Historic Structures

Chesapeake and Ohio Passenger Depot, Pikeville Kentucky

In 1907, the Chesapeake and Ohio line serving the Big Sandy Valley reached Pikeville. This first access to modern transportation produced an extraordinary growth and development in the city in subsequent years. The new prosperity as well as the new demand for rail transportation are reflected in the passenger depot which was built in 1923 by the C & O Railroad. The passenger depot and adjacent baggage shed were designed by the railroad company. In subsequent years, the depot was a focal point in community life occasionally serving as a site of an early morning wedding for couples leaving on the 6:30 train for Ashland. The depot served the Pikeville community until rail service was terminated. In the early 1980s the tracks were removed when a new route by-passing downtown was completed. The City of Pikeville purchased the building to refurbish for use as City Hall.

Sears, Roebuck and Company Store, Louisville Kentucky

The Sears Roebuck and Company Store, built in 1928, is one of few structures in Louisville, and the only major commercial/retail building, constructed in the Art Deco Style.

Chicago Beach Hotel, Chicago Illinois

The Chicago Beach Hotel it is the only Hyde Park Apartment Hotel designed in the Art Deco style. It is also one of the last of the apartment hotels to be Built in Hyde Park before the Depression halted most all major construction. The building's entry and lobby offer an outstanding example of intact, art deco ornamentation which appears to have changed little since it was installed. The romantically inspired bas reliefs, fluted pilasters and decorative ceilings, all contribute to a quintessential late 1920s aura reminiscent of a Hollywood movie set of that era. This twelve-story, Art Deco-style building is rectangular in shape (46' x 116') and is built of buff brick with a black glazed tile-faced base. Above the base, the brick-faced shaft rises nine stories to a decorative terra cotta belt course, above which are two more stories trimmed in terra cotta, including fluting on spandrels and pilasters and rosettes at the cornice level. The north and east facades of the building are given a vertical emphasis with a series of applied pilasters (brick to the belt course and terra cotta above), in between which are set double-hung (3/1) windows in various groupings. At the lower level there are several shops with fan-shaped terra cotta trim over the large plate glass windows. There is a metal framed canopy that extends from the main entryway of the building to Cornell Street.

Verona High School, Verona Kentucky

Verona High School was built in 1914-1915. The earlier Verona school was located on another site within the community. Beginning in 1908, the Kentucky Legislature instituted a series of educational reforms which would alter forever the character of Boone County's educational patterns and would result in an overall county-wide elevation of educational standards. On May, 1914, a local referendum was held on the question of building a high school. One hundred forty-one voters favored the construction of a new building, while sixty opposed the project. A 2.86-acre building site was acquired from O. K. Whitson for $600.00. The architect for the new building has not been identified, but it is known that bids for the construction of the new school were opened on August 22, 1914, and that the contract was awarded to George P. Nicholson of Walton, at a contract price of $10,090. The new Verona High School opened in September 1915, under the supervision of principal Miss Nannie Hamilton. The building housed grades one through twelve from the 1915 school year until 1935, when the Verona and Walton school districts merged, creating the consolidated Walton-Verona District. Following the 1954 construction of the present Walton-Verona High School in Walton, the Verona High School building was converted to an elementary school; it was abandoned following construction of the new Walton-Verona Elementary School in 1971 and has been vacant since that time. Verona High School is one of several historic school buildings in the county that are significant because of their association with educational reform in Boone County during the early twentieth century. These reforms, initiated on the state level, included the consolidation of local schools and the establishment of high schools. During the second half of the nineteenth century, rural Kentucky was served by one-room schoolhouses, which typically housed grades one through four. An 1880s report of the School Commissioner noted that the county's educational system consisted of forty-six individual districts served by one building each. The report noted that thirty-four of these facilities were of wood construction, two were of brick, and seven were built of logs. The report also included a valuation of the school buildings, and all seven log facilities were valued at an aggregate total of $60.00. The primitive condition of Kentucky's schools was believed by many to hamper the educational process and the Recorder editorialized,

The valuation of the log school houses in this county is a sad commentary on their condition. No teacher, no matter how well qualified, can be a successful educator in a house that is worth as little as it appears these log houses are. . . The districts that have this low grade of school edifice are standing in their own light and neglecting a duty they owe to their children.

