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TABLE OF CONTENTS

# 

Getting Involved in Historic Preservation

[Careers and volunteers
4](#historic-preservation-seeks-volunteers-and-offers-careers)

[National Register's roadmap
6](#national-register-of-historic-places-is-a-menu-for-historic-travel-and-education)

[Architecture mirrors culture
8](#architecture-reflects-both-culture-and-available-construction-technology-and-materials)

[State history officers hold the key
9](#state-historic-preservation-officers-key-to-heritage-resources-in-every-state-and-territory)

[Tribal officers coordinate efforts
10](#tribal-historic-preservation-officers-more-recent-addition-to-nhpa)

[ACHP provides leadership:
11](#the-advisory-council-on-historic-preservation)

**Historic Preservation Stories by State**

[California Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary 13](#california)

[Illinois Chicago's Hilliard Homes project 15](#illinois)

[Kentucky President Lincoln's old Kentucky homes 16](#kentucky)

[Massachusetts Edith Wharton's The Mount 18](#massachusetts)

[Minnesota Minneapolis' Mill City Museum 20](#minnesota)

[Montana City kids enjoy summers at Kootenai National Forest
22](#montana)

[Nationwide Hampton Hotels take on preservation, one mile at a time
24](#nationwide-program)

[New Mexico Three Corn Ruin pueblito offers meeting of the minds
26](#new-mexico)

[North Carolina Blue Ridge Mountains show heritage initiative
28](#north-carolina)

[Ohio, Arizona Dayton's airplanes and Green Valley's missiles
30](#__RefHeading___Toc147211149)

[Oklahoma Ft. Sill contributes to tale of the West 31](#oklahoma)

[Oregon Saving Pioneer Courthouse in Portland 34](#oregon)

[South Carolina Story of the first submarine to sink an enemy ship
36](#south-carolina)

[Texas Heritage Trails program spans the state 38](#texas)

[Virginia Wilmer McLean was at the right places at the right times
40](#virginia)

[Washington Bremerton's World War II community memory relived
41](#washington)

[Wisconsin Carson Park gave hope through 1930s 43](#wisconsin)

# 

# Historic Preservation Seeks Volunteers and Offers Careers

So, here you are learning about historic preservation. It's a large and
growing field, as more and more people understand the importance of
preservation, and it offers wonderful opportunities for personal
involvement as either a volunteer or a professional.

There are myriad ways to get involved in historic preservation yourself.
From the Newspaper in Education insert and the additional information in
this complementary piece, you now should be aware that you can help
advance preservation directly simply by keeping your eyes open and
learning more about the history of the area that surrounds you and that
you visit.

For example, as an individual you can help prevent future burial
desecrations by keeping an eye out while visiting cultural properties
and reporting anything suspicious to the appropriate government and law
enforcement agencies. You can and should alert authorities to any
possibly unwarranted intrusion or invasion of historic properties by
"pot hunters." These people search to find---and steal---relics like
Revolutionary War musket balls, Civil War uniform buttons, and shipwreck
souvenirs from public or private property.

You can help in preservation by making yourself and others aware that
the proper course in visiting any natural or cultural heritage site is
to "take nothing but photographs; leave nothing but footprints." Well,
it's also OK to take notes and impressions and memories, but in some
places it is not OK to leave even footprints---at least not visible
ones.

Agencies like the Bureau of Land Management have formal programs where
volunteers keep watch over sensitive sites. National Parks have
"friends" programs where volunteers work to take special care of public
lands and heritage resources. So do many state parks across the nation.
You can join these efforts as a volunteer. You also can join or form
preservation organizations and neighborhood historic associations.

You can be a volunteer in a historic house museum or property. You can
be a docent in a museum or heritage site. Your state historic
preservation office, tribal historic preservation office, or local
historic preservation organization are also great places to ask about
volunteer opportunities. Volunteering is a great way to not only take an
active role in historic preservation but to learn more about its many
aspects. Perhaps becoming aware and involved as an individual and
volunteer will lead you to a career in preservation.

