Latest Structures Page 16

Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse, South Portland Maine

Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse, South Portland Maine

Established in 1897 above a dangerous reef in Portland's inner harbor, the Spring Point Ledge Light Station is the most intact of Maine's three surviving spark plug lights. Spring Point Ledge light is one of two lights that aid navigation in Portland Harbor. The other, Portland Breakwater, was established in 1855. Throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century, there was considerable local clamor for a permanent light to mark this particular section of Portland's busy harbor area. The ledge was witness to a number of wrecks and accidental groundings. After repeated requests in the Annual Report(s) of the Light-House Board beginning in 1892, Congress authorized the construction of a light station at this site in 1895. It did not become

Poland Railroad Station, Poland Maine

Poland Railroad Station, Poland Maine

The former Maine Central Railroad Station in Poland is probably the best-preserved specimen of standard turn-of-the-century station architecture in Maine. It is also the finest example of several railroad buildings in the state which have been converted for residential use. This station was built on a branch line of the Grand Trunk Railroad constructed in 1894 principally to serve the great Poland Spring House resort. This branch left the main line at Lewiston Junction and with stations at Empire, Poland Spring and Poland rejoined the Grand Trunk Railroad at Mechanic Falls. The line was owned by the Maine Central Railroad. Building Description The Maine Central Railroad Station in Poland, Maine, dating from 1901, is a well-preserved and representative example of a

Machias Railroad Station, Machias Maine

Machias Railroad Station, Machias Maine

Constructed in 1898 by Jonesboro contractor Howard Varney, the Machias Railroad Station is a modest wooden frame building that stands on its original trackside location along Route 1. It is one of only five known extant station buildings erected by the Washington County Railroad along its 100 plus mile route from Calais to Washington Junction in Ellsworth. Although it was not the first railroad developed in Maine's expansive easternmost region, the Washington County Railroad was certainly the most ambitious. Incorporated on July 26^th, 1894, and chartered by the State Legislature the following year, the company signed its first building contract and commenced construction late in 1895. A variety of problems delayed any substantial progress on the line until 1897 when new

Alexandra Apartment Hotel, Schenectady New York

Alexandra Apartment Hotel, Schenectady New York

The Alexandra Apartment Hotel is a five-story Queen Anne multi-unit residential building whose construction was associated with the growth of Schenectady in the early twentieth century. The apartment hotel was the type of multi-person dwelling erected to accommodate General Electric's growing workforce. Due to the rapid expansion of the General Electric Company between 1887 and the 1910s, thousands of people moved to Schenectady and the city experienced a boom in housing construction. The Alexandra was built in 1900 and targeted a clientele that primarily consisted of employees of the General Electric Company, whose industrial works were only a short trolley ride away from the building. During its first twenty years, the Alexandra primarily attracted General Electric employees who wanted to live

Goose Rocks Light Station, North Haven Maine

Goose Rocks Light Station, North Haven Maine

Constructed in 1890, the Goose Rocks Light Station marks the east entrance to the Fox Island Thorofare between Vinalhaven and North Haven Islands. It stands on a shallow rock ledge and contains within its walls the keeper's quarters and storage facilities. Goose Rocks Light occupies an important position in this heavily traveled thorofare. At the time of the light's construction, Vinalhaven supported an important granite industry with two competitive firms, Bodwell Granite Company and the J.H. Sanborn Company. Both islands also attracted summer tourists, and a number of hotels and cottages were erected to serve the growing resort communities. The station was automated in 1963. Description One of four so-called spark plug lights built in Maine, the Goose Rocks Light Station

Scottland Plantation House, Tallulah Louisiana

Scottland Plantation House, Tallulah Louisiana

Scottland is an important example of a Greek Revival plantation house, It is the only example in the town of Tallulah and one of only three known examples in Madison Parish. Scottland is Tallulah's oldest structure, as well as the town's only Greek Revival plantation house. It also appears to be Tallulah's only significant mid-nineteenth-century building. The town was largely rebuilt in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. Other older structures that survived the rebuilding have evidently disappeared since that time. Greek Revival plantation houses were undoubtedly once common in Madison Parish, as can be seen by examining the 1860 census records for the parish. The population of the parish was 88% slaves and there were 99 large slaveholdings (i.e., 50 or

Goat Island Light Station, Cape Porpoise Maine

Goat Island Light Station, Cape Porpoise Maine

The light station at Goat Island was established in 1833 as a guide to the harbor of refuge at Cape Porpoise. Located on the south side of treeless Goat Island, the light station serves not only as a navigational aid to the entrance of Cape Porpoise Harbor but also as a warning beacon to the numerous small islands and rock shoals that populate this short stretch of coast northeast of Kennebunkport. The original configuration of the station is not positively known, although the 1848 light list indicates that the tower was approximately twenty feet in height. In 1859 the tower and dwelling were pulled down and their present replacements built. Goat Island Light Station was one of the last manned lights