Bavarian Brewing Company, Covington Kentucky

The Bavarian Brewery had its beginnings in 1866, when a brewery was founded on Pike Street by Julius Deglow. Originally called the Deglow & Co. Brewery, as early as 1869 the brewery was known as the Bavarian Brewery. The Brewery was originally located on the Lexington Pike (now Pike Street), adjacent to a tannery also operated by the Deglow family. As early as 1877, the Brewery property included a large property that stretched from Pike Street south to 12^th (at that time, 11^th Street stopped west of Bullock).

Oliver School, Winchester Kentucky

Oliver School, was built in 1939 on the site where schools for African American students existed since 1892. Open until 1956, it provided the greatest educational opportunities for African-American students in Winchester and Clark County. The education of African Americans within Kentucky and elsewhere throughout the Southern states occurred much differently than for Whites, and is marked by great challenges of funding for adequate facilities. Often, schools for Blacks were not built in an enduring way. The Oliver Street School building stood, at its construction, as a remarkably well-constructed edifice. It was also the only place in the community where African-Americans received education at the secondary level. The Oliver Street School is the only surviving historic community high school structure, as both the Winchester High School and the original Clark County High School buildings have been demolished. Clark County, Kentucky, was established in 1792, the year Kentucky gained statehood. The population of Blacks in antebellum Clark County varied from a low of 5,000 people to a high of 13,000 people in 1860 prior to the end of the Civil War (1860 U.S. Census). During this time, of course, the County's African American population was not formally educated in schools. In isolated instances, blacks received education during antebellum years due to the benevolence of slave owners. Judge Charles Stephen French was one who gave his slaves "religious and industrial training." Philip B. Winn taught his slaves to read and write; one of them, George R. Gardner, proved so adept at business that after gaining his freedom he amassed an estate of $25,000.

B & O Freight Terminal, Cincinnati Ohio

Constructed by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and designed by M. A. Long, an architect employed by the railroad, this building was specifically constructed to facilitate the handling and storage of freight. It is distinguished from other freight storage buildings because of its exceptional length; originally 1,277 feet in length. Its functional design is highlighted by the use of Romanesque Revival details to articulate its facades. These details include rock-faced ashlar first floor supporting engaged columns rising to the fourth floor from which decorative semi-circular arches adorn the facades. Machicolations accentuate the roof trim. The building was constructed in 1904 during a period when the B & O was placing emphasis on freight activities and the importance of Cincinnati as a major shipping center and transfer point. It was constructed to consolidate the space of several smaller warehouses that had become obsolete and to provide space for anticipated growth. Freight arriving in Cincinnati was unloaded from freight cars through the north side of the building and stored for later transshipment or held for a short time and then loaded onto wagons (later trucks) on the south side of the building. For freight being brought to the warehouse, the normal procedure was to store it until enough was consolidated for shipment to a specific destination. When enough freight was available, it was transported to the Scale building for weighing and direct loading onto freight cars. The warehouse contributed to the functioning of the railroad until competition from trucks reduced its effectiveness and profitability.

LaSalle Theater Building, Cleveland Ohio

International Savings and Loan Company built the commercial mixed-use building in 1927. Cleveland architect Nicola Petti designed the building. International Savings and Loan Co. recognized the growth of the North Collinwood area spurring the need for commercial and residential development. The LaSalle Theater Building has since been a community anchor recognized for its architectural prominence and commercial contribution.

Variety Store Building and Theatre, Cleveland Ohio

The Variety Store Building and Theatre is one of the few remaining multiple-use buildings containing a theater located on the West Side of Cleveland. Since the West Side has always been culturally distinct because of the topography of the Cuyahoga valley and the settlement patterns of the city. At the time of its construction, the Variety Theatre was considered to rank among Cleveland's finest. A large number of similar West Side theaters, including the Granada, the Lyric, and the Tivoli, have been demolished. While the commercial fronts are not architecturally distinguished, the theater is an excellent and well-preserved example of the more restrained classical aspect of the 1920s movie theater style, in contrast to the "atmospheric" palaces and other exotic styles. In this respect, it is one of only a handful remaining in Cleveland. The Variety Building was constructed in 1927 by entrepreneurs Sam Stecker, Meyer Fine and Abe Kramer. The architect was Nicola Petti, a Cleveland architect who designed at least four other Cleveland theaters. The Variety Theatre was used for both films and vaudeville from its opening. Among the early tenants of the store building were bakers, confectioners, a fruit merchant, a milliner, and apartment residents. In 1929 the Variety Building was sold to Warner Brothers, the famous motion picture syndicate whose origins began in a Youngstown, Ohio, family. It was purchased by Wargo Realty in 1954 in one of the largest real estate transactions involving theater property in Cleveland since the Depression.