Historic preservation careers involve incredibly diverse fields:
teaching, archeology, architecture, law, urban planning, landscape
architecture, tourism, government, museum curation, communications,
business, non-profits, public policy advocacy, arts and crafts, design,
technology, research (both historical and technical), construction---and
that's just a start. Historic preservation careers can be highly
localized, or broadly international, or anywhere in between. There are
more than 50 American universities and colleges offering historic
preservation majors of some description, which is remarkable when you
consider that the very first such higher education degree program was
created in 1973.

### Volunteer Web Resources:

National Trust's Volunteer in Preservation:
www.nationaltrust.org/volunteer/search.asp

National Park Service Jobs and Volunteer Opportunities:
www.cr.nps.gov/about.htm

Save Our History Volunteering:
www.saveourhistory.com/educators/volunteer_guidelines.html

### Career Web Resources:

National Council for Preservation Education: www.uvm.edu/histpres/ncpe

North Carolina Historic Preservation Office:
www.hpo.dcr.state.nc.us/careers.htm

American Historical Association:
www.historians.org/PUBS/careers/chapter5.htm

National Trust for Historic Preservation:
www.nationaltrust.org/help/downloads/CareersandEducation.pdf

# National Register of Historic Places is a Menu for Historic Travel and Education

The National Register of Historic Places is the nation's official list
of cultural resources worthy of preservation.

The nearly 79,000 districts, monuments, buildings, and sites on the
National Register also provide insights into what people in individual
communities think is worth preserving. They offer opportunities on the
local, state, regional, and national level for both travel destinations
and educational opportunities.

Plus, the National Register is a way to get involved in historic
preservation. Students, teachers, individuals, and organizations aware
of historic properties that meet the criteria for listing but are not
yet recognized can prepare and send nominations in, working in
conjunction with local and state preservation organizations and offices.
Also included in the National Register are all historic areas in the
National Park System and more than 2,300 National Historic Landmarks,
which have been designated by the Secretary of the Interior because of
their importance to all Americans.

Created by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National
Register is part of a national program to coordinate and support public
and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect historic and
archeological resources. Properties listed in the National Register
include districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects that are
significant in American history, architecture, archeology, engineering,
and culture.

National Register properties are distinguished by having been evaluated
according to uniform standards. These criteria recognize the
accomplishments of all people who have contributed to the history and
heritage of the United States and are designed to help state and local
governments, federal agencies, and others identify important historic
and archeological properties worthy of preservation and of consideration
in planning and development decisions.

Listing in the National Register contributes to preserving historic
properties in a number of ways:

-   Recognition that a property is of significance to the nation, the
    state, or the community.

-   Consideration in the planning for federal or federally assisted
    projects.

-   Eligibility for select federal tax benefits.

-   Qualification for federal assistance for historic preservation, when
    funds are available.

There are two especially valuable public educational and travel programs
conducted by the National Park Service in association with the National
Register:

-   Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) uses properties listed on the
    National Register of Historic Places to enliven history, social
    studies, geography, civics, and other subjects. TwHP has created a
    variety of products and activities that help teachers bring historic
    places into the classroom.

-   The Travel Itinerary series is produced through an innovative
    partnership program with the National Conference of State Historic
    Preservation Officers, and various state and local organizations
    interested in increasing tourism and showcasing their unique
    historic properties. Working in collaboration with chambers of
    commerce, county preservation commissions, and entire cities and
    municipalities, this series offers historic guides to destinations
    around the country. Each itinerary highlights different geographic
    regions or important themes in American history. National Register
    Travel Itineraries can help you discover these historic destinations
    online or in person!

Much more information about the National Register, including how to list
a property, and links to the Teaching with Historic Places and National
Register Travel Itineraries, are available at the official Web site,
www.cr.nps.gov/nr/about.htm.

# Architecture Reflects Both Culture and Available Construction Technology and Materials

Architecture, the design of buildings, results in the "built
environment" that reflects the culture that created it and the materials
available to that society. And this fact far precedes the European
settlement of North America.

The great timber and earth lodges of the Mandan Indians are different
from the buffalo skin tents of the Lakota Indians, and both designs
reflect the lifestyles and cultures of the people who used them.

The architecture of the English colonies on the East Coast in the 1600s
and 1700s was much different from the architecture of the Spanish
settlements in what is today New Mexico and California, as well as the
French colonies of Louisiana and Alabama during the same era.

