Latest Structures Page 82

Smyrna Elementary School, Smyrna New York

Smyrna Elementary School, Smyrna New York

Smyrna Elementary School was built in 1941 to accommodate consolidation of Smyrna School District #2 with the Sherburne Central School and housed grades 1 through 6. The school was designed by architect Gordon Wright of Fayetteville and built by George E. Williams and Son of Utica. In 1956, the school was enlarged by means of two additions on the east and south elevations. The area that became the town of Smyrna was settled in the late eighteenth century by New Englanders from Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. The earliest settlers are recorded as Joseph Porter and family from Conway, Massachusetts, who arrived in August 1792. The town of Smyrna was divided off from Sherburne on March 25^th, 1808, and named Stafford.

Arlington School, St. Louis Missouri

Arlington School, St. Louis Missouri

Arlington School is situated in what is now known as the Wells-Goodfellow neighborhood in northwestern St. Louis, Missouri. In the first half of the 19^th Century, the area was primarily farmland. Following the Civil War, St. Louis experienced a period of rapid growth and the city boundaries were increased in both 1870 and 1876. The latter boundary increase brought the land where Arlington School now stands into the city limits and touched off a period of speculative property subdivision. Julius Pitzman's map of 1878 shows the area in transition from a rural collection of agrarian communities into a densely settled urban neighborhood, a process that took a remarkably short period of time. The map shows that the land on which the

Spinks Plantation, Magnolia Mississippi

Spinks Plantation, Magnolia Mississippi

This was a Small Subsistence Farm and General Store Until the 1960s

The family cemetery located about a mile to the east of the family home provides a history of the Guy-Spinks family who lived on the plantation. The Guys were early settlers of Pike County who migrated from North Carolina the early 1800s. The family cemetery establishes that the family was settled on the plantation by 1843, the date of the earliest burial. Like most early settlers, the Guy family engaged in subsistence agriculture, hunting and trapping, and later by raising cattle and hogs. It is likely the family erected shelters earlier than the current buildings. However, those structures are no longer standing. By c. 1875, the family built a small timber framed structure that rested on large cedar blocks. Now designated

Old Ravenswood School, Ravenswood West Virginia

Old Ravenswood School, Ravenswood West Virginia

The 1887 School in Ravenswood, located on Henry Street and dominating the skyline of the neighborhood in which it is located, is a local example of late 19^th Century Eclectic architecture in this area of the state. Unlike most public schools in West Virginia, this one was built by the town of Ravenswood, rather than by the county school board. The town of Ravenswood, situated on the left bank of the Ohio River thirty-five miles below Parkersburg, stands on lands once owned by George Washington. The town itself was first settled in 1810, and, though the first school began operation in 1837, Ravenswood did not get a post office until 1846. By the 1880 Ravenswood had become a thriving community of

Halltown African-American Schoolhouse, Halltown West Virginia

Halltown African-American Schoolhouse, Halltown West Virginia

In western Virginia prior to 1860, state-sponsored education for African Americans did not exist. In 1863, as the West Virginia Constitutional Convention went about its business establishing the form of a new state, education took a central role. Determined to build upon the successes of the Old Dominion but likewise determined not to repeat its mistakes, the convention prevailed to direct the future legislature to provide, as soon as practicable, for the establishment of a thorough and efficient system of free schools. High as their intentions may have been, any mention for the schooling of African-American children was conspicuously absent. Following the precedent established at the Constitutional Convention, the new legislature passed the state's first school law on December 10^th, 1863.

Barleywood, Charles Town West Virginia

Barleywood, Charles Town West Virginia

Greek Revival Style Farm House Abandoned Since 1960s

Among the earliest settlers in what became known as the Opeckan (Opequon) settlement of the Northern Neck proprietary of Virginia were a number of Quakers from New Jersey and Pennsylvania meetings. The Hopewell Friends Meeting was officially established in 1734 as more emigrants petitioned their home meetings to transfer to Hopewell in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Fed by the Great Waggon Road, leading from Pennsylvania through Maryland and into Virginia, the lower Shenandoah Valley became a melting pot of Quakers, Pennsylvania Germans, and the sons of English plantation owners on the by then-overpopulated eastern lands of Maryland and Virginia. The settlers of German descent brought with them a heritage of grain culture. Those that ventured westward from the tidewater region

Point Gratiot Lighthouse, Dunkirk New York

Point Gratiot Lighthouse, Dunkirk New York

Erected in 1875, the Point Gratiot Lighthouse replaced an earlier lighthouse built in 1826. For over 175 years, a light at this point has played an important role in Great Lakes navigation. As a coastal light, it was for nineteenth-century shipmasters the most conspicuous light on the southern shore of Lake Erie; as a harbor light, it guided vessels through the difficult approach to Dunkirk harbor which twice in its history seemed destined to become the major lake port in New York. Dunkirk's excellent harbor, the largest after Buffalo on the New York coast of Lake Erie, made it highly considered as possible terminus of the Erie Canal. But in 1823 the decision was made to end the canal at Buffalo

