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Easley High School Auditorium, Easley South Carolina

Easley High School Auditorium, Easley South Carolina

The town of Easley was incorporated in 1873 immediately following the completion of the Atlanta and Charlotte (Air Line) Railroad and was named for William King Easley, a director of the railroad, who was originally from the area. The railroad depot, at the north side of the railroad at Table Rock (now Pendleton) and Main Streets, provided the impetus for the development of a downtown including two hotels and several brick retail structures along both streets. The opening of the Easley Cotton Mill in 1900 and the Glenwood Cotton Mill in 1902 stimulated the further growth of the town's population. By 1904, Easley was in the middle of an active construction boom, and in May, a board of trustees was appointed

Seaside School, Edisto Island South Carolina

Seaside School, Edisto Island South Carolina

Seaside School is associated with the education of African-American Edistonians from the late-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century. At least one and sometimes two school buildings have been located on its site since 1865. The present structure, built ca. 1931, is an example of a schoolhouse used by rural black South Carolinians into the 1950s. Seaside School is said by many of the older residents of Edisto Island, black and white, to be the oldest black school on the island, and is one of only three remaining historic schools on Edisto Island, of at least eight (Seaside White, Seaside Colored, Borough White, Borough Colored, Central Colored, Whaley Industrial, Edisto Island Consolidated, and Larimer Presbyterian) that have been documented on the island in

Hotel Montague, Caro Michigan

Hotel Montague, Caro Michigan

The original Hotel Montague, which this present structure replaced after a fire in 1923, was one of many commercial, industrial, and civic improvements which early Caro businessman and promoter Charles Montague carried out in Caro between his arrival in town in 1868 and his financial decline after 1903. The present 1923-24 building of the same name stands on the highly visible site of its predecessor and utilizes its cut fieldstone lower portion, thus retaining something of a direct association with its namesake, Charles Montague. Reconstruction of the building after the 1923 fire, because of the perception that a good hotel materially encouraged local growth and development while poor or no hotel facilities discouraged them, became a community project, financed by the

Sidney D. Miller Junior High and High School, Detroit Michigan

Sidney D. Miller Junior High and High School, Detroit Michigan

Sidney D. Miller Junior High School is a rare survivor of the City of Detroit's Black Bottom neighborhood, almost all of which was razed in the 1950s and 1960s to make way for urban renewal projects such as the Walter P. Chrysler Freeway and the residential developments of Lafayette Park and Elmwood Park. By the late 1920s, due to housing discrimination and other forms of de-facto segregation, this neighborhood had become predominantly African American. In addition to its tenure as an intermediate school, Miller served as a high school from 1933 to 1957, and discrimination on the part of the Detroit Board of Education ensured that this school was almost exclusively African American while white students from the area attended high

Pennsylvania Railroad Station, Wilkinsburg Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Railroad Station, Wilkinsburg Pennsylvania

The Wilkinsburg Pennsylvania Railroad Station is significant because of the important role which it played in the transportation system of Western Pennsylvania. Wilkinsburg was a station stop and point of origin for trains on the Pennsylvania Railroad Main Line for over one hundred years. The station was built as part of a major capital improvement project on this line. Its restrained Beaux Arts styling and its prominent location in the community mark it as a significant product of America's Railroad Age. Wilkinsburg's history has always been closely tied to the existence of overland transportation routes. The town's initial late eighteenth-century development resulted from its role as a stopping place at the intersection of two major routes from the East. The railroad's

Longfellow School - Deniston School, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania

Longfellow School - Deniston School, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania

Built in 1902, Deniston School the first school constructed in Swissvale Borough after its incorporation in 1898. As such, it played an important educational role in the growth of Swissvale, an area located between the City of Pittsburgh and the steelmaking centers of Braddock and Rankin. It is Swissvale's only remaining school building of the streetcar era. The first substantial school building in the area was the McKelvy School, built in 1874 before Swissvale's incorporation. That school was demolished in the mid 20^th century. Planning for Longfellow School (its name was changed to Deniston in 1904) began in 1899, as members of the school board anticipated the growth of the newly incorporated Borough. With the awarding by the Borough in the

Wellsville Erie Depot, Wellsville New York

Wellsville Erie Depot, Wellsville New York

Built in 1911 to replace the original depot (ca. 1853), the present depot reflects the continued importance of the railroad industry in Wellsville. Since its advent in Wellsville in 1851, the railroad played a pivotal role in the growth and prosperity of the village as a regional center of rail transportation. The 1911 depot recalls the heyday of the rail era in Wellsville and its relatively high level of architectural distinction illustrates the pride and wealth possessed by the railroad company and the local citizens and businessmen who sponsored its construction. The emergence of railroad passenger depots and freight stations as distinct building types obviously coincided with the advent of widespread rail transportation during the mid-nineteenth century. Because there were no

