Historic Structures

Poplar Point Lighthouse, North Kingstown Rhode Island

Established in 1831 at the entrance to Wickford Harbor on the site of a Revolutionary War battle, Poplar Point Light is significant as the oldest surviving lighthouse in Rhode Island on its original site. Earlier lights were established at eight other locations, but only one of these structures survives. It, however, is not on its original site and was disassembled during the move. Although the Poplar Point lantern is not original and the dwelling has been altered and added to since the light's active period, the oldest section is a good early example of a keeper's dwelling with an attached tower. The tower and dwelling were constructed in 1831 by Charles Allen of Kingston at a cost of $1,888. In 1869 the Lighthouse Board recommended that the dwelling, which was in need of repairs, be renovated, and that the original lantern be replaced. This was done two years later, but in 1878 the Board cited the need for an additional navigational aid to mark the entrance to Wickford Harbor. It proposed the establishment of another lighthouse on Old Gay Rock, 500 yards north of Poplar Point. When the new Wickford Harbor Light was completed on November 1, 1882, Poplar Point Light was discontinued after fifty-one years of service.

Bank of Surrency - Post Office, Surrency Georgia

Located on the corner of Hart and Main streets in the small, rural town of Surrency in Appling County, Georgia, the Bank of Surrency is the only remaining historic commercial building in the downtown and service first as a bank and later as a post office. Constructed in 1911 to house the local branch of the Baxley Banking Company, the building is a good example of a small-town bank, which anchored the once-thriving community of Surrency. It was the only bank in town until 1921. The Baxley Banking Company closed in 1922, and the building was sold to F.D. Kennedy and J.M. Kennedy. The building served as a post office from 1926 to 1960. A new post office was constructed in 1960 and the building was sold for storage.

Eleventh District School, Covington Kentucky

The former 11^th District School building is one of the chief landmarks of the small (population about 2,000) community of West Covington, an area annexed by the city of Covington in 1916. Set near the top of a ridge surrounded by the hills of Northern Kentucky to the south and by the Ohio River Valley to the north, the building, a restrained Tudor Revival design typical of the post-World War I era, is highly visible from many directions. It was built in 1920-22 to extend the benefits of the traditionally excellent Covington public school system to the newly annexed community, which is geographically somewhat separate from the 19^th-century city, located around a bend of the hills in the adjacent Licking River Valley. The 11^th District School was designed by the prolific and highly competent Columbus, Ohio, architectural firm of Richards, McCarty & Bulford, who also were responsible for the design of many important buildings in central Kentucky. A compatible 1931 addition was designed by northern Kentucky architect Chester H. Disque. In the vicinity of several other community institutions, the school building remains a visual landmark, although it was reluctantly, closed because of Federal student~busing requirements in 1979. A group of local investors is currently (1983) considering renovation and adaptive re-use of the structure for apartments, utilizing the Tax Incentives available under the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981. West Covington was originally known as "Economy." It was established about 1846 on the estate of Israel Ludlow, a prominent early Cincinnati and northern Kentucky land-owner and developer. The town was incorporated in 1858 as West Covington. The population grew from 554 in 1860 to 993 in 1870 according to Collins. As early as the mid-1870s there was a movement to annex it to the city of Covington, whose population continued to expand after the Civil War. Annexation was not accomplished, however, until 1916, during a period when a number of adjacent areas to the south and west of the 19^th-century city were also annexed.

Lima Pennsylvania Railroad Passenger Depot, Lima Ohio

The land on which the depot is located is part of McHenry's (first) addition. William McHenry and his wife Malvina obtained the addition as part of a larger portion, the east lot of the northwest quarter section of section 31, township 3 south, range 7 of the Piqua Land District from Joseph Edwards and his wife Comfort in 1845 for the sum of $600. The property was approximately 29 acres. On July 13^th, 1853, Dr. McHenry's 29 acres were subdivided into a rectilinear grid system of streets, blocks, lots, and alleys continuing the original Lima town plan pattern. It became part of the McHenry's Addition surveyed by John P. Haller. More than a year later, on November 27^th, 1854, he sold for $1,200 to the Ohio & Indiana Rail Road Company, two acres and 64/100^ths of an acre, more or less, and another parcel containing 18/100^ths of an acre, more or less, for the site of the future Ohio & Indiana Railroad station in Lima. The lot was bounded to the west by Main Street, and along the line between sections 30 and 31, reached Accommodation Street (the north-south railroad axis).

