Overtown restoration project all about keeping Black history alive
MIAMI - CBS News Miami found a construction crew hard at work restoring the Historic Lawson Thomas Law office in Overtown.
Overtown CRA Director James McQueen was on site and told us, "We were able to get our permits from the city of Miami to begin this rehab, rehabilitation of this historic building."
It was 10 months ago when we first visited the building with McQueen. Our report at that time indicated that there was a "long way to go" moving a restoration project forward, but now there is a different story. That long way is underway with and expected completion by the first of next year.
Overtown resident Frank Wynn remembers the law office and the man who practiced law in the heart of Overtown.
Wynn told us it is "important to maintain there to restore the old historic building is very important because you know, you got youth being born all the time and a lot of them are not aware of the people that lived in their community or the contributions of those people."
Lawson Thomas was Miami's first Black judge, was a civil rights advocate, he and his wife were community leaders reaching way beyond Overtown.
The Lawson E. Thomas Court Center in downtown Miami is named for him. His role as a judge is displayed at Overtown's fully restored Historic Black Police Precinct Courthouse and Museum.
Julio Perez was the project manager on the Black Precinct Court House Museum. He's now in charge of the restoration of the Judge Lawson Thomas Law Office.
"This is amazing... it's something educational. It's something that people need to know... the history of Overtown. A lot of people don't know the history of Overtown," Perez told us.
The office was once a jewelry store, later the law office. It stood in disrepair after Judge Thomas passed. The restoration will reflect the building as it was in the 1950s.
Multi-storied condos and apartments are creeping into Overtown, which has seen land values increase, developers seeking land to build which produces a concern about historic preservation.
Speaking about the developers, James McQueen says, "They've been working with us and trying to determine who goes in the spaces, those various spaces, how those buildings look and how they can pay homage to what people had in the past.
"Even as they change the look of Overtown, how important it is for us to keep the history."