Latest Structures Page 6

Younker Brothers Department Store, Des Moines Iowa

Younker Brothers Department Store, Des Moines Iowa

The Younker Brothers Department Store was Des Moines' premier historic downtown department store. The Wilkins Building, which comprises the west half of the Younkers building, built in 1908, was Des Moines first commercial reinforced concrete building. The greater Younkers store building was also Iowa's first block-long department store. The successful operation of the store continued until 2006. The company built Des Moines' most notable department store and its commercial success doubled the size of the original store building. The firm successively bought out or merged with all of Des Moines other major family-owned competing department stores. Younkers built the original portion of the building in 1899. Initial local success resulted in the construction of the 1899 building. That building was expanded

Des Moines Building, Des Moines Iowa

Des Moines Building, Des Moines Iowa

Completed and first occupied in 1931, the Des Moines Building added a key component to the Sixth Avenue Canyon, one of the densest and most fully developed urban spaces in Iowa. The skyscraper's massing, upper floor setbacks, and main lobby call attention to the influence of Art Deco styling on its design. The Des Moines Building calls attention to Proudfoot, Rawson, Souers & Thomas, a venerable Des Moines-based architectural firm, which designed the building and demonstrated in it the ability to adapt to new architectural ideas. Arthur Sanford, acting as Arthur Sanford & Company, was the prime mover of the Des Moines Building's construction. A Sioux City, Iowa, investor and entrepreneur, Sanford had previously undertaken real estate development in that northwestern

Santa Fe Depot and Harvey House, Waynoka Oklahoma

Santa Fe Depot and Harvey House, Waynoka Oklahoma

The Santa Fe Railroad Station and adjacent Harvey House were constructed in 1910, and the Harvey House closed in 1937. Excellent examples of design, the buildings were even more significant for their association with Amelia Earhart & Charles Lindberg's Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT), a rails/air route across the US. This unique, pioneering transcontinental service combined air and rail transport in conjunction with the Santa Fe railroad. While the TAT was in operation for only a short time, it set the stage for an expanded, all air service. TAT later became TWA airline. The Waynoka Santa Fe Depot and Harvey House, apart from their success on their own from 1910-1937, were an integral part of the TAT service. On August 7^th, 1929,

Waynoka Telephone Exchange Building, Waynoka Oklahoma

Waynoka Telephone Exchange Building, Waynoka Oklahoma

The Waynoka Telephone Exchange Building, at 200 South Main Street (also shown on tax assessor's records as 1485 Main), in Waynoka, Oklahoma, was built in 1931. It is the only town's only extant resource to represent the historical role of technological expansion and corporate consolidation in the development of telephone service for the residents of Waynoka. The erection of the Waynoka Telephone Exchange Building in 1931 came at the end of a thirty-year period of corporate consolidation and technological innovation that led to telephone access for most Americans and their interconnection via a nationwide calling system. The history of telephone communications in the United States may be summarized in the words universal service, a term that has connotations both of a

Tiffany House, Oklahoma City Oklahoma

Tiffany House, Oklahoma City Oklahoma

Tiffany House is one of three mid-century high-rise apartment buildings in Oklahoma City constructed between 1960-1967. The Tiffany House is characterized by poured reinforced concrete construction, expansive cantilevered balconies serving each unit, a distinctive concrete entrance canopy, and originally having ground-floor retail targeted to residents and a basement-level restaurant, plus pool and other amenities. This tower has a distinctive profile comprised of broad ranks of balconies separated by narrow strips of windows in tripartite form on its longer elevations and projecting cantilevered staircases flanked by ranks of windows on its secondary elevations. Its crowning feature is an elevator penthouse with a tall sign announcing the building's name, which can be seen from a distance along Northwest Expressway. The building's concrete is

Stonegate Elementary School, Oklahoma City Oklahoma

Stonegate Elementary School, Oklahoma City Oklahoma

Oklahoma City's first schools emerged shortly after settlement of the territory began in April 1889. Before dedicated buildings could be constructed, lessons were conducted in open fields or in tents, with settlers themselves as the first teachers. Passage of a city bond issue in the early 1890s authorized the construction of permanent facilities. Four ward schools were built between 1893 and 1904 at a cost of approximately $45,000. Several other schools were built in the city before 1907. The Oklahoma City Public Schools system grew dramatically after 1907 with many schools being built between 1909 and 1920. In the 1920s, schools began to move beyond the city core as they followed newly evolving suburbs, with schools being built in every sector

Santa Fe Depot, Ponca City Oklahoma

Santa Fe Depot, Ponca City Oklahoma

The first railroad depot in Ponca City, a frame structure built in 1885, was typical of small rail stations built by the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe (ATSF) Railway at the time. As in other Oklahoma towns, the frame depot was ill-suited to the needs of the community and there was much jubilation in 1910/1911 when news of a new $20,000 permanent depot was released. The official grand opening on April 22^nd, 1911, was cause for a huge local celebration and official dedication. From 1911 through World War II, the Santa Fe Depot played a crucial role in the life of this growing community. It allowed farmers and ranchers in the area to send their goods to market. It provided transportation