Fort Point Light Station, Stockton Springs Maine

Fort Point Light Station, Stockton Springs Maine

Established in 1836 at the entrance to the Penobscot River, the Fort Point Light Station has played a significant role in guiding shipping traffic to the important river ports at Bucksport and Bangor. The Fort Point Light was constructed at a time of rapidly increasing maritime shipping on the Penobscot. Bucksport, the first important community upriver from the station, was a center of local commerce, lumber production, and shipbuilding. Some distance to the north of Bucksport, the city of Bangor built much of its nineteenth-century fortune on lumbering. Bangor underwent a phenomenal period of growth during the second quarter of the nineteenth century as a result of its strategic location with access to interior lumber resources and the availability of a

Susina Plantation - Cedar Grove, Beachton Georgia

Susina Plantation - Cedar Grove, Beachton Georgia

Susina is one of the few original wood frame Ante-Bellum Plantation houses in the region. Built by James Joseph Blackshear in c.1841, the house was designed by John Wind, architect of Greenwood Plantation and the Thomas County Courthouse and the most important architect to practice in Thomasville or Thomas County. The house has been in the possession of only two families (with the brief exception of Dr. J.T. Metcalf) since its construction, three generations of Blackshears and four generations of Masons, who now own and live there. Originally called Cedar Grove, Susina was completed by the widow of James Blackshear, who was killed in an accident in 1843. Mrs. Blackshear became one of the region's most noted farmers until her death

Grand Trunk Railroad Station, Yarmouth Maine

Grand Trunk Railroad Station, Yarmouth Maine

The Grand Trunk Station in Yarmouth, now owned by the Village Improvement Society, has been handsomely restored and has new life thanks to adaptive re-use as a florist shop. This is particularly fortunate in view of the fact that this neat little station is architecturally unique in the state and is located on a historically important railroad route. Differing from the traditional Stick Style-Italianate stations which predominated during the last two decades of the 19^th century, this building, although retaining in modified form the large brackets supporting the extended roof overhang, has a much more steeply pitched hip roof, the north end of which descends to cover a curved apsoidal form not found in other existing Maine stations. The high-rising granite

Grand Trunk Railroad Station, Lewiston Maine

Grand Trunk Railroad Station, Lewiston Maine

The Grand Trunk station on Lincoln Street in Lewiston, often referred to as The Depot, has an historical and sentimental value to the Franco-Americans of Lewiston-Auburn who comprise the majority of the Twin Cities' residents. It is through this station that many thousands of French-Canadian immigrants passed as they settled in Lewiston, Auburn, and surrounding communities to work in the rapidly growing textile industries. After 1874 most French-Canadian immigrants to Lewiston arrived by means of the Grand Trunk or Canadian National Railway. Originally, the line ran from Montreal to Portland, bypassing Lewiston and Auburn. However, the Twin Cities built their railroad to intersect with the Grand Trunk at Lewiston Junction and leased the entire operation to the Grand Trunk for ninety-nine

Gilead Railroad Station, Auburn Maine

Gilead Railroad Station, Auburn Maine

The Gilead Railroad Station is the oldest extant train station of Maine's Grand Trunk Rail line, and is the oldest known station in the State of Maine. Built in 1851 during the construction of the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad, it features the simple design and construction characteristic of these early stations. Originally situated beside the tracks in the village of Gilead, it was moved in 1991 to a site in Auburn and rehabilitated. Though the first developments in railroading in the U.S. took place during the 1820s, it was several years before the idea took hold in Maine. The introduction of charters for railroads out of Boston created the initial pressure, and in 1833 the first railroad charter in Maine

Graugnard Farms Plantation House, St. James Louisiana

Graugnard Farms Plantation House, St. James Louisiana

The Graugnard Farms Plantation House is among a limited number of French Creole residences in St. James Parish, which once had many more. Although it is unfortunate that the home's basement story has been lost, it is still among the oldest and largest of Creole homes in the parish. It also displays rare examples of French Creole building techniques. The 1858 Persac Map of the Mississippi River shows approximately 111 St. James Parish plantations identified by the names of their owners. In addition, the map depicts a large number of unnamed agricultural tracts. Because the Creoles were the dominant group to settle and develop the area before the Civil War, it is fair to assume that many of the houses on

Gardiner Railroad Station, Gardiner Maine

Gardiner Railroad Station, Gardiner Maine

The Gardiner Railroad Station of 1911, is an extremely well preserved building which, through adaptive reuse as a store, seems unlikely to suffer the fate of so many of its kind. The rugged brick and granite structure is unique in design as far as Maine is concerned and is one of the few smaller stations of masonry construction. Railroad service was inaugurated in Gardiner on January 1^st, 1852 and the original station remained until replaced by the present one which was built just to the north of it. The station was sold by the Maine Central Railroad shortly after passenger service ended in the late 1950s. It has seen several commercial uses and is now an auto parts store. George Burnham