West Technical High School, Cleveland Ohio

On February 15, 1912 construction on West Tech High School was complete. Twelve teachers and 24 students from East Tech High School inhabited the new school shortly thereafter. West Tech offered a distinctive curriculum of three different programs: technical, commercial, and academic (college preparatory). The school was known for the quality and variety of its vocational courses. In later years, the school concentrated on class work rather than vocational schooling. The school partook in training skilled workers during both WW I and II. Of particular note are the following facts. The school offered the first auto driving classes in the U.S. in 1936. It was the first school to offer aeronautics/aircraft classes, and for a long time the only high school to offer metallurgy classes. For many years it was the only high school in the city that could be attended by choice, by west-siders. It was one of the nation's first public schools to get a radio transmitter (in the 1920s) and the school featured an excellent intramural broadcasting system. This interschool broadcasting system was the first of its kind in the world, and was based at West Tech's broadcasting studio. West Tech once featured the largest school greenhouse in the U.S., and the only vocational horticulture program in Cleveland. In 1929, Old West Commerce High School merged with West Tech enrolling 4,026 students. In 1937, the school celebrated its 25^th Anniversary and was visited by over 22,000. In 1938 the school reached its peak enrollment of 4,479 students. In 1947, over 10,000 fans witnessed the first night game under the new lighting system at West Tech Field. As late as the 1970-71 school year, West Tech was the largest high school in the state (as it was in 1938). The school closed at the end of the 1994-95 school year and was threatened with demolition. In the fall of 1999, a fire started in the auditorium and damaged the surface plaster throughout the auditorium and destroyed much of the stage.

Bishop-Andrews Hotel, Greenville Florida

The community, known today as Greenville, was settled as Sandy Ford in the early 1850s, and a post office was first established there in December 1851. The Pensacola and Georgia Railroad moved eastward into the area around 1859. Growth, however, did not take place until after the Civil War. Elijah James Hays was one of the first prominent land owners in Sandy Ford. He moved there after the war, during the early 1870s, and began his enterprises, which included a general mercantile store; a drug store, for which he was the pharmacist; a brick yard; a cotton gin; a grist mill; a cotton warehouse; a turpentine still; and large farms. In April 1876, the name of the community was changed to Greenville, after the city in South Carolina, the original home of many of the early settlers. As the official surveyor for the area, Hays laid out the plans for the Town of Greenville. In 1886, the community had a population of 300 and supported a steam saw mill, two schools, a church, four general stores, and one hotel called the Redding House. Greenville's growth was further promoted by Hays in 1901 when he granted the South Georgia Railway great financial support and donations of right of ways during its expansion from Quitman, Georgia, to Greenville. In 1906, Hays founded the Bank of Greenville and served as its president. Greenville was incorporated as a town the next year.

Jordan Covered Bridge, Spanning Thomas Creek, Scio Oregon

The Jordan Covered Bridge is located on Jordan Road (County Road 829), just south of the junction with State Highway 226 in Linn County, Oregon. The small rural community of Jordan is one mile southeast of the bridge, and the town of Scio is approximately six miles to the west. The structure spans Thomas Creek, a tributary of the South Santiam River, near its confluence with Jordan Creek. The bridge is 17 feet wide and has a total length of 148 feet including a clear timber span of 90 feet and 58 feet of timber trestle approaches, containing in all approximately 6,600 square feet. The wooden housing covering the central span is approximately 30 feet high from the base of the skirting to the ridgepole of the gable.

Wabash Railroad Depot, New Haven Indiana

Long before permanent settlement by Europeans and Euro-Americans, Native Americans understood the importance of the New Haven area in terms of its transportation links. The Maumee-Wabash was an important route for canoe trade or, the transportation of warriors or soldiers. A short portage of five miles or so connected travelers from the eastern Great Lakes bordering Ohio and Canada to the Wabash River, and on to the Ohio River. Euro-American Fort Wayne supplanted the Native American villages in 1794, allowing eventual American control over trade and travel on the Wabash River. The promise of river trade was enough to lure settlers to plat both Fort Wayne and New Haven. Pioneer John Gundy had arrived in the New Haven area in 1820; he and Margaret Gundy, his wife, filed the plat for New Haven with the Fort Wayne land office in 1826. What river trade failed to consistently offer in terms of commerce, the canal more than compensated for. The Wabash and Erie Canal would eventually connect Allen County both to the rich farms of the Wabash Valley, and to goods from back east. In 1832, canal planners began the waterway in Fort Wayne, but carried it first to the south toward Huntington, Logansport, Lafayette, and beyond. Workers did not extend the canal to New Haven until 1839, and Toledo, Ohio was finally reached in 1842. From the 1830s to just after the Civil War, New Haven was a canal town. New Haven officially incorporated as a town in 1866. The town had mills, cabinet makers, wagon makers, blacksmiths, several grocers, pharmacies, and a number of other stores. A chair factory and other lumber-related businesses came later. All would benefit and depend on rail service for goods, customers, and shipping by this time.

