Historic Structures

Walnut Grove Plantation, Cheneyville Louisiana

Walnut Grove plantation house is located one-fifth of a mile southwest of Bayou Rapides and approximately two miles southeast of the town of Cheneyville. The land is flat and the bayou ultimately meanders around 3 sides of the house. At one time there was an extensive formal garden in front. Although most of the plant material is gone, five parallel brick paths were recently exposed in the front yard. The house itself is a 2 story, 5 bay, hip roofed brick plantation house with a modified central hall plan. Originally the lower hall was open to the air. The upper hall has a side corridor which branches off at a right angle and terminates in a graceful fanlight-side light door combination

Destrehan Plantation, Destrehan Louisiana

In 1787 Antoine Robert Robin de Logny began construction of a new house on his 28-arpent front plantation. The contractor de Logny selected was Charles, a Free Person of Color. He was assisted by six African-Americans, at least three of whom were from the Robin de Logny plantation slave force. On April 22, 1790 Charles put his mark on an affirmation that the house was completed and he had been paid as contracted. On December 11, 1792, Pierre Robin de Logny, son of Antoine Robert Robin de Logny, purchased the plantation, with 56 slaves, at a public auction. On April 12, 1802, he sold the plantation to Jean Noel Destrehan, his brother-in-law. The house assumed its present size (i.e., a two-story

Charleston Hotel, Lake Charles Louisiana

When Charleston Hotel was built in 1929, it was widely heralded as the city's first skyscraper. As such it represented a coming of age for the Lake Charles commercial downtown area. With its construction Lake Charles joined Shreveport as one of the two cities in western Louisiana which were sufficiently developed to have skyscrapers. Since its construction the Charleston has stood towering as a visual landmark in the very center of the downtown area. The Charleston Hotel played an important role in the social history of Lake Charles. During its heyday the hotel was the focus of social activity in the city. The formal opening on March 4, 1929 was the most important social event of the year for Lake Charles.

Harmony Mills, Cohoes New York

From the late 1860s through the 1880s, the Harmony Mills Company was one of the largest American producers of cotton fabric for printed calicoes and fine cotton muslins. The mill complex is largely intact, with a full range of mill buildings, housing, and the power canal system. The buildings are unusually elaborate industrial buildings, with the principal mill buildings all being completed in the Second Empire style. The Harmony Mills district in Cohoes, New York has been described as one of the finest examples of a large-scale textile mill complex outside of New England. The mills were owned from 1850-1910 by Thomas Garner & Company of New York City, which also owned eight mills and two printworks in upstate New York

Caneadea Bridge - East Hill Road Bridge, Caneadea New York

Built in 1903 by the Groton Iron Bridge Company of Groton, Tompkins County, New York, this single-span, single-lane camelback, Parker truss structure is a rare bridge type constructed during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in New York. Associated with a period of expanding rural economies and the systematic improvement of public roads and bridges by local government, the Caneadea Bridge is one of only two surviving camelback trusses in New York State. The name Caneadea was derived from the Seneca word Guyeado meaning where the heavens rest upon the earth. The area today remains as a connection to the rich history of Native American lifestyle and culture. Historically, the Seneca Nation of Native Americans used the uncultivated land for

Omaha Station - Rice Lake Depot, Rice Lake Wisconsin

The village of Rice Lake was platted in 1875 by Knapp, Stout & Co., an important lumbering company that operated in tracts of timber in the vicinity of Rice Lake. The company's workers had originally established a dam on the Red Cedar River in 1864 to create a supply of spring floodwaters for sending the company's logs downstream from the company's pineries in Barron and Dunn counties. When the dam was found to provide a suitable source of power to operate a gristmill and sawmill at the site a decade later, Knapp, Stout & Co. moved their headquarters here and platted the village. Knapp, Stout & Co. employed 1,300 men in their camps at the peak of their logging operations. The

Monroe State Bank Building, Monroe Oregon

Many features of the immediate environment surrounding the Monroe State Bank Building offer clues to its historic context. The building stands on the site of Adam Wilhelm's first store and fronts Highway 99 West, a vestige of the Applegate Trail of 1846 which introduced immigrants to the region. Beyond the highway, the waters of the Long Tom River flow over a concrete drop dam which provided power for the Monroe Roller Mill and electricity for the town. The surviving mill building, constructed in 1896, dominates the view from the former bank lobby. Flanking the property is Wilhelm's immense Queen Anne Style home built in 1905 and a house, built in 1882, which was converted into a hotel when a railroad connection