Eakin Mill Covered Bridge - Geer's Mill - McLaughlin Bridge, Arbaugh Ohio

Eakin Mill Covered Bridge - Geer's Mill - McLaughlin Bridge, Arbaugh Ohio

This covered bridge is known variously as the Eakin Mill, Geer's Mill or McLaughlin Bridge. The name Eakin Mill is used by the county engineer's office and it comes from the name of the family who operated the mill here when the bridge was built. The name Geer's Mill comes from Henry Clay Geer who bought the mill from the Eakins and operated it for many years. His brother Jacob, ran the mill downstream at the famed Humpback Covered Bridge. At the time when both mills were known as the Geer's Mill, it was decided to call the post office at this site Arbaugh, after a prominent family in the area and to avoid confusion with the other Geer's Mill. It

Harra Covered Bridge, Watertown Ohio

Harra Covered Bridge, Watertown Ohio

This fine old Long truss covered bridge was built about 1875 by William Meredith of Marietta, Ohio and his sons, Alta and Charlie. The abutments, which were quarried on the nearby Harrah Farm, were laid by Billy Gamble; a stonemason. The Harrah Farm at that time was owned by James Harrah and the bridge takes its name from that family, although it is spelled without the final H today. Just above the site of the bridge was the Yankee Settlement Mill owned and operated by Marshall Curran Armstrong. His son, Dr. Ross Armstrong, related much of the history of the old bridge to The News of Marietta, Ohio in 1963. Dr. Armstrong vividly recalled the mill dam and swimming in the

McNeely Hotel, Many Louisiana

McNeely Hotel, Many Louisiana

Named for the commander at nearby Fort Jesup, Many was founded in 1844, one year after the creation of Sabine Parish. However, settlers had been in the area since 1830, when William Mains moved his family to the region from Mississippi. Although the nearby fort was a more important settlement, the Many site was chosen as the parish seat because of its central location. In December of 1844 a plat showing a courthouse square and eight streets was drawn and lots were placed up for sale. Although churches, businesses, homes, and a lodge hall were constructed, the community did not have its own municipal government until 1878. However, this government was inactive between 1884 and 1898. The population was 147 in

Beaumont Telephone Exchange Building, St. Louis Missouri

Beaumont Telephone Exchange Building, St. Louis Missouri

The Beaumont Telephone Exchange Building, located at 2654 Locust Street, in St. Louis (Independent City), Missouri, was erected in 1902 at the southeast corner of Locust and Beaumont from plans by St. Louis architectural firm Eames & Young. Constructed as a branch office and exchange, the building housed the company's long distance toll board, in addition to periods of duty as a local exchange. Beaumont was one of several exchange branches constructed by Bell in the few years prior to the 1904 World's Fair. The building was built during a period of great growth of the telephone industry in the United States and in St. Louis, as epitomized by the competition between Bell and the Kinloch Telephone Company. Telephone branches and

Carr School, St. Louis Missouri

Carr School, St. Louis Missouri

The Carr School in St. Louis, Missouri opened in 1909 and remained in use as a public elementary school until the 1980s. Its plan is a variation of the U-plan elementary school, the design William Ittner crafted immediately upon return to the United States after his first European school-study reconnaissance trip some ten years before. Ittner made continual adjustments to all his basic school plans through the years, often with the purpose of suiting building to site and budget; this was the case with Carr School, in which a very tight budget and small lot dictated the bending of either side of the center block to join at the center at right angles. Ittner had a budget of $113,005 for Carr

Holly Grove Plantation, Centreville Mississippi

Holly Grove Plantation, Centreville Mississippi

Adams, Jefferson, and Wilkinson are the only Mississippi counties with significant collections of Federal style architecture, and the most sophisticated examples are the townhouses and suburban estates of Natchez like the Mercer House, The Briars, and Arlington. Holly Grove is one of only a small number of Federal style plantation houses that are grand in proportion and finely trimmed. The integrity of the house is outstanding, despite the loss of a rear two-story porch with end cabinet rooms which deteriorated to the point of needing reconstruction rather than restoration. Holly Grove has retained its Federal character throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and was spared the Greek Revival remodeling so characteristic of most Federal style residences in the state. The quality

