For the third time in its three-year history, the Beeville Main Street Program has received the coveted National Main Street Program Accreditation.

“We got a 95 this year,” said Main Street Program Manager Molly Young. “I was amazed.”

Cities involved in the Main Street programs prepare an annual report that is turned over to the Texas Main Street Program where their scores are figured and reported to the National Main Street Network, a branch of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Cities can earn as many as 100 points toward accreditation but must attain at least 90 points to be accredited on the national level.

“We had some great projects with our facade improvement grants,” Young said this week.

Although a number of downtown businesses transformed their facades using matching funds provided for the program through the Beeville Tax Increment Finance District, Young believes the Bowie Street Project helped put the city over the top in the scoring this year.

Six buildings in the200 block of West Bowie Street are being renovated to look as closely as possible to their original appearance. Many of the buildings were run-down and had been occupied by downtown bars when the 2006 Resource Team, a group of architects from the Texas Historical Commission, visited Beeville.

“The architects identified the Bowie Street buildings as a top priority for the Main Street Program,” Young said.

Fortunately, a couple of local investors have purchased the string of buildings and they are being converted into attractive retail spaces.

The downtown Depot Pavilion under construction behind the buildings on the west side of the 100 block of North Washington Street also helped to improve Beeville’s score, Young said. Although construction had yet to begin on the pavilion when the report was filed, the funding for the project was in place and the number of entities taking part in providing the money was impressive.

“A lot of it was community involvement,” Young said. She said Main Street has been able to create a number of vital community partnerships.

“It’s nice to have some recognition from somebody outside the local area,” Young said.