Drewsville Mansion, Walpole New Hampshire

The Drewsville Mansion was constructed in 1880 on the site of the former Hope Lathrop house by Lathrop's daughter, Sarah Lathrop Lovell and her husband Bolivar Lovell. In addition to the main house and service wing with a projection originally constructed to house Lovell's law library, the property includes a horse barn which appears to have been built at the same time as the house. The property is prominently located at the head of the Drewsville Village common. A rather unique Vernacular expression of the Stick and Eastlake Styles, the Drewsville Mansion exhibits a simple boxlike form embellished by stylistic detailing typical of the style including jigsawn cutout ornament, incised foliate decoration, decorative stickwork and trusses. Although there are several other

Wabuska Railroad Station, Carson City Nevada

The depot is among the last surviving railroad stations associated with the Hazen to Mina branch of the Southern Pacific Railroad. Of the seven stations constructed to serve the line in the early twentieth century, only the Wabuska and Mina Freight stations survive. During the early 1900's, the Wabuska region served as the principal supplier of agricultural products for the mining camps of Tonopah and Goldfield. Wabuska also served as the transfer point for the Nevada Copper Belt Railroad, a major carrier of copper ore which operated between 1910 and 1947. The Southern Pacific Railroad Station was the second depot constructed in Wabuska. The first facility was built by the Carson and Colorado Railroad Company; a narrow gauge railroad which operated

Harmon School, Fallon Nevada

Erected between 1915-16, the Harmon School served as the Elementary School for the Harmon District of Churchill County from its construction until county school consolidation in 1956. As common for the period, the school was a noted community and social center and cited as one of Nevada's finest rural schools in the Biennial Report of the Superintendent Public Instruction for 1915-16. The school was built in response to the rapid population growth in Churchill County which accompanied the Newlands Reclamation Project (1903) and the construction of Lahontan Dam on the Carson River. As a result of this first, federal reclamation project, cultivation of the desert was possible. Homesteader and ranch families soon moved to the area straining the existing school facilities.

Minden Flour Milling Company, Minden Nevada

The Minden Flour Milling Company building was the last, largest, and only remaining of five flour mills erected in the Carson Valley from 1854 to 1906. The mill had an initial production capacity of 100 barrels of flour per day and the adjoining storage silos were able to hold 2000 tons of grain. Grist or flour mills were among the first manufacturing establishments constructed in this agricultural valley. They served the emigrants moving along the Carson River Route of the Mormon Trail as well as the settlers who ran the trading stations to accommodate them. The decision to extend the V & T Railroad from Carson City (15 miles to the north) to serve the Carson Valley was strongly influenced by

Ritzville High School, Ritzville Washington

Arrival of the Northern Pacific Railway in 1880 coincided with the first successful wheat harvests by the area's earliest settlers. Named for Philip Ritz, supposedly the first to put down roots here, Ritzville was made seat of the newly-established Adams County in 1884. Following its incorporation in 1888, the town grew slowly through the nation-wide depression of the early 1890s, only to experience phenomenal growth for the next two decades. Expansion of grain markets was credited for the boom: in 1901-1902, more wheat and flour was shipped from Ritzville than from any other primary shipping point in the world. A building boom in the central business district lasted through the first decade of the century, and concluded with construction of the

South Side School, Fort Lauderdale Florida

South Side School opened in 1923 as part of an expansion of school facilities intended to serve the growing population of Fort Lauderdale that was driven by the early stirrings of the 1920s Florida Real Estate Boom. The earliest white settlers of the New River area were a Bahamian couple, Surles and Frankee Lewis, who were farming in the area in the 1790s. Once Florida had been ceded by Spain to the United States, Surles' widow, Frankee, who had left the farm, in 1825, applied for, and was granted, a 640 acre land grant along the river east of the family farmstead. Other early settlers in the area were some Seminole Indians, who had been driven from their lands in north