The houses dug into the sides of ravines or built of squares of sod in
the upper Great Plains reflect what was available to the settlers in the
1800s, as do the log cabins built with trees felled from the great
forests that covered much of the eastern half of the United States.

The U.S. Capitol and the White House were early, purposely grand
architectural statements by a tiny new country to demonstrate to the
great capitals and empires of the Old World that this fledgling nation
could and would stand equal to them in the world community.

The way in which cities and towns developed and grew became statements
of their uniqueness and helped determine and reflect their characters by
their structures, their placement, and the materials available to them
at various periods in time.

By the way, what's the style of your house and your school? How do they
reflect the character of your community? Who else has lived or studied
there? Perhaps that is worthy of study. And possibly that research will
help preserve a piece of American history.

You might want to visit the National Building Museum in Washington,
D.C., where you'll really begin to get an education about architecture
and its importance and its links to history. See www.nbm.org.

#  

# State Historic Preservation Officers Key to Heritage Resources in Every State and Territory

As part of the system created by the National Historic Preservation Act
of 1966, every state and U.S. territory has a State Historic
Preservation Officer (SHPO).

Their job is to represent the historic preservation interests of the
state or territory. Specifically, their duties include the following:

-   Locate and record historic resources through surveys;

-   Nominate significant historic resources to the National Register of
    Historic Places;

-   Foster historic preservation programs at the local government level
    and the creation of preservation ordinances;

-   Provide funds for preservation activities;

-   Comment on projects under consideration for the federal historic
    preservation tax incentive;

-   Review all federal projects for their impact on historic properties
    in accordance with Section 106;

-   Provide technical assistance on rehabilitation projects and other
    preservation activities to federal agencies, state and local
    governments, and the private sector.

The National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers
maintains a Web site, www.ncshpo.org, that offers a link to every
state's preservation office.

# Tribal Historic Preservation Officers More Recent Addition to NHPA

American Indians and Native Hawaiians are of great importance to
historic preservation efforts both on the local and national levels.

It is difficult to find a place in the Americas without traces of
pre-Columbian occupation and habitation, and of course the stories of
individual Indians, tribes, and Native Hawaiians are part of the larger
story of the United States. Moreover, people native to the United States
before it was the United States have a special, nation-to-nation status
that was created by provisions of the U.S. Constitution.

While SHPOs were created by the 1966 National Historic Preservation Act,
it wasn't until the early 1990s that Congress amended the law to provide
for Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (THPOs). THPOs are officially
designated by a federally-recognized Indian tribe to direct a program
approved by the National Park Service, and the THPO must have assumed
some or all of the functions of SHPOs on lands governed by those tribes.
Before a tribe assumes the functions of a SHPO, the National Historic
Preservation Act requires it to submit a formal plan to the National
Park Service describing how the proposed THPO functions will be carried
out.

Similar to SHPOs, THPOs have a national office that coordinates their
individual efforts. More information on, and links to, THPOs is
available at the Web site of the National Association of Tribal Historic
Preservation Officers (NATHPO) at www.nathpo.org.

#  

# THE ADVISORY COUNCIL ON HISTORIC PRESERVATION:

**Leadership in Historic Preservation**

Since 1966, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) has
advanced its leadership role in preserving America's heritage in the
broad sense that was envisioned in the National Historic Preservation
Act (NHPA). The NHPA established a national policy to "foster conditions
under which our modern society and our prehistoric and historic
resources can exist in productive harmony and fulfill the social,
economic, and other requirements of present and future generations."
This policy has guided the ACHP in the full range of its efforts to
promote and encourage historic preservation across the nation.

In creating the ACHP, Congress recognized the need for an independent
entity to oversee and coordinate the NHPA's policies and mandates.
Today, the ACHP maintains that unique role as the only federal entity
created to address historic preservation issues exclusively.

Through its diverse membership of presidential appointees and federal
agency heads, the ACHP promotes efficient interaction between the
federal government and states, Indian tribes, Native Hawaiian
organizations, local governments, and citizens on heritage issues. Its
special perspective and authorities equip it to identify and address
many of the issues that confront the federal government and its
preservation partners.