Carondelet School, St. Louis Missouri

Carondelet School, St. Louis Missouri

Carondelet School is a product of the St. Louis Public School District's nineteenth-century educational program, and a continuation of the Carondelet Village's efforts in public instruction. By adapting to the evolution of educational philosophy the building was able to function as a public school until 1975, and continued operating as a private school through the 1980s. Today it retains the characteristics that made it an important part of the Carondelet community and a significant part of the St. Louis Public School District. St. Louis has placed value on education since 1812 when the first attempts were made to receive land from the federal government for the purpose of school development. Through an act of Congress on June 13^th, 1812 entitled, An

Page Boulevard Police Station, St. Louis Missouri

Page Boulevard Police Station, St. Louis Missouri

The Page Boulevard Police Station holds a significant position among St. Louis public buildings for its architectural merit and as an exemplary product of a new political era in municipal government. Mayor Rolla Wells' progressive, reform administration (1901-1909) initiated a civic beautification crusade with a particular focus on improvements near Forest Park in West End residential areas where the Mayor and his elite constituency lived. The creation in 1907 of a new police district to serve the growing West End population resulted in a police station design of unusual quality and sensitivity to architectural symbolism. The station's Colonial Revival style proved a unique solution to demands for a functional building with imagery of both civic authority and domestic intimacy achieved through

Huntsville High School, Huntsville Tennessee

Huntsville High School, Huntsville Tennessee

The Huntsville High School was established in 1908 by the state legislature. A wooden frame building was erected on the site purchased for school purposes near the Town of Huntsville. The original school had four classrooms and housed both the high school and elementary grades. Initially, there were approximately 125 students, 25 in high school. In 1917 more rooms were added to the original building and a large co-educational dormitory (non-extant) was constructed in order to accommodate more students in a planned effort to make Huntsville High School a fully accredited four-year high school. In 1921, under the supervision of Principal C. W. Wright who oversaw the change from a two-year to a four-year high school, the first students to complete

City Hospital, St. Louis Missouri

City Hospital, St. Louis Missouri

Abandoned in 1985, Portions have been Converted to Condos

In 1820, 56 years after its founding, St. Louis was a small frontier town of 4598 inhabitants. The first mayor of the City of St. Louis (incorporated in 1822) was William Carr Lane, a physician who had come from Philadelphia in 1819. In his 1823 inaugural address, Lane recommended that a hospital be built and called for a variety of other improvements to benefit public health. The City, however, could not even afford to pave most of its streets at that time, and Lane's dream of a public hospital would go unfulfilled for another two decades. In the meantime, the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul established the St. Louis Hospital in 1828. Its name later changed to Mullanphy

Hildreth Covered Bridge - Hills Bridge, Marietta Ohio

Hildreth Covered Bridge - Hills Bridge, Marietta Ohio

According to the record books of the Southern Ohio Covered Bridge Association, Inc., this fine old bridge was built in 1881, but another source says the bridge could have been built as early as 1871 or 1872 as county records show that several contracts were let for covered bridges over the Muskingum River at that time. Unfortunately, further historical data on this bridge is lacking. The signs ever the portals call this the Hills Bridge, but it is known to historians and covered bridge buffs as the Hildreth Bridge. The Hildreth Bridge is one of three covered bridges that remain over the Muskingum River, today in Washington County, and each of these three spans has a different truss type. At one

Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis Tennessee

Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis Tennessee

The Mid-South Coliseum is the only extant building in Memphis where such significant musical groups as The Beatles, The Stax-Volt Record Revue, Ike and Tina Turner, The Who, Led Zepellin, The Rolling Stones, James Brown, and Elvis Presley performed during their period of fame in American popular music and as such, the coliseum served as a center for cultural expression among Memphis youth, both white and black. The building created a cultural forum where Memphis youth, both black and white, participated in, and were influenced by, a rapid transformation in American popular music that replaced small venues of several hundred patrons, who listened attentively to barely amplified performances, to thousands of kids reacting emotionally to the throbs of massive sounds of

Hune Covered Bridge, Dart Ohio

Hune Covered Bridge, Dart Ohio

Hune Bridge was built in 1879 by Rollin Meredith for $7.17 per linear foot for yellow poplar on his plan #3. The historic name was Gallagher's Ford. The Hune Covered Bridge takes its name from the Hune Family who were prominent settlers in this area. Lawrence Township was formerly a part of Newport Township which once formed the eastern third of Washington County. The township of Lawrence was formed in 1815 and a community known as the Rittle Muskingum Settlement grew up along both sides of the river in the area that later became known as Lawrence. William Hune, a prosperous tobacco farmer and stockman, came to this settlement and purchased large amounts of land until he had 525 acres with

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

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 Abandoned Malls of America: Crumbling Commerce Left Behind

Abandoned Malls of America: Crumbling Commerce Left Behind

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