Latest Structures Page 38

Fowey Rocks Light Station, Key Biscayne Florida

Fowey Rocks Light Station, Key Biscayne Florida

Fowey Rocks Light is one of the six famous Florida Reef Lights built as tall skeletal tower lighthouses during the middle to late nineteenth century. They are spread along approximately 190 miles of the Florida Keys, an archipelago of low-lying islands extending in an arc from south of Key Biscayne near the southern Florida peninsula to Key West and the Dry Tortugas beyond. These six lighthouses include one offshore of Dade County (Fowey Rocks Light) and five offshore of Monroe County. From east to west, the five Florida Reef Lights offshore of Monroe County are Carysfort Reef Light, Alligator Reef Light, Sombrero Key Light, American Shoal Light and Sand Key Light. Fowey Rocks is located beyond the 3-mile limit of Florida

Weyerhaeuser House - House on the Hill, Rock Island Illinois

Weyerhaeuser House - House on the Hill, Rock Island Illinois

The House on the Hill was for many years the home of Frederick E. Weyerhaeuser, German immigrant who came to this country in 1856, and with his brother-in-law, Frederick C. A. Denkmann, founded Weyerhauser and Denkmann Lumber Co. in Rock Island. This company prospered greatly and in time evolved into the firm which since 1959 has carried the name of Weyerhaeuser Company. It is now based in Tacoma, Washington, and is known world-wide as the largest of all forest products corporations. (Currently it owns 5.7 million acres of prime timberland in the Pacific Northwest, and has cutting rights on 10.6 million acres of forestland in other countries.) Of Weyerhaeuser it has been said that he was as dynamic a figure in

Piedras Blancas Light Station, San Simeon California

Piedras Blancas Light Station, San Simeon California

The Piedras Blancas Light Station was established to assist and promote coastal trading and navigation. It also served to guide ships into San Simeon Bay, a once-thriving commercial port. The lighthouse itself dates from 1875; the fog-signal structure from 1906. Before its construction there were no lighthouses on the coast between Point Pinos (Monterey) and Point Conception, a long distance of some 145 miles. Even before San Simeon was a commercially viable port, the Bay provided a natural refuge for smaller trading schooners and brigs during storms and heavy northwest winds. Many perils lay offshore, though, in the form of submerged and jagged rocks. In 1868 the wreck of the Harlech Castle on a jagged rock (subsequently called the Harlech Castle

Lincoln School, Rock Island Illinois

Lincoln School, Rock Island Illinois

Built in 1893, Lincoln School is the only Romanesque building still standing in Rock Island or Moline. Lincoln School is the only full-fledged Romanesque-style building in Rock Island. Memorial Christian Church in downtown Rock Island is the only other structure that shows some Romanesque influence. There are no records of other Romanesque buildings in Rock Island with the exception of the three other schools designed by E. S. Hammatt, the YMCA Building and the Mitchell and Lynde Block Building, both also designed by E. S. Hammatt, and the Hartz-Bahnsen Building (architect unknown). All these buildings have been demolished. Three significant Romanesque-influenced buildings other than schools have been demolished in downtown Rock Island, as noted above. The YMCA Building featured a tower,

Yorkville School, Yorkville Illinois

Yorkville School, Yorkville Illinois

Yorkville School, built in 1887, is an example of the larger, multi-room school buildings that replaced one-room school houses during the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. Yorkville School served the residents of Yorkville and the surrounding rural areas of Kendall County. Now known as Parkview School, the 27,598-square-foot building was the first large, multi-story school in Kendall County. The Fox River runs east to west through Yorkville, splitting the town into two sections, north (originally known as Bristol) and south (the original village of Yorkville). The first resident of European descent was Earl Adams, who built a log cabin on the south side of the river in 1833, a year after the Black Hawk War ended. In 1834 brothers Lyman

Point Montara Light Station, Montara California

Point Montara Light Station, Montara California

The Point Montara Lighthouse stands as an excellent example of a late 19^th century and early 20^th century lighthouse/fog-signal complex. It was founded in 1875 as a fog-signal station. In 1902 a small beacon was added. In 1928 the present tower was constructed. The purpose of the station was to make a dangerous part of the coast safe for shipping and also to mark the sea road to San Francisco. This lighthouse stands as a monument to the federal government's duty to aid the safe movement of ships along the reef-strewn Montara Coast. It also serves as an important landmark along the sea road to San Francisco Bay. This lighthouse tower dates from 1928 although federal involvement at the site began

Morton School, West Lafayette Indiana

Morton School, West Lafayette Indiana

The school board completed and opened Morton School in 1930 and it served continuously through 1985. Through the years, the school enjoyed a close relationship with programs at adjacent Purdue University; university faculty taught classes at the school and the school benefited from the resources of a major university in many other ways. Walter Scholer, a prominent Lafayette architect, designed the school building and it is fine example of his local work as well as being a fine example of early twentieth century school design. Consolidated schools prospered in small towns, where they often served the surrounding township. One such small town was the nascent village of West Lafayette, Indiana. West Lafayette was actually the final name of three separate attempts

