Carter Building Historical Information
Facilities Management
The Umpqua Watersheds Facility Management Committee was formed last Fall and has been busy organizing, securing and improving the property that was a wonderful and needed gift to Umpqua Watersheds from John Stadter. This newly acquired building features 3 street-level business offices and an upstairs with office space and meeting rooms. The upstairs portion of the building is home to Umpqua Watersheds, and ComSpan Inc (2021 ComSpan and Douglas Fastnet moved out). Umpqua Watersheds uses the bulk of the upstairs for the operation of the non-profit including the KQUA Radio station. Built in 1950, the Carter Building has changed ownership several times but got its name from Marian (Paugh) and Walter Carter Jr.
The Carter building avoided the moderate destruction zone of the 1959 Roseburg blast by one block. The Carter’s sold the building to attorney Verden Hockett, of the District Attorney’s (DA) Office. He ultimately left the DA’s office and went into private practice using an office on the second floor of the Carter Building. In 2003, the building was listed with the United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places as part of the Roseburq Downtown Historic District. Included in the historic designation is a description of the building”: The concrete block two-story office building features metal-frame windows and three office entry doors with transoms on the street level. A stairway to the second floor is on the south end of the building. The second level has three corrugated metal panels in which the metal frame windows are located, plus a metal awning over each window. The panels alternate with the stucco finish of the main portion of the building. In the 1940s the Roseburg News Review office occupied at least a portion of this building.” At the time of the listing there were offices including a dog trainer, KLD Financial Services, and WMNI Computer Office (an Internet Service Provider).
With ownership comes responsibility and the goal of the FM committee is to fulfill this mission by becoming familiar with the issues and problems and plan to address them in a fiscally responsible manner. Due to a few recent burglaries, security has been our major concern. We have installed 4 security cameras; 2 in front and 2 in back, along with 2 solar powered motion detectors in the back. A metal security screen has been installed in front of the window that leads to the fire escape. We next plan to address the issue of our leaking roof, as well as replacing the shed roof behind our building. There are plumbing issues to address as well as the usual maintenance problems. Once the immediate problems have been resolved, we can begin to discuss future improvements that will make our building more energy efficient and aesthetically attractive and a community gathering place that will help UW to continue to grow.
We are officially landlords as well. Currently, Get’R Done Salon occupies one of the business offices on the street level. UW is seeking tenants for the other 2 office spaces and continue our obligations as fair and honest landlords. If you are interested in renting one or both office spaces or volunteering labor, materials, or money for any of our projects, please contact Mark (Mark@umpquawatersheds.org). Together we can build this gift into a tremendous community asset. We meet the first Tuesday of every month 6pm at the UW office (2021 we meet by zoom).