Belvidere High School, Belvidere Illinois

Belvidere High School, Belvidere Illinois

Public education began in Belvidere, Illinois, in 1842. The earliest classes were held in private homes or churches. In 1852, D.B. Pettit established a school in the First Baptist Church with 86 students. The first public school constructed in Belvidere was a stone building located on the site of the current Lincoln School. This building, which was enlarged in 1857 with a brick addition, was torn down in 1895. A brick structure was built on the same site at a cost of $20,000. This school was known as the Main Street School and North Belvidere High School. Later, in 1912, it was renamed the Lincoln School and became an elementary school; it still serves in this capacity today. The Lincoln School

Paramount Theater, Aurora Illinois

Paramount Theater, Aurora Illinois

The Paramount Arts Centre is significant for its role in the history and evolution of the entertainment industry and in the architecture of the structures that surrounded the various entertainment forms. The theatres built in the early part of this century were constructed with live entertainment in mind, and the three dimensional ornamentation of those atmospheric houses added to the fantasy of the moment. When silent movies with theatre organs to accompany came along, a new dimension was added to the entertainment provided at the theatres, but still the vaudeville style reigned supreme. The growing movie industry realized at least in part the monumental impact that talking film would have and Paramount Pictures proceeded to build theatres suitable for this new

Frank Sebring House, Sebring Ohio

Frank Sebring House, Sebring Ohio

The Frank Sebring House, built ca. 1901, is significant for its association with Frank A. Sebring (1865-1936), one of the town's founders. Sebring, Ohio, was founded in 1898 by eight Sebring siblings. Together they built an extensive pottery industry and a town to serve it. By 1915, Sebring was a community of 3,500, and the output of its plants made it the state's second most important pottery center. The Frank Sebring House, a large red brick house in the Colonial Revival style, is the last surviving Sebring house. Sebring has a history so interwoven with that of the Sebring family that a story of one is not complete without a story of the other. Frank Albert Sebring was born in East

George J Renner Jr. House, Youngstown Ohio

George J Renner Jr. House, Youngstown Ohio

This is one of the most elaborate residences in Youngstown, Ohio, in the Georgian Revival style. It was built by the proprietor of the largest brewery in the city, and symbolizes the cultural aspirations of a rich manufacturer at the turn of the century. By 1900 Youngstown was already an important iron and steel center, with a population of 45,000. George J. Renner, Jr., was the proprietor of the City Brewery. His father had arrived in the United States in 1848 and operated brewing businesses in Cincinnati, Akron and Mansfield, Ohio. George Jr., was born in 1856 and educated in Covington, Kentucky, across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. He located his own business in Wooster in 1880, and four years later

Wiswell Road Covered Bridge, Windsor Mills Ohio

Wiswell Road Covered Bridge, Windsor Mills Ohio

The first settlers to the township of Windsor arrived in June 1799 and March 1800. However, it was not until 1811 that the township and village of Windsor Mills was established. It remained a recognized village until 1913 when the U.S. Post Office was closed. The Phelps Creek Gorge was found to be the best water power site in the township. There first developed a mill, Skinners Mill, on the bank of the gorge. A dam, which still stands, was constructed of sandstone blocks. It was laid up without mortar and remains in the same condition as when it was built. The mill itself is no longer standing. Since most other buildings were north of Phelps Creek Gorge, and the only

Kirker Covered Bridge, West Union Ohio

Kirker Covered Bridge, West Union Ohio

The Kirker Covered Bridge takes its name from Governor Thomas Kirker who served as governor of Ohio from 1807-1808. Governor Kirker was a native of Ireland who came to this country in 1779. He came to this area that later became Liberty Township, Adams County, in 1794 and is considered to have been the first permanent settler in the area, The Kirker Home is a short distance south of the covered bridge. Also south of the covered bridge is the Kirker Cemetary where the former governor is buried. The Kirker Bridge is one of only two such spans left in Adams County and has been retired from the state highway system. A new bridge was built just to the west of

Harpersfield Covered Bridge, Harpersfield Ohio

Harpersfield Covered Bridge, Harpersfield Ohio

At one time, covered wooden bridges of over 500' in length were not uncommon in Ohio, but today, the Harpersfield Covered Bridge is of special significance because at 243' it is the longest such bridge remaining in the state. It is said that this bridge was built in 1873 by a carpenter by the name of Potter. The bridge takes its name from the village of Harpersfield. This area was the site of a grist and saw mill and the mill stream enters the Grand River at the dam which is just to the east of the bridge. A waterworks that generated electricity was built here in 1901. The road became part of the state highway system in the early 1930s

