALLY MORE THAN HALFWAY TO OUR GOAL WITH ALMOST 5 HOURS OF GIVING LEFT!!! Thank you, Abilene

A huge THANK YOU to our 16 donors thus far!!! Your support of our organization and mission does NOT go unnoticed!

Wow, time flies when you're having fun! Join us for our annual meeting May 21st, 2024, at 6:00pm to hear what we have accomplished this year, what we have in the works, and to meet new and returning members of the League!

We look forward to seeing you and as always, thank you for your support!

First nonprofit to receive $100 at 11:35am will be gifted $1000!!!

Today's the dayyyyy!! It is officially ABILENE GIVES!

If we receive a gift of $325 between now and 11am, the gift will be MATCHED! You can go to abilenegives.org, search for Abilene Preservation League and help us win this prize, or support us how you see fit! All donations are welcome and GREATLY appreciated!

Also, check out the other 173 organizations participating in today's shenanigans while you're at it!

The first step to our ballroom window restoration has officially been completed! Stay tuned for further updates as they are still receiving attention inside and out!

Thanks again to the Community Foundation of Abilene and Abilene Rental Center for supporting this project!

Since Abilene's establishment in 1881 by the Texas & Pacific Railway Company, many homes and buildings of great value and importance have unfortunately been lost. Those pictured below are just a handful that were left unpreserved, neglected by previous owners, unwanted by potential buyers, and forever lost. Not only does our beloved city lose history each time a structure of historical importance is left unpreserved, but it teaches future generations that we have become a society that is content with an out with the old, in with the new mindset. We don't know about you, but we are just as determined to preserve today as we were in 1977, and who knows... Maybe one of the remaining historic structures could be your new home or place of business!

Love Abilene and all its history? What about historic homes, charcuterie boards, alcoholic beverages, steak dinners, local desserts, live music, silent auctions, door prizes and more? Join us May 31st, 2024, at 7:00pm to support our mission in preserving history, historic structures and learn about the incentive programs in our area that could save you money on your current or future historic home and/or storefront! More information can be found on our homepage, under events, or by going to https://aneveningtopreserve.eventbrite.com.

**All proceeds to benefit the Abilene Preservation League in its mission to preserve historic properties and promote preservation**

We hope you enjoyed our Meet the League Monday series as much as we did! If you're interested in joining the League, call us at 325-676-3775 or email us at [email protected]. We have some fun, community wide events just around the corner that we'd love for you to be apart of!

Name: Austin Butler
Title: Owner of Austin Butler Construction, President on the Board of Trustees of the Abilene Preservation League

My name is Austin Butler, and I grew up in Tyler, TX, and graduated from Whitehouse High School. I went to Texas A&M and received a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering. Upon graduating, I went to work for a few large commercial construction companies in Dallas before transitioning to managing residential construction projects for a firm that mostly built projects in Highland Park and Preston Hollow in Dallas. I moved to Abilene in 2015 to work for a local home builder before starting Austin Butler Construction in 2018. We enjoy remodeling older, significant homes and building unique new construction houses. I am married to Megan, who is an AP Biology and Honors Biology teacher at Abilene High School. We have three boys who constantly keep us on our toes.

I have been involved with the APL for a few years, mostly due to my appreciation for older buildings. My father is an architect, and I grew up in a house on the brick streets of Tyler that was built in 1938. Growing up in that house and working on some of the older homes along Elmwood, I grew an appreciation for how older houses/buildings were built. It is hard to recreate some of the craftsmanship that went into these older buildings. I am looking forward to being involved in some of the upcoming projects the APL will be working on.

**UPDATE**

The frames of our ballroom windows have been restored! Now to reset the glass and repaint them!

Shoutout to Abilene Rental Company for donating their scissor lift, and to Community Foundation of Abilene for helping fund this project!

If you're unable to join us for An Evening to Preserve, mark your calendars for Saturday, June 1st! We will be hosting a FREE public event covering the incentive programs available in our area. Come learn about them, how they can save you money, and possibly win a door prize while you're at it!

Seats are filling fast! Get yours here today!

Send a message to learn more

Name: Susan Steele
Title: Grants Administrator for the Abilene Cultural Affairs Council, Box Office Manager for the Children's Performing Arts Series

Hi y'all! My name is Susan Steele and I fell in love with Abilene in 2003. I split my time at work between roles as the grants administrator for the Abilene Cultural Affairs Council and the box office manager for the Children's Performing Arts Series. I am blessed to work in the historic T&P Depot and see firsthand how history comes alive in the buildings that remain.