Rock Island Passenger Station, Anadarko Oklahoma

Rock Island Passenger Station, Anadarko Oklahoma

Located at 301 East Main Street in Anadarko Oklahoma, the Rock Island Passenger Station was erected in 1911 on Block 24, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Company's property lies east of downtown Anadarko. It remains today set in a semi-industrial, semi-residential district whose character has not changed since the building's construction. Historically, the rail path through Anadarko comprised of five tracks that ran east-west to the north of the depot and along on the north edge of downtown and a sixth track that ran past the depot on the south, curving southward to serve another industrial area. Within the immediate vicinity there was the railroad's water station and platforms, privately owned elevators, warehouses, corn cribs, and other facilities. A

Ponca City Power Plant, Ponca City Oklahoma

Ponca City Power Plant, Ponca City Oklahoma

For more than sixty years, the Municipal Light and Power Plant (Ponca City Power Plant) provided a reliable source of electrical power to Ponca City and the surrounding area. By making possible all aspects of daily home, work, and school life, the power plant was integral to the development of Ponca City. Ponca City is located in southeastern Kay County, just south of the Kansas state line in north-central Oklahoma. Ponca City and Kay County were once part of the Cherokee Outlet, an area of land guaranteed to the Cherokee Nation by the federal government. In 1893, lands within the Outlet were opened to homesteading and Ponca City was officially incorporated in December of that year. The new town grew quickly

Ponca City Milling Company Elevator, Ponca City Oklahoma

Ponca City Milling Company Elevator, Ponca City Oklahoma

Robin Hood Flour was Milled at this Ponca City OK Mill until 1959

The Ponca City Milling Company Elevator was independently owned and operated by the locally prominent Donahoe family for most of its most productive years, the complex includes a single-story office/flour storage area, a six-story flour mill, and concrete grain elevator, and a large set of concrete, cylindrical grain storage bins. Together, this complex was a symbol of widespread agricultural prosperity in north-central Oklahoma during the early twentieth century. Its sale to International Milling Company in 1945, which closed the complex for good in 1959, reflected broader changes in American agribusiness, specifically the consolidation of food processing and distribution facilities among a handful of corporations. Though vacant today, the Ponca City Milling Company Elevator remains the largest and best-preserved example of a

Pioneer Telephone Company Warehouse and Garage, Oklahoma City Oklahoma

Pioneer Telephone Company Warehouse and Garage, Oklahoma City Oklahoma

The Pioneer Telephone Company Warehouse and Garage, comprised of the complex of buildings at 1-13 NE 6^th in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma provided the telephone company easy railroad access as well as critical manufacturing and storage space in the first decades of the twentieth century. Construction of the buildings in this district corresponds to expansion of telephone technology in the state of Oklahoma, as well as consolidation of telephone exchanges into centralized companies. Shortly after the invention of the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876, small telephone exchanges began popping up across Oklahoma and Indian Territory, starting with a line from Tahlequah to Muskogee built in 1886 by E.D. Hicks. In 1900, the total population of Oklahoma and Indian Territories numbered

Phillips 66 Station No. 1423, Chandler Oklahoma

Phillips 66 Station No. 1423, Chandler Oklahoma

Phillips 66 Station #1423 in Chandler, Oklahoma is symbolic of Route 66 across the state. Used in a variety of local and statewide promotional materials, this station is a striking visual reminder of a roadway that significantly impacted Oklahoma culture, commerce, and transportation. The station is locally significant for its association with the transportation and commercial history of Route 66 in Chandler, as well as for its architecture as an outstanding example of a cottage-style Phillips 66 gas station. Stations such as the one in Chandler provided critical services to locals and travelers, and greatly contributed to the commercial base of their community. The Phillips 66 Station in Chandler is an early example of the stations first constructed by large gas

Osler Building, Oklahoma City Oklahoma

Osler Building, Oklahoma City Oklahoma

The Osler Building is a medical building where dentists and many teaching physicians associated with the University of Oklahoma Medical School and Hospital cared for the sick, and promoted good health of their patients. The Osler Building was constructed by the Physicians Holding Company in 1928. Before this first suburban medical office building was constructed, most doctors had offices in various downtown office buildings or in the Classical Revival style Medical Arts Building at 100 Park Avenue. With car ownership quickly spreading in the 1920s, it became increasingly difficult for patients to find parking downtown. Also four hospitals were located in the Midtown area, just ten blocks north of the business district: Oklahoma State Baptist (at Dewey and Walker Avenues, and