Kesler Covered Bridge, Homer Georgia

Kesler Covered Bridge, Homer Georgia

The Kesler Covered Bridge was built in 1925 with Robert Verner as foreman of the construction crew. Others who worked on this bridge were Eugene Vaughn, J. A. Kesler, Grady Crump and Daye Crump. The bridge was named for the Kesler family who, at that time, owned land adjoining the bridge. J. A. Kesler, who helped to build this bridge, was a member of that family. The bridge was built to replace an earlier bridge that was washed away in a flood. The foundations were raised and the present bridge is a few feet higher than the previous bridge. This bridge is unusual because of the fact it is constructed of two different truss designs for a single span. On the

Hotel Columbia, Vassar Michigan

Hotel Columbia, Vassar Michigan

The Hotel Columbia is Vassar's only surviving and longest-operating lodging establishment. In addition, the Hotel Columbia is associated with J. P. Blackmore, one of Vassar's most influential nineteenth-century business leaders. Settlement of Tuscola County took place slowly in comparison with other lower peninsula counties. By the 1840s, however, the county began to attract entrepreneurs hoping to capitalize on the commercial lumber potential of the area's impressive stands of virgin pine forest. The large trees, known as cork pine, produced broad, strong boards which were virtually knot-free and of excellent substance. In 1849 a small band of settlers led by Townsend North and James Edmunds made its way to northeastern Tuscola County and founded the community of Vassar on the banks of

Grand Ledge Chair Company Plant, Grand Ledge Michigan

Grand Ledge Chair Company Plant, Grand Ledge Michigan

The Grand Ledge Chair Company Plant is the only example surviving in the Grand Ledge-Lansing area of a furniture-manufacturing complex built during the heyday of the furniture-manufacturing industry in southern Michigan in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It housed one of Grand Ledge's principal industrial concerns and largest employers in the early twentieth century. The 1906 brick factory building is the best preserved and least altered example of turn-of-the-century factory design in the Grand Ledge-Lansing area and exemplifies the use of fire-resistant mill construction techniques characteristic of Michigan factory design of the period. Furniture manufacturing flourished in southern Michigan in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, because of the availability of high-quality wood from the deciduous forests of

Fontenette-Bienvenu House, St. Martinville Louisiana

Fontenette-Bienvenu House, St. Martinville Louisiana

The parish seat of St. Martinville is among Louisiana's oldest communities, having been settled in the eighteenth century and incorporated as a town in 1817. Located at the head of navigation on Bayou Teche, it thrived in the antebellum period due to its status as a major interior port. Despite the town's great age, there are only a limited number of buildings to represent its early development. The town experienced considerable development in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and thus its present building stock largely reflects that period. Approximately 20 - 25 buildings survive from the pre-Civil War era. Although this is more than survive in most Louisiana communities, it is a small number when one considers what this

Miller-Roy Building, Monroe Louisiana

Miller-Roy Building, Monroe Louisiana

The Miller-Roy Building served as the business hub for the African American business district in Monroe from 1929 until the 1960s. It served as a small business incubator, leading to the creation of other local African American businesses, as well as housing many long-term businesses. Today, it is the only building that remains representing this once-thriving district. Just prior to the Great Depression, Dr. J.C. Roy and Dr. J.T. Miller saw the need for a building that would house African American professional and business offices as well as a place where African Americans could go for entertainment. Their forethought led to the construction of the Miller-Roy Building in 1929, built by an African American contractor, J.A. Beckwith. While the rest of

Homestead Pennsylvania Railroad Station, Homestead Pennsylvania

Homestead Pennsylvania Railroad Station, Homestead Pennsylvania

Homestead Borough was initiated and laid out in a plan of lots by the Homestead Bank and Life Insurance Company beginning in 1871. The first houses were built the following year. Local steel manufacturing began in the 1880s, and by the early twentieth century, the borough population reached 20,000. One of the first and most important agents of growth in Homestead was the Pittsburgh, Virginia, and Charleston Railroad which was laid through the fledgling town along the Monongahela River in 1872. The PV & C was a regional railroad largely controlled by the Pennsylvania Railroad. The line's purpose was two-fold: to provide the Pennsylvania with a line into the coal-rich and rapidly industrializing Monongahela Valley; and to provide a link between

Book Title Abandoned Industrial Places: Factories, laboratories, mills and mines that the world left behind (Abandoned Places)

Abandoned Industrial Places: Factories, laboratories, mills and mines that the world left behind (Abandoned Places)

Book Title Abandoned Malls of America: Crumbling Commerce Left Behind

Abandoned Malls of America: Crumbling Commerce Left Behind

Book Title Abandoned Palaces (Abandoned Places)

Abandoned Palaces (Abandoned Places)

Book Title Abandoned: Hauntingly Beautiful Deserted Theme Parks

Abandoned: Hauntingly Beautiful Deserted Theme Parks

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