I'm a Carolina girl through and through, born and raised in North Carolina. After graduating from UNC in 1996 (Go Heels!), I made my way out west, following my future husband (Nick, a B-1 pilot) to Rapid City, South Dakota. We married and spent five years in the beautiful Black Hills until the Air Force moved us to Abilene. After the birth of our son, Nicholas, in 2008 we decided West Texas was the perfect place to raise our family. Upon Nick's USAF retirement in 2012, we officially made Texas our home.

Growing up in NC, I learned to love history at a young age, being surrounded by living history of all kinds in "The Old North State". I believe that understanding and appreciating history, including the good, bad and ugly, is imperative to creating a brighter future. Unfortunately, in today's "I want it now, new and cheap" world, the beauty and complexity of history is getting lost. That's why I joined the Abilene Preservation League. The APL has been instrumental in resurrecting some of the most iconic buildings in Abilene and continues to fight for these historical treasures that will disappear forever if they are lost to modernity. Abilene's rich architectural history is one of the things that makes this little town so special, and I am proud to join APL in continuing to lead the way in historical preservation.

Hello, preservation friends,

We are excited to officially announce An Evening to Preserve!

**A ticket link has been posted in the comments**

Join us for a steak dinner, catered by Taylor County Tap House, along with a preservation incentives presentation, provided by a special guest, City of Abilene and yours truly! It's going to be a fun and informative evening for those interested in preserving the homes and buildings that helped make Abilene what it is today.

A huge thank you to our current sponsors: Austin Butler Construction; Condley & Co.; and First Financial. Your generosity and support of this event does not go unnoticed!

**The home tours are available to paying guests and members of the APL**

Name: Nathan George
Title: Tax Manager at Condley and Company, LLP

With a keen interest in history and historical preservation, I was excited to join the APL Board and have served since 2022. I currently work as a Tax Manager at Condley and Company, LLP, and am also a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) with over nine years of accounting experience. Prior to joining Condley and Company, I held industry and public accounting positions, specializing in taxation of large multinational organizations. My graduate degrees including Master of International Taxation from Texas A&M University School of Law, a Master of Accountancy from Abilene Christian University, and a Master of Industrial-Organizational Psychology from University of Maryland. I also hold a graduate certificate in Instructional Systems Development from the University of Maryland and am a former Project Manager Professional (PMP). I am a member of the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants (TSCPA) and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). I also serve as Vice President of the TSCPA Abilene Chapter and am a member of the TXCPA Federal Tax Policy Committee at the state level.

Prior to my career change in 2013, I spent ten years in the United States Air Force and worked as both a Russian and Persian Farsi language analyst. I also spent another three years as a consultant in the National Intelligence Industry.

In my free time, I enjoy spending time with friends and family, reading, traveling, and watching Texas A&M football!

Name: Denise Molinaro Wright
Title: On the Board of Trustees at the Abilene Preservation League

I was born in the company-owned copper mining town or Morenci, Arizona. I spent my early years in Tucson, before moving to Mineral Wells. I've lived in multiple cities in and around the DFW Metroplex, as well as San Diego and Syracuse. My husband, Roy, and I moved to Abilene in 2021 to be near our children that live here and our grandchildren, who call us Mimi and Pops.

I have spent my career in accounting and other aspects of business operations and management. A part of my professional experience has been serving as Finance Executive for a ministry in Grapevine. One of my most significant accomplishments here was completing the rigorous process of getting the ministry accredited by an organization that is an American financial standards association, which represents nonprofit Christian organizations and churches, who receive tax-deductible contributions. This accreditation shows donors their funds are being properly managed, and the organization maintains proper accounting processes.

I first learned about the Abilene Preservation League through a friend that introduced me to a staff member. I went to the APL right away and was introduced to the Executive Director, Josh Black. I began attending workshops as well as a cemetery tour they were hosting and I was hooked! I wanted to help!

Given my professional experience and my passion for historic properties, as well as Abilene, my heart was drawn toward serving on the Board of Trustees for the APL. My desire and hope are that in working alongside the other board members and staff of the APL, that we can further impact the preservation of Abilene's history in a meaningful way.

The restoration of the ballroom windows at the Elks Arts Center is FINALLY underway! Andy and Robert have done an amazing job thus far, and we can't wait to see and share the final results!