Samuel M. Nickerson House - American College of Surgeons, Chicago Illinois

The house was designed in 1883 by one of Chicago's earliest architects, Edward Burling, for Samuel M. Nickerson, a wealthy banker. Nickerson spared no expense in creating his "Marble Palace," so-called because of its elegant interior which was finished in marbles, rare woods, and other rich materials. The original character of this spectacular home is beautifully preserved to this day. The Nickerson Mansion was one of the most expensive and lavish homes built in Chicago before the turn of the century. "Nickerson's Marble Palace" as it was widely known, was the showplace home of Samuel M. Nickerson, a prominent Chicago banker and one of the wealthiest men of his time. Nickerson was born in Massachusetts and came to Chicago in 1858 to enter the distilling business. He soon became involved in banking, being one of the founders of the First National Bank of Chicago in 1863. He was president of this, the oldest bank in the city, when he built his North-Side mansion in 1883. Nickerson was also the first president of the Union Stockyards National Bank, as well as the founder and president of the old Chicago City Street Railway Company. Nickerson was an active participant in the cultural life of Chicago, leaving a large collection of artifacts to the Art Institute.

Fisher Building, Chicago Illinois

A very thorough account of the construction of the Fisher Building and a complete description with photographs are found in the article "The Fisher Building, Chicago--A Building without Walls", Inland Architect, (May, 1896), pp. 41-48. Below is a synopsis of the article: The writer states: "But here, for what we believe to be the first time in human experience, one of the highest commercial buildings in the world has been erected almost without any bricks. It fronts on three streets, and on the remaining side adjoins other property. The fronts are covered with cellular terra cotta on the outside, not in imitation of a wall, but following upward the steel supporting members, and closing in the transoms between the windows, leaving two-thirds of the exterior to be enclosed by glass..." Thus, the building is covered in a thin skin of terra cotta, a curtain wall: "Only two bricklayers were employed at any time in this part of the work" (The backing of the terra cotta fronts with brick).

Nayatt Point Lighthouse, Barrington Rhode Island

Established in 1828 at the entrance to the Providence River, the Nayatt Point Lighthouse is one of the few surviving structures directly related to the early nineteenth-century maritime trade of Providence. From the time of its establishment until it was deactivated in 1868 the light served to warn whaling ships, fishing boats and coastal freighters en route to Providence of sandbars and rocks between Nayatt Point and Conimicut Point, directly across the river. The original 1828 section of the house is the oldest surviving keeper's dwelling in Rhode Island. For a period of twenty-two years after it was deactivated, it continued to be used as a residence for the keeper of another nearby offshore light. The first light was mounted on a freestanding octagonal tower built to the west of the present tower. The keeper lived in a small dwelling nearby which was also constructed in 1828. In 1856 the dwelling was enlarged with a two-story wing, and a second tower, attached to the new addition, was built to replace the original light.

Ida Lewis Rock Lighthouse, Newport Rhode Island

Established in 1854 at the southern entrance to Newport Harbor, Ida Lewis Rock Light is significant for its association with a noted keeper, Ida Lewis. During much of the 54 years she lived at the light, Lewis received national publicity for her numerous rescues of people stranded in overturned boats in Newport Harbor. Now used as the headquarters of a yacht club, Ida Lewis Rock Light serves as a reminder of Newport's maritime heritage in a town whose economy has always been closely linked to the sea. The lighthouse was originally named Lime Rock Light after the rock on which it sits. Between 1854 and the completion of the present dwelling in 1857 there were no accommodations on the rock for the keeper. Captain Hosea Lewis, the light's first keeper, took up residence with his family at Lime Rock on July 29, 1858. Six months later, Captain Lewis was paralyzed by a stroke which left him a complete invalid. Thereafter, his wife and fourteen-year-old daughter Ida, took over the duties of tending the light.

