New Battle Flaring Over Gettysburg

A nasty fight is going on at Gettysburg.

Congress is threatening to shoot down the National Park Service’s $40-million plan to build a new visitors center and retail stores inside Gettysburg National Military Park, even though taxpayers would not spend one cent on construction.

The dispute could leave a collection of Civil War uniforms and other artifacts vulnerable to further deterioration. It also could halt plans to broaden the scope of exhibits and restore the main site of the July 1863 battle that is generally considered the turning point of the Civil War in favor of the Union.

“The park will essentially stand still and not be able to improve anything,” Assistant Park Supt. John McKenna said as he walked along the former Union battle line, now topped with asphalt.

Park officials, business owners, historians, preservationists and Civil War buffs have argued over details of the new center for five years.

The Park Service wants to replace antiquated quarters with a center that could accommodate more visitors and offer a better environment for artifacts. With three times the exhibit space, the park also could devote more attention to telling the story of the entire war, not just the three-day Battle of Gettysburg.

The controversy centers on the inclusion of a Civil War movie theater, a restaurant and retail stores to help the developer pay for construction.

Opponents say the commercial areas would cheapen the significance of hallowed ground and could draw tourists away from restaurants, gift shops and other businesses near the current center. The new structures would be a half-mile away, on grassy and wooded lands largely untouched since the war.

“I’m concerned about the potential for what amounts to a commercial mall in the middle of the battlefield,” said Walter Powell, president of the Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Assn.

Still, after holding 54 public meetings and receiving about 4,000 letters and other comments from the public, the Park Service stood firm in its concept for a new, privately funded center.

The agency released final plans in June, angering opponents.

“From the very onset, this plan for the visitors center was . . . forced down the throats of the citizens,” said Eric Uberman, whose wax museum is near the current center.

Finding sympathizers in Congress, opponents persuaded the House to vote 220-206 this summer to block any spending on the Park Service plan.

A version of the bill in the Senate does not include the provision, and the two chambers will have to resolve the matter.

Park officials say the government-commercial partnership is the only way to get around the agency’s $5-billion backlog of repairs and maintenance projects nationwide.

The main visitors center facility, built as a residence in 1921 and acquired by the Park Service in 1971, was never meant to be permanent. It was designed for fewer than half of the 1.8 million tourists the park gets each year.