Left: Carding wool at Philipsburg Manor, a hands-on history site where slaves were

once the main labor force; learn about Cesar, an enslaved miller, to the sound of rushing water and the creaking of wooden gears. The manor, an agricultural empire that

spanned most of Westchester County, was confiscated from loyalist owners during

the Revolutionary War. Above: Re-enacting the Battle of White Plains, the war’s first

encounter in the valley. George Washington’s eventual withdrawal, leaving the

British as de facto victors, set up his triumph at Trenton.

EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL HISTORIC PRESERVATION FUND

HURRICANE KATRINA RECOVERY GRANT PROGRAM

CULTURAL

RESOURCES

STEWARDSHIP,

PARTNERSHIPS,

AND SCIENCE

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

KATRINARECOVERY

FINAL REPORT

AUGUST 2015

A DECADE LATER
2 H U R R I C A N E K A T R I N A H I S T O R I C P R E S E R V A T I O N G R A N T S

Nearly a decade after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast on August 29,

2005, its effects on the coastal communities in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama are still clearly visible. Claiming over 1,800 lives and causing more than

$100 billion in property damage, Hurricane Katrina was the third deadliest and

most costly natural disaster in our nation’s history. Katrina’s aftermath was catastrophic with an estimated total economic impact exceeding $150 billion. Much

of Katrina’s destruction was due to storm surge that reached 35 feet and sustained winds up to 140 miles per hour, stretching 400 miles across the Gulf Coast.

According to FEMA, one million people were displaced from their homes in

Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. n

A DECADELATER...

This grant allowed me the opportunity to save much more than a

home; it allowed me to rebuild myself and begin to heal after the destruction of Hurricane Katrina. -Marna David-Tatum, grant recipient

”

“

Above: The Tatum House, Mid City National Register Historic District, New Orleans, LA.
In addition to being our nation’s most

costly disaster, Hurricane Katrina produced

one of the greatest cultural disasters in

American history. Hurricane Katrina

claimed thousands of irreplaceable historic

resources while leaving countless more severely damaged and vulnerable.

As a result, Congress passed Public Law

109-234, appropriating $43 million from the

Historic Preservation Fund (HPF) to the

State Historic Preservation Offices

(SHPOs) in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama for relief from Hurricanes Katrina

and Rita. Of that award, $40 million was for

the preservation, stabilization, and repair of

historic properties listed in or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic

Places. The remaining $3 million was for

Section 106 review assistance, which was

most often used by states to hire staff to

manage the program. Later, Congress

passed Public Law 110-28, appropriating

an additional $10 million from HPF to

Louisiana for hurricane relief efforts.

Unlike regular HPF grants, a non-federal

matching share was not required. Historic

preservaton covenants were recorded on

properties receiving more than $99,999 in

grant assistance. Any project less than that

amount entered into a five-year preservation agreement with the SHPO. A Programmatic Agreement was developed in

conjunction with the Advisory Council on

Historic Preservation to streamline the Section 106 review process.

Only hurricane-related damage was eligible to receive assistance through this program. This included rehabilitation limited to

portions of property that retained sufficient

integrity to remain listed in the National

Register of Historic Places. All activities

were required to adhere to the Secretary of

the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of

Historic Properties. Acquisition and major

reconstruction were not eligible.

The National Park Service worked

closely with the SHPOs to administer the

Hurricane Katrina Recovery Grant Program. The funding was focused on getting

people back into their historic homes.

SHPOs provided subgrants to a variety of

recipients, including individuals, nonprofit

and for-profit organizations, local governments, and state agencies. In all, 3,224

subgrant applications were received by the

SHPOs. Funding allowed only 858 projects

to be awarded.

Among the funded projects were a wide

variety of building types, including small antebellum cottages, commonplace 20th century bungalows, as well as high-style

architectural resources. Without this grant

program, a significant portion of these properties would have been lost. n

H U R R I C A N E K A T R I N A H I S T O R I C P R E S E R V A T I O N G R A N T S 3

EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL HISTORIC PRESERVATION FUND

HURRICANE KATRINA RECOVERY GRANT PROGRAM

This program was a godsend.

We are so thankful for our

house being saved.