Florida Power and Light Company Ice Plant, Melbourne Florida

On December 20, 1926, work began on the Florida Power & Light Company of Miami Ice Plant on Dixie Highway in Melbourne by its construction subsidiary, the Phoenix Utility Company. The steel frame, tile block and stucco building was to cost $25,000. The additional equipment, of which the first car load arrived earlier in July, would bring the total investment to almost $100,000. The property was purchased from Phoebe B. Green and Lillian M. Barnum, both of Melbourne, for an undisclosed amount. Test holes drilled by the Phoenix Utility Co. indicated dry, hard-packed sand to 6 feet. At the time Melbourne was a small town of approximately 5,000 consisting mainly of houses, a few small hotels, a downtown area, and a

Foreaker Covered Bridge, Graysville Ohio

This covered bridge is known by two different names, Weddle or Foreaker, depending on the age of the person interviewed, The Foreaker Family owned the land on the south end of the bridge at the time the bridge was built and people who have lived in this area for many years still call it the Foreaker Bridge. In 1925, the Weddle Family bought the Foreaker Farm and and so many people now refer to the bridge as the Weddle Bridge. This oft-repaired old structure is located in what is known as the Switzerland of Ohio. The area is so-called because of the many steep hills and also because some of its earliest settlers were Swiss. These people brought with them the

Hotel Harding, Marion Ohio

The Hotel Harding is a good local example of the Renaissance Revival style of architecture because of its massing, styling, and detailing; this style is typical of that used in the grand hotels of the early twentieth century. The facade treatment with cut stone plinths, columns, spandrels, window surrounds, capitals, and parapet entablatures make this a good example of this style, The interior lobby treatment with marble floors and Corinthian columns accentuates the grand design of the building and the elegance that it was designed to reflect. The building also has ties to President Warren G. Harding, who lived in Marion and campaigned for President from this town. The hotel was designed to accommodate the many visitors to the town because

Southern Pacific Depot, San Jose California

The construction of the Southern Pacific depot in 1935 at 65 Cahill Street in San Jose, Santa Clara County, was the culmination of a 30-year effort to relocate 4.5 miles of the South Pacific Coast line of the Southern Pacific Railroad away from the heavy traffic of the downtown area around the Market Street Depot to the west side of the city, an industrial neighborhood area in the nineteenth century and the formerly the location of rail facilities belonging to other railroads. The Southern Pacific Depot relocation was heralded as the first major railroading change in San Jose in nearly three quarters of a century. The new $100,000 building, part of a $3,250,000 project, replaced the Market Street station which had

Jackson Brewing Company, San Francisco California

As part of the mid-nineteenth century commercial and manufacturing development of San Francisco following the Gold Rush, the establishment of breweries in the 1850s and later took advantage of relevant available resources: labor, the port, other transportation facilities, and water for the brewing process. The city's proximity to inland California's cultivation of barley and hops was another key factor to the early success of San Francisco's brewing industry. While some breweries in the city were established by Irish immigrants during this period, many firms were founded by German immigrants, following the national and statewide pattern. The Irish-born settlers Thomas FE. Green and Jacob Lynn began the operation of the Jackson Brewing Company (Jackson Brewery Company) in ca. 1858-59, near the waterfront

Cassimus House, Montgomery Alabama

The Cassimus House is one of the few remaining examples of eccentric late Victorian architecture in Montgomery. Constructed in what was one of the finer residential areas in late 19^th century Montgomery, the house not only reflects the newly-acquired prosperity of its Greek immigrant builder, but is one of the earliest landmarks associated with the Greek community in Alabama. When Speridon Cassimus built his home at 110 Jackson Street in 1893, he was a newly successful businessman and he wanted his neighbors to know it. Yet there is a curious reticence about the overall design of his house since, except for the front porch he rejected ornate, Gothic-inspired detailing for the dentil molding and egg-and-dart associated with the more classical styles

Summerton High School, Summerton South Carolina

The Summerton High School was closely associated with the landmark Supreme Court decision in Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, a decision which struck down the segregation of public education in the United States in 1954. This decision also overturned the Court's earlier decision in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), which had held that separate public facilities for white and blacks were constitutional as long as those separate facilities were equal, a doctrine which had since formed the cornerstone of legal segregation in the South and elsewhere. The Brown case, commonly referred to as Brown v. Board of Education, was actually five cases from South Carolina, Kansas, Virginia, the District of Columbia, and Delaware, cases that had been consolidated

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