Conanicut Island Lighthouse, Jamestown Rhode Island

Conanicut Island Light, which consists of an 1886 wood frame keeper's cottage with an attached light tower, is the only surviving lighthouse in Rhode Island to be built in the Gothic Revival Style. Although another lighthouse of the same design was constructed in Wickford Harbor four years earlier, it no longer stands. Situated on a point that marks the division of the east and west passages of Narragansett Bay, the light served primarily to guide southbound traffic from the Providence River and Greenwich Bay en route to Newport and the Atlantic Ocean. The light was first lit on April 1, 1886. Originally, the station was equipped with a fog bell but it was replaced in 1900 by a blow siren that sounded a continuous blast. Seven years later, a steam-driven compressed air fog signal building was built to house the horn's compressors. Two other buildings were also constructed on the grounds, an 1897 barn and a 1901 brick oil house.

Bristol Ferry Lighthouse, Bristol Rhode Island

Established in 1855 on the entrance to Mount Hope Bay, Bristol Ferry Lighthouse served to guide ships en route to the textile mills of Fall River. The light was a navigational mark for numerous passenger steamers which, during the middle of the nineteenth century, provided the main form of transportation between the cities and towns on Mount Hope Bay with those on Narragansett Bay, the Providence River, and with other major New England ports outside the state. It is one of three early surviving lighthouses in the state of the type which features a keepers dwelling with an attached light tower. The land on which the lighthouse stands was acquired on October 9^th, 1854, and the tower and dwelling were completed the following year. The lighthouse took its name from a Bristol-to-Portsmouth ferry, which operated from a landing a few yards to the west of the light.

Dutch Island Lighthouse, Jamestown Rhode Island

Established in 1827 as the sixth lighthouse in Rhode Island, Dutch Island Light played a significant role in the history of commerce and transportation in the state. The light was only the second to be built on Narragansett Bay and although the present lighthouse replaced an earlier one on the same site, the station served longer than any other presently deactivated light in the state. The light served to guide ships entering Dutch Island Harbor at the west end of Jamestown, including the Jamestown-to-Saunderstown ferry and was an important navigational mark for vessels trying to avoid Dutch Island while traveling up the Bay's west passage. In 1825 the State of Rhode Island ceded to the United States government land at the southern tip of Dutch Island for establishing a lighthouse. Construction began soon after, and the light was first lit on January 1, 1827. During an 1844 inspection of the light, the Lighthouse Service Superintendant described its condition as "the worst constructed of any in the state." Six years later and again in 1855, it was reported to be in poor condition and badly in need of repair. Instead of undertaking the necessary work, Congress appropriated $4,000 for a new tower and dwelling, both completed in 1857. The earlier structure was then torn down.

New Canaan Railroad Station, New Canaan Connecticut

Built in 1868, the New Canaan Railroad Station is one of the last remaining vestiges of the New Canaan Railroad and is also one of the earliest surviving railroad stations in Connecticut. The accompanying train sheds are rare survivors in the state. Its Gothic-Revival-style architecture is not a mode usually employed in train station design in the state. The Gothic-Revival style structure was located approximately 80 feet east of its current location until the 1880s, when it was moved to its present site and a baggage room was added on the southern side of the station. The easterly canopy was constructed in the 1880s as well, while the westerly canopy was not built until c. 1915. Over time, the interior of the building has been altered to add bathrooms and an office for a taxi company.

Springfield Township School, Ontario Ohio

From when the first schools were established in Richland County in 1820, a pattern of local control over schools had been established. A state law in 1898 permitted the abandonment of local sub-district schools and the education of children in one central township school. With this authority to transport students to a central location, the movement to close one-room schoolhouses began and the townships formally became the unit of organization for schools. A 1904 state law mandated that local district directors relinquish their authority to the township boards. The movement to centralize, however, did not pick up momentum until 1906 when a bulletin entitled "Centralized Schools in Ohio" by the Ohio State University agricultural extension division was published and circulated in large numbers. Another significant change occurred in 1914 when in Ohio the county supplanted the township as the unit of school control. Perhaps most significant about this latter change was that the county board was not restricted to township lines when reorganizing school districts which provided much greater flexibility for addressing educational problems countywide. The legislated transition from local to township and then county organization was one factor contributing to the construction of consolidated schools throughout Ohio, including Springfield Township School in Richland County.