Plant City High School, Plant City Florida

Plant City High School, Plant City Florida

The Plant City High School, (Plant City, Florida) constructed in 1914, stands in a small, but prosperous, agricultural and trading community. The high school, which is architecturally the most significant, early educational building in Plant City, served as the educational and cultural center of the community until the building was closed in 1972. The high school was the object of great civic pride and was a benefit to the community. Lyceum programs, class plays, recitals, musicals, and lectures, all took place in the high school. Non-academic programs, such as political speeches, concerts, community club meetings and performances by professional entertainers were also held at the high school, taking advantage of the school's large, 1,500-seat auditorium. Plant City (incorporated, in 1885) was

Covered Bridge, Cedarburg Wisconsin

Covered Bridge, Cedarburg Wisconsin

Of the many covered bridges once to be found on Wisconsin's highways, the old covered bridge on Cedar Creek in Ozaukee County is the last one to survive. When a new bridge was to be built to replace it, the people of Ozaukee County considered the old covered bridge of sufficient historic significance that they decided to build the new bridge parallel to the old one and to preserve the covered bridge as a part of their own and Wisconsin's heritage. The bridge was retired from vehicular use in 1962 and is now the main attraction of a small county park on Cedar Creek. It is used both for pedestrian traffic and for sheltering picnic tables. Built in 1876, the covered

S.H. Kress and Co. Building, Tampa Florida

S.H. Kress and Co. Building, Tampa Florida

The S.H. Kress and Co. department store building at 811 N. Franklin Street was one of the last major commercial structures erected in downtown Tampa, Florida, before the beginning of the Great Depression. It is representative of the remarkable period of growth from 1885 to 1929 that saw Tampa transformed from a small frontier village into a major Florida city. The Kress store was for decades one of the most prominent and popular retail establishments in downtown Tampa. The first Kress store opened in 1904, making it among the earliest chain variety stores to open in Tampa and one of the earlier outlets established by the Kress organization. Samuel Henry Kress built his retail chain empire on the fixed price concept

Jacksonville Terminal Complex, Jacksonville Florida

Jacksonville Terminal Complex, Jacksonville Florida

Jacksonville's emergence as a major transportation center began in the mid-nineteenth century. Major events of the 1880s were to ensure its future as one of Florida's great rail centers and terminal cities. Inland transportation between Florida and Georgia was firmly established with Henry Bradley Plant's 1879 purchase of the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad which he reorganized into the Savannah, Florida and Western Railway. The Live Oak (Florida) to Lawton (Georgia) Connector had been completed in March 1865 to facilitate the transport of Confederate supplies. The tracks were torn up at the end of the war, but relaid by October of 1866. By the early 1870s, this line was being operated by the owners of the Atlantic and Gulf and so it

Sarvis Fork Covered Bridge, Sandyville West Virginia

Sarvis Fork Covered Bridge, Sandyville West Virginia

On May 24^th, 1886 the Jackson County Court appointed D. K. Hood and Elias Stone to visit the ford on Mill Creek on the property of John Carnahan to determine the most suitable location for a bridge and to estimate the required span length and abutment height. It was decided that the location would be on the site of an old bridge above Carnahan's Ford. The clerk was authorized to advertise for bids for the abutments on May 21^st and William Quincy and J. Grim were awarded the contract for the piers on August 4th. On October 13^th, the clerk was authorized to advertise for bids for the building of the superstructure, and on December 13^th, the contract was awarded to

Sanger Brothers Building - J.C. Penney, Fort Worth Texas

Sanger Brothers Building - J.C. Penney, Fort Worth Texas

The Sanger Brothers Building of Fort Worth (1928-29) reflects a substantial period of economic and physical growth and change in Fort Worth created by oil and railroad investment in the city. Sanger Brothers was one of the preeminent retailers in Texas and the southwest. Their building was part of a general promotion for growth and development implemented by the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce in response to a burgeoning local economy. During this period, major retailers including the Sanger Brothers constructed approximately 21 buildings in and near downtown, dramatically changing the face of the city. In 1928 alone, over $4 million of new construction provided one million square feet of floor space in Fort Worth. This handsome low-rise 2-part commercial block

Locust Creek Covered Bridge, Hillsboro West Virginia

Locust Creek Covered Bridge, Hillsboro West Virginia

Very little information is known about the history of the Locust Creek Covered Bridge. A search of the court records supplied no further information than that given in a July 1979 publication of The Pocahontas Times, of Marlinton, entitled Pioneer Days. That information referred to George B. Cochran, who in 1879, was paid $20.00 by the Pocahontas County Court for work done on the bridge. The article also mentioned that extensive repairs were made to the bridge in 1904, but no court records could be found to verify the making of repairs in 1904 or in the few years preceding or following 1904. The date of construction of the bridge is thought to have been in the 1870s, following a petition