Cleveland Worsted Mills Company, Cleveland Ohio

The Cleveland Worsted Mills Company complex survives with nearly every building intact as one of the larger older industrial complexes in Northeast Ohio. Since the buildings were built over a twenty-five-year period, they reflect the changes in American industrial architecture over that time both in terms of stylistic and structural elements. Even though all of the machinery has been removed from the complex, by their design and relationship to one another, the buildings. reflect the woolen industry at the turn of the century. This complex of buildings functioned as the main operation of an eleven-mill conglomerate with plants in Ohio, New York, and Rhode Island. By 1926 Cleveland Worsted Mills was the second largest national consolidation of worsted mills. Thus these buildings represent a major national center for worsted wool production. In 1878 a small worsted mill was opened by Joseph Turner and Sons. In 1896 operations were moved to this site between the Erie Railroad and Broadway. In 1902 the company was reorganized under the new name of Cleveland Worsted Mills Company. Soon thereafter this factory was greatly enlarged by additions from 1904-1909 which increased its size more than sixfold. At the same time, other mill operations were acquired so that the Cleveland Worsted Mills became the main plant in an eleven-mill network. While some mills handled only certain operations, only the Cleveland complex performed every operation in the transformation of raw wool to worsted fabrics, with the exception of the dyeing process, which was carried out at their Ravenna, Ohio plant. At the height of operations in the 1920s 5,000 people were employed at all plants, 185,000 spindles and 1,760 broadlooms were in operation, and the Cleveland plant used 15 million pounds of wool per year. The company supplied the U.S. Army, Navy, and Marines with material for uniforms, It had a capital stock of $20 million. O.M. Stafford was serving as president and George H. Hodgson was vice-president and general manager. The company remained privately held until it ceased operations here in 1957. Perhaps to avoid the labor strife which was to eventually lead to the closing of this plant, the company erected sizeable facilities for employee recreation. A separate recreation and office building here featured a library, bowling alleys, dining room, and exercise room. The company also had a 60-room hotel erected at Lake Stafford, near the Ravenna dyeing plant which was used by employees of the company and their friends.

Fort Armstrong Hotel, Rock Island Illinois

The Fort Armstrong Hotel represents a profound example of community dedication and teamwork by its citizenry in their pursuit of a cause they believed in. And it was this kind of dedication that was responsible for the birth of the idea, the funding of the project, as well as the construction of and the community support the Fort Armstrong Hotel enjoyed for over half a century. After sitting vacant for several years, it was converted into an assisted living facility in the 1980s.

Hog Island Shoal Lighthouse, Portsmouth Rhode Island

Built in 1901-1902 to warn ships approaching Bristol and Mount Hope Bay of a shoal south of Hog Island, Hog Island Shoal Light was the last lighthouse to be established in Rhode Island, and the only one in Narragansett Bay built to replace a lightship. Although earlier lights had been established nearby at Bristol Ferry (1854) and off Muscle Bed Shoals (1873), Hog Island Shoal Light is the only surviving one of the three, and as such remains the primary navigational aid for ships in the area. It is one of four surviving caisson lighthouses in Rhode Island. As early as 1869 the annual report to the Lighthouse Board had cited the need for a lighthouse southeast of Hog Island to warn ships of Hog Island Shoal, a reef situated near the entrance to Mount Hope Bay. The Board had recommended the construction of an offshore light on the reef to replace a private lightship maintained by a steamboat company that ran boats between Newport and Fall River. However, it was not until 1899, after the lightship was reported to be in poor condition and scarcely seaworthy, that Congress appropriated $35,000 to establish a lighthouse and fog signal on the reef. By the end of June 1901, the tower's foundation cylinder had been completed and work began on erecting the iron superstructure. Although a temporary light was installed in October of that year, it was not until March 1902, that the tower was entirely finished. A fog signal was established the following month.