-Kay Gauntt, grant r

”

ecipient

“
4 H U R R I C A N E K A T R I N A H I S T O R I C P R E S E R V A T I O N G R A N T S
H U R R I C A N E K A T R I N A H I S T O R I C P R E S E R V A T I O N G R A N T S 5

Left: This house, located in the French Quarter of New Orleans, received a grant to repair damage caused

by Hurricane Katrina. Above left: This Creole Cottage on Frenchman Street was the childhood home of

Jelly Roll Morton, an early ragtime and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer who started his music career as a child in New Orleans in the 1890s. Grant funds paid to repair interior damage. Above right: This

bungalow in Uptown New Orleans received grant funds to repair hurricane damage.

Managed by the Louisiana Department of

Culture, Recreation & Tourism, the Louisiana

Historic Building Recovery Grant Program was

focused on homeowner recovery. Subgrants

ranged between $5,000 and $45,000 with

awards available for only non-completed repair

work. Some subgrants were awarded to

smaller commercial properties. The SHPO reviewed 1,885 applications of which 1,247 applications were eligible for funding—a total

request of $47,749,089. With $21.5 million

available for subgrants, 551 subgrants were

awarded.

Project examples included every aspect of

rehabilitation, including roof repair, re-leveling,

plaster repairs, flooring rehabilitation, porch

restorations, and window repairs. Grant projects were scattered throughout every historic

district in New Orleans and the 15 surrounding

parishes. Because of the level of funding per

project, no easements were required. However, preservation agreements were executed

on each property. Most projects were located

within regulated historic districts.

New Orleans was one of the hardest hit

areas during Hurricane Katrina. Known worldwide for its cultural and historical significance,

floodwaters reached as high as 20 feet and an

estimated 80 percent of the city was under

water. A decade after the storm, the city of

New Orleans is still recovering from the devastation from Hurricane Katrina.

A notable project included the repair of Jelly

Roll Morton’s childhood home on Frenchman

Street in New Orleans. Morton was an early

ragtime and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer who started his music career in New Orleans at the turn of the 20th century. n

LOUISIANA

Grant Amount: $22,709,567

Awarded subgrants: 551
6 H U R R I C A N E K A T R I N A H I S T O R I C P R E S E R V A T I O N G R A N T S
H U R R I C A N E K A T R I N A H I S T O R I C P R E S E R V A T I O N G R A N T S 7

Left: Grant funds were used to rehabilitate the Hancock County Courthouse in Bay St. Louis, which included interior work, window and roof repair, as well as restoration of the courtroom.

Above left: The Phillips-Toulme House in Bay St. Louis, a Gulf Coast Creole Cottage, underwent extensive

interior and exterior work (the “before” picture is on the cover). Above right: The Waveland Civic Center

received grant funds to rehabilitate collapsed rooms, replace the roof, and restore the interior.

Managed by the Mississippi Department of

Archives and History, the Mississippi Hurricane

Relief Grant Program for Historic Preservation

was focused primarily on owner-occupied

homes, but some non-profit and public properties, as well as commercial properties also received funding. The subgrants awarded

ranged between $20,000 and $1 million, but

most grants were limited to a maximum of

$150,000. Awards were available for work that

had been completed as long as it met the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation. Approximately 1,300 properties were

evaluated with 598 applications received—a

total request of $55 million. With $26 million

available for subgrants, 268 of those were

awarded subgrants.

Grant projects were scattered throughout the

southern half of the state, most of which are located in the coastal communities of Pass

Christian, Long Beach, Waveland, Bay St.

Louis, Gulfport, Biloxi, Ocean Springs, and

Pascagoula. Easements ranging from the

length of five years to perpetuity, depending on

the grant amount, were placed on all properties receiving grants.

Hurricane Katrina’s violent winds and massive tidal surge dealt an almost instant lethal

blow to more than 300 of Mississippi’s historic

buildings, forever changing the cultural landscape along the entire stretch of the 70-mile

coast. Between the storm surge, estimated as

high as 35 feet at Bay St. Louis, where the eye

of the storm landed, and its fierce wind field,

even inland communities as far north as Jackson sustained hurricane-force winds wrecking

havoc across thousands of square miles.