Abilene High School, Abilene Texas

Abilene High School, Abilene Texas

The 1923 Abilene High School was designed by prominent regional architect David S. Castle. Sited prominently along an important transportation route, the three-story, monumental main building signaled to onlookers that Abilene was committed to providing a quality education to its young citizens. Early Public Education Efforts in Abilene Abilene is perhaps best known in educational circles for its private, church-affiliated colleges, the city's public school system has supervised and instructed local youths since the town's founding in 1881. Education was considered such a priority that town founders set aside property for a school when the town was founded. Classes originally convened in a tent, but were later held in a two-story frame structure on N. 3^rd Street. The city's growth soon

Knights of Pythias Building, Fort Worth Texas

Knights of Pythias Building, Fort Worth Texas

On June 6^th, 1881, a procession of the Order of Knights of Pythias formed at the corner of 4^th and Main Streets and marched to Weatherford Street, down Houston, Fourth Street, to Main Street, and thence to Third Street. This impressive ceremony was for the purpose of laying the corner stone of the first Pythias Castle Hall ever erected in the world, and the only Castle Hall ever dedicated by the founder of the order, Justis H. Rathbone of Washington, D. C., said D. B. Alexander. The Encyclopedia Britannica defines the Knights of Pythias as a fraternal and benevolent order of secret character, founded in Washington, D. C., on February 19^th, 1864, and chartered by a special act of Congress. In

Laurel Creek Covered Bridge, Lillydale West Virginia

Laurel Creek Covered Bridge, Lillydale West Virginia

On July 19^th, 1910, J.C. McClaugherty (the county road engineer), H. W. Peck and Robert Arnott were appointed commissioner to locate a site for and estimate the cost of building a bridge across Laurel Creek near Robert Arnott's residence. After the commissioners made a report of their findings to the court on August 26^th, 1910, the court ordered that a covered bridge with stone abutments be built at the site selected near Robert Arnott's. Lewis Miller built the stone abutments and the superstructure was built by Robert Arnott. The oak timbers obtained for building the superstructure were seasoned approximately one year before they were used. Lon Wickline fashioned the chestnut shakes, which originally covered the roof, and the ironwork was done

Emma Flower Taylor Mansion, Watertown New York

Emma Flower Taylor Mansion, Watertown New York

The Emma Flower Taylor Mansion was designed by the noted New York City architectural firm of Lamb and Rich and built in 1896-97 for Emma Flower Taylor as a wedding gift from her father, Roswell Pettibone Flower, former governor of New York, congressman and prominent Wall Street businessman. The potential to tap the Black River for water power brought the first white settlers to Watertown in about 1800. It was the recognition of this abundant water power that led to the City's name. The early development of two state roads, one that followed the Black River from Central New York through Watertown and west to Sacketts Harbor on Lake Ontario and a second that ran south from Watertown to Salina (later

Indian Creek Covered Bridge, Salt Sulphur Springs West Virginia

Indian Creek Covered Bridge, Salt Sulphur Springs West Virginia

Indian Creek Covered Bridge is both a tribute to the industriousness and ingenuity of its two young builders and a landmark in the developing rural transportation system in the area of Monroe County, West Virginia, about the turn of the twentieth century. The Weikel brothers, contractors for the structure, applied techniques acquired through self-education and common sense to design a bridge which would serve for about thirty years of continuous use and remain solid even to this day. Monroe County, located in the extreme southeast of West Virginia, was quite rural and sparsely settled in the late nineteenth century. The natural barrier of Peters Mountain blocked much commerce to the east and south, and internal transportation was rudimentary except between the

Arkansas Riceland Hotel, Stuttgart Arkansas

Arkansas Riceland Hotel, Stuttgart Arkansas

Designed by Mann and Stern, Architects, the Riceland Hotel is Stuttgart's largest commercial building and was originally an elegant and commanding example of George R. Mann's later neo-classic work. The building, constructed during the declining years of a rice boom that transformed Stuttgart's economy, housed hotels and banks during much of its life. Within the massive frame of the structure's five stories, much of the intrinsic commerce of the rice industry and the railroad were enacted. In October 1878, the Reverend Adam Buerkle and twelve families of German immigrants founded a settlement at the former Gum Pond Plantation on the Grand Prairie in Arkansas County. The next year the small colony was joined by sixteen additional families and, in 1880, a

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 Lost Places: Images of Bygone America

Lost Places: Images of Bygone America

Book Title The Atlas of Abandoned Places: A Journey Through The World's Forgotten Wonders

The Atlas of Abandoned Places: A Journey Through The World's Forgotten Wonders

Book Title Abandoned Places: A Photographic Exploration of More Than 100 Worlds We Have Left Behind

Abandoned Places: A Photographic Exploration of More Than 100 Worlds We Have Left Behind

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