Simpson Creek Covered Bridge, Bridgeport West Virginia

Simpson Creek Covered Bridge, also known as the W.T. Law Covered Bridge, near Bridgeport West Virginia was built in 1881. Thomas S. Spates, appointed by the Harrison County Court as a commissioner to examine a site, prepare specifications, and receive bids for the construction of a bridge across Simpson Creek near Shinns Mills, made a report to the court on September 9, 1881, concerning his progress. After he informed the court that Asa S. Hugill submitted the lowest bid, ($700.00 for the woodwork and $4.00/perch for the wing walls and abutments), the court awarded Mr. Hugill the contract. The same day, the court-appointed Thomas S. Spates to superintend the construction of the bridge, and ordered that John Lowe be awarded $40.00 for land taken for right-of-way.

Fletcher Covered Bridge, Maken West Virginia

John C. Rogers, ordered that William N. Edgell, Elias Swiger, and R. M. Rogers be appointed viewers to locate a site for a bridge over the right hand fork of Ten Mile Creek, near the residence of John G. Rogers. The viewers were to report back to court concerning the size of abutments, height of fills, span length, and the probable cost. J. T. Williams was appointed by the court on July 1, 1891 as a special commissioner to advertise and receive bids for the construction of the bridge. On August 21, 1891, Soloman Swiger was awarded the contract for building the superstructure for $7.25 per linear foot, and L. E. Sturm received the contract for the construction of the abutments for $4.45 per cubic yard. To ensure the faithful performance of their work, Sturm entered into bond with the court on September 16, 1891, for $1500.00 and on September 18, 1891, Swiger entered into bond for $600.00. Genius Payne, who was appointed by the court to superintend the building of the bridge, declined the appointment on September 27, 1891, and was succeeded by W. J. Williams. After W. J. Williams, on November 27, 1891, reported to the court that the masonry had been completed according to contract, it was ordered that L. E. Sturm be paid $937.46. The same day Williams also reported that the superstructure was nearing completion, and the court ordered that Soloman Swiger be given an advance of $100.00. On December 14, 1891, Williams submitted his final report. A county claims list, dated December 23, 1891, shows that a total of $435.00 was paid to Soloman Swiger, $18.00 of which was to be given to D. D. Robinson, and $30.00 was to be given to the Garrett brothers. The total cost of the bridge was $1372.46 The Fletcher Bridge is one of three covered bridges remaining in Harrison County and-stands out as one of the few covered bridges in West Virginia that has not been significantly altered from its original condition.

Hokes Mill Covered Bridge, Roncerverte West Virginia

In 1897, during the April term of the Greenbrier County Court, it was ordered that B. F. Mann, R. A. McDowell and Austin B. Erwin be appointed commissioners to have a covered bridge built on stone abutments across Second Creek above Smith's Mill (formerly Hoke's Mill) for a cost of $700.00. The court records do not pinpoint the date of the completion of the bridge, but various drafts were issued between the terms of January 1898 and March 1899 for road repairs in the Irish Corner district. A draft for $175.00 was the only one specifically referenced to the construction of the bridge. Therefore, the bridge was probably completed between April 1897 and March 1899. The Hokes Mill Covered bridge is one of Greenbrier Counties' two remaining covered bridges, and has a superstructure consisting of a modified version of the patented Long truss. The bridge is in a deteriorating condition, and although the two large wide flange beams help to support the bridge, they have adversely affected its aesthetic value and historic integrity.

Herns Mill Covered Bridge, Lewisburg West Virginia

The construction of the Herns Mill Covered Bridge was an undertaking of the Greenbrier County Court in 1884. Lewisburg District road commissioners Harvey Handly and J. W. Johnston, who had been ordered in January of the same year to examine the bridge over Millicans Creek near the mill of S. S. Herns, made a report to the court concerning the present condition of the bridge and the probable cost of construction of a new bridge at that location. The same day the court ordered the commissioners to take the necessary action to have the bridge rebuilt. Harvey Handly, J. W. Johnston and John D. Arbuckle, commissioners, on July 9, 1884, submitted an order to the court which stated that the bridge had been completed according to the contract. Drafts were then issued to the unnamed contractors for the sum of $800.00 The Herns Mill Bridge undoubtedly provided convenient access to the S. S. Herns Mill when it was in operation. Although it does not serve the same purpose today, it is still used by local traffic and visited by tourists driving through the area. The bridge is one of the two remaining covered bridges in Greenbrier County and one of many covered bridges built in the 1800s which exhibited the queen-post truss design that was commonly used for spans of 40 to 50 feet.

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