Sears Store Building, Miami Florida

Built in 1929, the Sears Building is one of the finest examples of Art Deco style architecture in Miami and embodies the distinctive features of that style as applied to a large, commercial structure. The building, moreover, is the earliest known example of the Art Deco style in Dade County, predating the Art Deco buildings on Miami Beach by almost six years. The opening of the Sears store on Biscayne Boulevard marked the culmination of efforts to establish a new shopping area for Greater Miami. The building, therefore, reflects the city's changing attitude toward commercial development in the late 1920s, brought about by the growing use of the automobile which led to the decentralization of shopping areas. During the late 1920s, Sears, Roebuck and Company was opening a new store every two working days. South Florida's first Sears store, selling only tires and auto accessories, opened in 1928 in an older, four story building at 835 West Flagler Street. The immediate success of this store and a careful survey of the community by company experts prompted Sears to build a larger retail department store on Biscayne Boulevard in the following year. Groundbreaking for the new store took place on May 15, 1929, and the official opening was held on November 14, 1929. Constructed at a cost of $750,000, the Biscayne store was the thirty-third store in Sears' southern territory and the third store in Florida.

Old St. Elizabeth Hospital, Baker Oregon

The old St. Elizabeth Hospital, located at Fourth and Madison streets in Baker, Oregon, is one of a group of prominent civic and religious buildings constructed of tuff during Baker's early growth period. Baker was a diocesan headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church beginning in 1903. St. Francis Cathedral and rectory are among the local landmarks constructed of the indigenous volcanic rock, as are City Hall, the Baker County Courthouse, the Carnegie Library, and Elks Temple. The hospital was maintained by the Sisters of St. Francis from 1897 onward. When the Sisters' new St. Elizabeth Hospital opened in 1915, it was the largest and the best-equipped medical facility in the district. It held on to that distinction, keeping pace with community growth by expansion, the first in 1921, and again in 1940 when a separate building of concrete construction was added to the northwest corner of the block to house the nursing school and convent. In 1970 the Sisters of the Order of St. Francis built a modern, single-level community hospital elsewhere in the city, and old St. Elizabeth's was converted to use as a nursing home operated under the Sisters' auspices. In 1987 the diocesan seat was removed from Baker, and the hospital/nursing home was vacated.

Bradley Covered Bridge, Lyndon Vermont

The Bradley covered bridge is the last covered wood bridge in Vermont to carry a numbered state highway; it crosses the Miller Run on Vermont Route 122 at the north edge of Lyndon Center village. The bridge has not been reinforced by any of the various devices which have been added to many other covered bridges in the state. In 1973, however, an over-height truck caused considerable structural damage to the bridge, and consequently its legal load limit has been reduced from ten to four tons. Designed by E. H. Stone, the Bradley bridge displays marked architectural similarity to the four other covered bridges in Lyndon and a bridge in the adjoining town of Danville. Generally the bridges have open upper walls, extended eaves, projecting gable ends, and portals framed either with diagonal upper corners or arches, each complemented by similar forms under the eaves. These characteristics identify the most distinctive regional design among the covered bridges in Vermont.

District Six Schoolhouse, Shoreham Vermont

The former District 6 Schoolhouse is a fine example of a rural, vernacular Federal-style institutional building constructed of locally quarried limestone. The building gains additional significance as one of the oldest remaining one-room, public schoolhouses in the state of Vermont. The schoolhouse's coursed rubble masonry and its use of late Federal style elements identifies it as one of a group of similar limestone schoolhouses built in the surrounding towns of Vermont's Champlain Valley during the 1830s and 40s. Further, while stone construction is relatively uncommon among domestic structures of the area, stone schoolhouses make up a significant proportion of the remaining examples of that building type.