Maine Central Railroad Depot, Brooks Maine

Maine Central Railroad Depot, Brooks Maine

The Former Maine Central Railroad Passenger Depot in Brooks, Maine is an example of a type of railroad building that was once common in Maine. Erected in 1892 by the Maine Central Railroad (MEC), the Queen Anne style depot is located alongside the tracks of the Belfast and Moosehead Railroad, the rail line that the MEC leased between 1870 and 1925. This rail line was first conceived of by the City of Belfast in 1836 as part of a movement to develop a new open water port for Quebec, but it was not built until 1870, at which time it became the MEC's Belfast Branch linking central Maine with the coast between Bath and Bucksport. The management of the railroad reverted

Frenchville Railroad Station and Water Tank, Frenchville Maine

Frenchville Railroad Station and Water Tank, Frenchville Maine

Erected in 1910 when the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad was extending its line eastward from Van Buren, the Frenchville Railroad Station and Water Tank is one of only a handful that survive along this important northern Maine railroad, whereas the water tank is the most intact of only two such structures that remain in the entire state. The Bangor and Aroostook Railroad was chartered in 1891 with the purpose of bringing rail service to Maine's vast northernmost county. Initially, the company leased two small railroads - the Bangor and Piscataquis Railroad and the Bangor and Katahdin Iron Works line - which served, respectively, the slate quarrying areas around Brownville and Monson, as well as the iron manufactory at Katahdin Iron Works

Blytheville Greyhound Bus Station, Blytheville Arkansas

Blytheville Greyhound Bus Station, Blytheville Arkansas

The Blytheville Bus Station is the only remaining Art Moderne Greyhound bus terminal in the state of Arkansas. It stands as one of the purest examples of the Art Moderne style existing in the state's commercial architecture and is one of the finest examples exhibiting structural glass in its design. This isolated island-type station is unique in its small-town setting. The exterior facade remains entirely intact with no alterations. The interior is relatively intact and still reflects its original design and purpose. In 1930, the Greyhound Corporation was organized from the former Motor Transport Company. The new corporation, which emphasized speed as representative of the restructured organization, adopted the form of a racing greyhound as its symbol and Art Moderne as

Great Duck Island Lighthouse, Frenchboro Maine

Great Duck Island Lighthouse, Frenchboro Maine

Great Duck Island Light Station was established in 1890 as a secondary seacoast light strategically located between the primary light on Mount Desert Rock and the approach to Blue Hill Bay and Mount Desert Island. The construction of Great Duck Island Light Station illustrates the continued effort by the Light-House Board to establish an integral system of navigational aids along the coast of Maine. In its 1885 Annual Report the Board first recognized the need for a light at this location. Three years later the Annual Report pointed to the increased … importance of Mount Desert and the vicinity as a summer resort, and further stated the need for a fog signal … not only for the general coastwise

Kress Building, Blytheville Arkansas

Kress Building, Blytheville Arkansas

The Kress chain of dime stores arrived in Blytheville in 1923. In 1936 the company purchased two buildings on Main Street and had them razed as both were in disrepair. These properties were sold to the Kress Company by trustees for the Glenn Estate and by J. T. Alford. Demolition of these buildings began on February 8^th, 1938. Joe P. Randolph of the Bird Construction Company was in charge of the demolition, while W. F. Holmes represented the Kress Architectural Department. One of the demolished buildings, the 1902 Blytheville Hotel, was purchased for $20,000. The bricks from this structure were given to the City of Blytheville for use in street repair. The other demolished building, which housed the OK Barber Shop,

Indian Island Light Station, Rockport Maine

Indian Island Light Station, Rockport Maine

Indian Island Light Station was established in 1850. Situated on the west side of Indian Island, the light marked the entrance to Rockport Harbor. At the time of its initial construction in 1850 the Indian Island Light Station was the principal aid to navigation in and around Rockport Harbor. The well-sheltered and deep harbor at Rockport was a principal reason for the community's development. Known in the first half of the nineteenth century for its ship building activities, Rockport was later the center of an important lime industry, as well as assorted commercial enterprises including ice harvesting and shipping. The light on Indian Island was originally exhibited from a lantern mounted on the present brick dwelling. However, prior to the publication

Book Title Abandoned Train Stations (Abandoned Places)

Abandoned Train Stations (Abandoned Places)

Book Title Lost Places: Images of Bygone America

Lost Places: Images of Bygone America

Book Title Abandoned America: The Age of Consequences (Jonglez photo books)

Abandoned America: The Age of Consequences (Jonglez photo books)

Book Title Abandoned America: Dismantling The Dream

Abandoned America: Dismantling The Dream

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