By Caleb Slinkard
The Commerce Journal
COMMERCE —
Bonham Street has been a unique street in Commerce for decades, and now the historical area is finally getting the recognition, and hopefully the face lift, it deserves. The Commerce City Council has designated Bonham Street as a historical district, thanks to the efforts of the Bonham Street Association, and as soon as a design is finished, signage relating that information will be erected along the street. It’s clear just by driving down the street that a lot has happened on Bonham, and the street is special to residents who have lived there since the early 60’s and newcomers who fell in love with the street.
The process of attaining the historical status began with Bonham resident Bob Johnson, who sent out meeting announcements a full year ago.
“Our goal is to bring the street back to the grandeur and the pride that it once had,” Bonham Street Association president Sherry Johnson said. “We’ve met once a month since then, and we’ve had a speaker come and explain part of the process to us.”
Each house has a story, and many of the residents have a special connections to houses on the street. Diane McDowell is a relatively recent resident of Bonham Street after moving there in 1999.
“I moved to Bonham street for the first time in 1999 and live there for three years,” she said. “I left to live in Dallas for a while, but when I could I moved back because it is just a charming neighborhood, I particularly love old houses. That is the way we are here.”
According to Commerce City Manager Marc Clayton, the historical designation allows Bonham Street to potentially become eligible for financial assistance down the road.
“The research we did, you could take the historical designation to any level you really want to,” he said. “Lots of cities establish ordinances that pertain to that area only and establish a committee that controls the kind of construction that goes on there. That’s not what this organization wants, because you could lose control if you’re not careful. The goal is eventually to get some Federal funding that funnels through the state that cane help with sidewalks and street repair that we all want but is hard to afford in Commerce right now.”
Once Clayton receives input from the association as to the design of the signage, the project will move forward.
“When they came to me they were wanting a vehicle to achieve some attention through signage,” he said. “ The next step is to put up signage in the area and perhaps some directing people to this area. Commerce is special to me to, and when I was here in 1968, it was a very neat area. The leaders of the city wanted to do anything to support it.”