Beavertail Lighthouse, Jamestown Rhode Island

Beavertail Light is one of the oldest lighthouse sites in America. The successive lighthouses at Beavertail, set at a vital location, have helped ensure the safe transportation of passengers and goods in the Atlantic and Narragansett Bay for over 200 years. As the site of early experiments with gas illumination and fog signaling equipment, Beavertail has earned a place in the annals of science and invention. Early Rhode Island settlers quickly grasped the strategic value of Beavertail Point. The colonial records of Jamestown refer to the existence of a watch-house at Beavertail in 1705, while orders for the building of a beacon and maintenance of a regular watch at Beavertail are recorded in an entry dated 9 June 1712. The purpose of all this vigilance was probably strictly military, to warn of the approach of hostile foreign ships, but it is possible that the beacon was sometimes used to help guide merchant vessels into Narragansett Bay. in 1738 the General Assembly of Rhode Island authorized the construction of a lighthouse at Beavertail, but nothing was done until 1749, when a 58-foot wooden tower was erected under the direction of Peter Harrison of Newport, one of America's most eminent Colonial architects. This lighthouse was the third one to be established in America. It burned down in 1753, whereupon Harrison supervised the construction of a 64-foot fieldstone tower which was completed in 1755. This structure was burned by British troops when the occupying forces evacuated Newport in 1779. The lighthouse was repaired in 1783-84 and was used until 1856 when the present tower and keeper's house were completed. By that time the old tower was extremely decrepit and it was quickly torn down. The second Beavertail Light was one of the most important lighthouses on the Atlantic coast, for it marked the entrance to the East Passage of Narragansett Bay, which led in turn to Newport Harbor, one of colonial America's largest and busiest ports. As a result, mariners of the period often referred to it as "Newport Light." The present lighthouse still serves as a major aid to coastal navigators.

Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Depot, Wyoming Illinois

Wyoming, Illinois was established in 1834 by General Samuel Thomas. Thomas was born in Connecticut and had been a resident of Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania. The town was charted on April 2, 1836. Although the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy Depot was not built in Wyoming until 1871, the railroad had been established in 1855 in order to create a transportation link between Chicago and the Mississippi River at Quincy, Illinois and Burlington, Iowa. The final connection to the River was completed in 1856. In 1871, when the railroad built the Wyoming, Illinois depot, there were 893 miles of track. A second railroad, the Peoria and Rock Island Railroad, was also sought by Wyoming citizens. The Peoria and Rock Island was organized in 1867 and consolidated with the Rock Island & Pacific Railroad in 1869. In June of 1871, it dispatched a construction train to Toulon, and one month later the first regular train went through Wyoming. The Rock Island Railroad depot, which originally stood 200' west of the C,B,& Q depot, is no longer standing. Although the two railroads contributed to the economic development of the community, the C,B, & Q depot is the sole surviving railroad structure in the community. The C,B, & Q railroad was an important shipping link for the greater Wyoming area. Like most service towns in agricultural regions in Illinois the citizens of Wyoming recognized the need for a railroad to transport its rich coal deposits, cheese, grain, cattle, hogs, and other products to Peoria and Chicago markets. Without the rail connections, the agricultural development of Stark County would have been minimal because the cost of getting the product to market by back roads would have been too great. The railroad was also a critical necessity for Wyoming because Illinois River transportation to Chicago was unreliable due to its limited depth and freezing over in the winter.

Dwight-Derby House, Medfield Massachusetts

Established as a town during the Plantation period (1620-1675), also known as the First Period of English settlement in eastern Massachusetts, Medfield is one of fourteen towns carved, in whole or in part, from the territory known as the Dedham Grant (1636). In addition to Medfield, all or parts of the following communities were once in the Dedham Grant: the present Dedham, Westwood, Norwood, Needham, Wellesley, Natick, Dover, Walpole, Norfolk, Wrentham, Franklin, and Bellingham, as well as the Dorchester, West Roxbury, and Hyde Park neighborhoods of the city of Boston. In 1649, the inhabitants of Dedham petitioned the General Court for a grant of land west of the Charles River, or the area now known as Millis and Medway. Medfield was set off from Dedham in 1650, its territory then encompassing the present towns of Medfield, Millis, and Medway. In 1651, the General Court recognized Medfield as a town. The first land grants in the Medfield area, once known by the native name Boggestow and later as Dedham Village, date to 1643, and constitute some of the earliest expansion of English settlement west of the settlement cluster at Dedham. Most of the first English settlers in Medfield were from Dedham, Braintree, and Weymouth. They were married sons from large families who sought opportunities to use their skills and so support their own families. Both the town center and the river meadow served as principal foci for First Period settlement in Medfield. Early settlement clusters, dating from the third quarter of the ia century onward, included the Bridge Street Plain on Bridge Street, the South Plain area near the present Philip and Spring Streets, and the town center area near Vine Brook.

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