Oklahoma National Guard Armory, Oklahoma City Oklahoma

Oklahoma National Guard Armory, Oklahoma City Oklahoma

Commonly understood as a federal New Deal project, the Oklahoma National Guard Armory is in fact a symbol of Governor Ernest Whitworth Marland's Little New Deal and was financed solely by state funds. Adjutant General Charles Franklin Barrett and Major General William Shaffer Key, two leading figures in the Oklahoma National Guard, had long argued for the necessity of armories in Oklahoma. The crisis of the Great Depression transformed their arguments into action as state leaders recognized that the construction of armories could provide economic relief and opportunity for Oklahomans. Upon its completion in 1938, the Oklahoma National Guard Armory in Oklahoma City provided a valuable training site for members of the Forty-Fifth Infantry Division and served as a public meeting

Oklahoma City Schools Administration Building, Oklahoma City Oklahoma

Oklahoma City Schools Administration Building, Oklahoma City Oklahoma

The completion of the Administration Building established the first permanent home for the administrative offices of the Oklahoma City school system and served as a physical reminder that public education in Oklahoma City had come of age. With its brick facade, limited design elements, portico with recessed front entry, and cast stone accents, it is typical of school construction in Oklahoma City during the 1920s. The building portrays a maturing school system, established less than thirty years prior in the nascent town of Oklahoma City. The original 1919 building was designed by noted Oklahoma architect, Solomon Andrew Layton. The 1928 addition was designed by another notable Oklahoma architect, Guy C. Reid. Opening of Oklahoma Territory On March 3^rd, 1889, President Grover

Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant, Oklahoma City Oklahoma

Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant, Oklahoma City Oklahoma

Completed in 1916, the Oklahoma City Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant is an excellent example of a manufacturing facility designed specifically for the assembly of automobiles through a process pioneered by the Ford Motor Company (Ford). Famed industrial architect Albert Kahn designed the original building for Ford in 1915 and its expansion in 1924. Ford developed the process of shipping a complete set of parts via rail from its Highland Park Plant in Michigan to regional plants for assembly. This process was designed to be more efficient and economical for Ford and to meet the growing public demand for new vehicles in a timely manner. In an unprecedented expansion, Ford constructed twenty-four regional assembly plants, including the Oklahoma City Plant, between

Oakland School, Oakland Oklahoma

Oakland School, Oakland Oklahoma

The Oakland School in Oakland, Oklahoma was completed in 1931. Replacing a two-story brick building dating to 1910, the Oakland School is located just west of the intersection of North Eighth Street and Fern Street, approximately two blocks north of Oklahoma Highway 70 (OK-70). There are numerous oak trees in the vicinity of the school, from which the town derived its name. In each direction from the school, there is very scattered residential development. The Oakland School is a local landmark, one of few historic buildings remaining in this small community that almost disappeared in the first decade of the twentieth century. The school closed in 1964 when the school district was annexed by Madill. The community of Oakland in the

Mutual Savings and Loan Association Building, Oklahoma City Oklahoma

Mutual Savings and Loan Association Building, Oklahoma City Oklahoma

The Mutual Savings and Loan Association Building is located at 601- 605 NW 23^rd Street, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Citizen's State Bank constructed the building as a free-standing suburban branch bank in 1948. Mutual Savings and Loan Association purchased the building in 1957 and initiated a major renovation in 1959 to create the current Modern Movement commercial facade. The history of the Mutual Savings and Loan Association Building reflects broad development trends in Oklahoma City. Its suburban setting was transitioning during the postwar period from the residential edge of an earlier commercial district to an area of new commercial development associated with the city's northward and westward expansion. The 1936 City Directory listed the property at 601 NW 23^rd Street as a

Fighting Creek Plantation, Powhatan Virginia

Fighting Creek Plantation, Powhatan Virginia

Fighting Creek, a two-story, five-bay central block symmetrical stucco home with north and south one-story wings, was built ca. 1841, at a time when few stucco homes were seen in this rural area. This home is an unusual blend of both Classical Revival and Italianate elements. According to local tradition, it was designed by the renowned New York architect Alexander Jackson Davis (1803-1892), who designed the nearby Gothic Revival Belmead Plantation for Philip St. George Cocke, however, this supposition has not been confirmed in historic records. This property in 1840 was originally part of a plantation consisting of 1,699 acres, conveyed to Dr. John Brockenbrough Harvie and his wife Elizabeth (Blair) Harvie. The property now retains a mere 4.3 acres of

Manitou Jail, Manitou Oklahoma

Manitou Jail, Manitou Oklahoma

The Manitou Jail in Manitou, Oklahoma, represents the local community's tangible effort to promote the welfare of society in Manitou by providing a location for holding miscreants. According to a 1978 interview of Manitou resident Leether Burba, one of the workman that reportedly constructed the jail in July 1922, use of the jail was discontinued around 1935 due to easier transportation to the county jail at Frederick. The town of Manitou was established originally in Comanche County, Oklahoma Territory, on January 29^th, 1902 with the town being platted in 1904. In January 1907, the nearby town of Siboney agreed to consolidate with Manitou with the Siboney business and residential buildings being relocated to Manitou. With the advent of Oklahoma statehood on

Book Title Lost Places: Images of Bygone America

Lost Places: Images of Bygone America

Book Title Abandoned America: Dismantling The Dream

Abandoned America: Dismantling The Dream

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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