We’ve had two vivid reminders this past week of how historic landmarks are important to our communities.

In Concrete, residents watched with a combination of fascination and dismay as the old Concrete Elementary School went down in a spectacular conflagration. Although venerated in a way, the hulking facility had become odd, abandoned and a little sad in recent years, like a down-on-its-luck character that might never again see better days.

You couldn’t help but notice the grand, if bedraggled, structure whether you lived in Concrete or were just passing through. It was a landmark with emotional significance to a community that takes its history seriously. We grieve along with Concrete and the surrounding community for the building’s loss.

In Lyman, an effort is under way to preserve the grandeur and legacy of the lovely home that everyone knows as the Minkler mansion. The house, more than a century old, is on the National Register of Historic Places and is largely unchanged since the days it was built by Skagit pioneer Birdsey D. Minkler. With enough money — and that’s a big if right now — local leaders would like to convert the house for use as the Town Hall.

It’s difficult to imagine a good outcome for what’s left of the old elementary school. It’s probable that the rubble will be bulldozed, leaving albums full of memories and an empty space at the end of Main Street. Imagination might fill in that blank with all kinds of ideas, but without a big investment, the site is likely to remain unused. We hope for better.

The Minkler mansion plan has its own financial challenges. It’s estimated that purchase and renovation of the home will cost about $600,000, quite a tab for a tiny town with limited resources.

Town officials are looking at grant proposals that would help, and the county may also have a small contributing role. Decisions about those funding sources are a ways off. In the meantime, Lyman has only until July to come up with the approximately $400,000 needed to complete a purchase agreement with owner Doris Patterson. It may be that an “angel” donor will need to step forward to help make the dream a reality.

We’re confident that some combination of funding sources will materialize. It’s too good an idea not to succeed.

Why do we care about such things? Because they are a revealing link to the past, because they evoke deep connections to our community, and because they have endured while so many other artifacts of our history have been lost. The demise of one makes the preservation of the other even more urgent.

* Editorials reflect the consensus opinion of the editorial board and are written by its members: Publisher L. Stedem Wood, Editor Don Nelson and City Editor Dick Clever. Signed columns reflect the authors’ viewpoints.