St. Cloud Historic District officially part of National Register of Historic Places

St. Cloud Main Street reported Friday that the St. Cloud Historic District has been officially recognized on the National Register of Historic Places.

This list is part of a national program by the National Park Service to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic resources. State Rep. Paula Stark (R-St. Cloud), who is also the Executive Director of St. Cloud Main Street, said this was a designation she had been working on during the recent legislative session -- a process she said has been several years in the making, working through an official process to get St. Cloud on the list.

A number of downtown buildings are part of the Florida Historical Marker Program that recognizes significant historic resources, people and events in its history. Historic markers and plaques are located at the Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Hall, VFW Post 3227, the old First National Bank that now houses the St. Cloud Chamber of Commerce, Veteran Memorial Library, now the St. Cloud Heritage Museum, Hunter Arms Hotel, Fisk Funeral Home and, just outside of downtown, Mount Peace Cemetery.

Per a release from Main Street, it has obtained three grants which helped to inventory the historic buildings in the district and to work towards obtaining the National Register designation. Main Street also put together the ordinance for the Historic District and presented it to the St. Cloud City Council for approval, which called for the Historic Preservation Board to be formed to allow the city to be able to apply for Certified Local Government designation and became a CLG in the summer of 2019.

These phases of the historic preservation initiative will be continued, Main Street officials said, with another historic preservation grant inventorying properties mainly within the residential community identifying historic structures for future historic designations.

St. Cloud Main Street Program debuted in September 1999. It is a comprehensive revitalization program designed to encourage ongoing economic development in
conjunction with historic preservation.

"Our goal is to bring more recognition to our downtown and what it has to offer."