Notable projects include landmarks such as

the Old State Capitol; Beauvoir, the home of

Jefferson Davis; the Charnley Cottage and

Guest House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright

and Louis Sullivan; three Rosenwald schools;

the Walter Anderson cottage; and the Ocean

Springs Community Center where Walter Anderson’s murals adorn the interior walls. n

MISSISSIPPI

Grant Amount: $27,500,000

Awarded subgrants: 268
8 H U R R I C A N E K A T R I N A H I S T O R I C P R E S E R V A T I O N G R A N T S
H U R R I C A N E K A T R I N A H I S T O R I C P R E S E R V A T I O N G R A N T S 9

”

Left: The historic Chunchula Schoolhouse, built around 1909, received a grant to repair exterior window

and roof damage sustained during Hurricane Katrina. Above left: This historic home in downtown Mobile received a grant to repair storm damage to its roof and porches. Above right: The Conde-Charlotte

Museum House, also known as the House of Five Flags, is located adjacent to Fort Conde. The earliest section of the building, the rear kitchen wing, was built in 1822. It received a grant to repair storm damage.

Managed by the Alabama Historical Commission, the Alabama Hurricanes Katrina and

Rita Recovery Grant program focused on

homeowner recovery with subgrants awarded

between $1,000 and $100,000 for non-state

owned projects. Some subgrants were also

awarded to nonprofit organizations, municipalities, and state-run historic preservation

projects. Thirty-nine projects received grant

funding totaling $2.25 million.

Grant projects were scattered throughout the

southern and middle parts of the state.

Twenty-two counties were eligible, which included Baldwin, Bibb, Choctaw, Clarke, Colbert, Cullman, Greene, Hale, Jefferson,

Lamar, Lauderdale, Marengo, Marion, Mobile,

Monroe, Perry, Pickens, Sumter, Tuscaloosa,

Washington, Wilcox, and Winston.

Projects included every aspect of rehabilitation, including roof repair, re-leveling, plaster

repairs, and window repairs.

Notable projects include the righting of the

U.S.S. Alabama Battleship; masonry stabilization at Fort Morgan, an 1850s coastal fort and

National Historic Landmark; roof repair of Isle

Dauphine, a beach club built in 1956; Freeland

Store in Grand Bay; Denby House in Downtown Mobile; and window and roof repair for

the Chunchula Schoolhouse, a one-room

schoolhouse built around 1909. The work

funded at the Chunchula Schoolhouse attracted additional grant funding and allowed

the schoolhouse to be reopened as a nonprofit

community center. n

ALABAMA

Grant Amount: $2,450,000

Awarded subgrants: 39

© USS ALABAMA BATTLESHIP MEMORIAL PARK
BEFOREAND AFTER

10 H U R R I C A N E K A T R I N A H I S T O R I C P R E S E R V A T I O N G R A N T S

Above: The Walter Anderson Cottage in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Photos courtesy of MDAH.

Above: Holy Cross, New Orleans. Photos courtesy of Louisiana Dept. of Culture, Rereation & Tourism.

Above: West Side Park Home, Gulfport, Mississippi. Photos courtesy of MDAH.
H U R R I C A N E K A T R I N A H I S T O R I C P R E S E R V A T I O N G R A N T S 11

Above: Magnolia State Supply Company Building, Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Photos courtesy of MDAH.

Above: A private residence, Mobile, Alabama. Photos courtesy of Alabama Historical Commission.

Above: House in New Orleans. Photos courtesy of Louisiana Dept. of Culture, Rereation & Tourism.

BEFOREAND AFTER
Cover: The Phillips-Toulme House in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, in the days after Hurricane Katrina

made landfall. Picture courtesy of Mississippi Heritage Trust. An “after” picture is on page 7.

Below: Considered one of his greatest works from the latter period of his life, Walter Anderson

painted a series of murals in the Ocean Springs Community Center. The image below is a segment of

those murals. Damaged by inadequate climate control and age, the condition of the mural worsened

because of Hurricane Katrina. Through grant funds, the murals are now preserved and protected.

$

52.7million in federal grants awarded

to Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama SHPOs

FACTS AND FIGURES

858hurricane-damaged historic

in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama

3,224applications received

in Louisiana, Mississippi,

and Alabama SHPOs

preservation projects funded