Highlights of the ACHP's work

Section 106 review

Section 106 of the NHPA requires federal agencies to consider historic
preservation values when planning their activities. In the Section 106
review process, a federal agency must identify affected historic
properties, evaluate the proposed action's effects on them, and then
explore ways to avoid or mitigate those effects. When conducting this
assessment, the federal agency must factor in the views of state and
local entities with an interest in the historic properties that will be
affected. In this way, the Section 106 review process can be a powerful
tool that ensures private citizens and state and local governments have
a voice in federal decisions that impact historic properties. *See the
following case study.*

# 

Puerto Rico: Rehabilitation of Defensive Walls, San Juan National
Historic Site

With more than 1.2 million visitors each year, the San Juan National
Historic Site in Puerto Rico is considered a premier cultural icon. The
16th-century site contains the oldest and largest extant Spanish
fortifications in the New World, is listed in the National Register of
Historic Places, and is a World Heritage Site. Over the years, many of
the site's defensive walls have eroded. In a unique collaboration, the
National Park Service (NPS) and the State Historic Preservation Officer
(SHPO) invited an international team of experts to recommend
conservation measures. NPS recently executed a Programmatic Agreement
that implements the team's recommendations.

In 1997, NPS began rehabilitating the historic defensive walls
surrounding the San Juan National Historic Site. After repairing and
stabilizing the defensive walls, NPS planned to cover the surfaces with
a mixture of stucco and mortar. The Puerto Rico SHPO objected to NPS's
determination that its proposed stucco-mortar treatment would not
adversely affect the site, arguing that such treatment would jeopardize
the walls' structural integrity by trapping moisture.

The SHPO also said the treatment would compromise the walls' visual
integrity by covering and destroying the surface, which the SHPO
considered an important character-defining feature because of its patina
of age.

When NPS began stuccoing the site's north wall, however, the SHPO asked
the ACHP to investigate NPS's compliance with the Section 106 review
process. The questions this raised, coupled with evident physical
problems with the stucco application, led NPS and the SHPO to enter into
an agreement in 1998 that detailed a plan for addressing the defensive
walls, and that included the ACHP as a full participant.

In a unique partnership, NPS and the SHPO also invited an international
team of conservation specialists to explore technical and philosophical
issues in the treatment plan. Through the U.S. National Committee of the
International Council on Monuments and Sites, such a team was convened
in 1999, with the ACHP participating as an observer.

Among other recommendations, the team suggested ways to deal with
structural stability, drainage, material loss, vegetation, and previous
repairs, plus the need to test repair materials such as mortar and
render mixes, documenting work as it is undertaken, and ongoing
research.

Based on the recommendations, NPS executed a Programmatic Agreement in
July 2004 with the ACHP, the SHPO, the Puerto Rico Department of
Transportation and Public Works, and two local preservation
organizations on the treatment of the defensive walls around the San
Juan National Historic Site.

# California

Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary

**NOAA Surveys Wreck of Ill-fated Airship USS *Macon***

By David Hall and Rachel Saunders, NOAA

On a stormy February evening in 1935, a massive, cigar-shaped flying
object the size of three 747s plunged into the Pacific Ocean off Point
Sur, California. It wasn't a UFO; it was one of the last great rigid
airships, or "dirigibles," built for the U.S. Navy---the USS *Macon*.

With a belly full of small planes that could be launched and retrieved
in mid-air, the *Macon* was to be the future of naval aviation. When the
silver giant flew overhead, people took notice. Its image would soon
grace everything from murals to postage stamps.

Now, 70 years after the *Macon*'s loss, researchers from the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Marine
Sanctuary Program, U.S. Geological Survey, Moss Landing Marine
Laboratories, and Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) are
working to map the wreck site of the *Macon* and four of its "parasite"
aircraft.

During the first survey of the *Macon* site since the U.S. Navy and
MBARI documented the airship's remains in 1990 and 1991, researchers
operating from the NOAA ship *McArthur II* imaged a deep-water area of
the seafloor south of Point Sur in May, creating a complete map that
captures the full extent of the wreck site.

"We discovered new debris fields that spread out over twice what we
thought the size of the site would be," said the sanctuary program's
Robert Schwemmer, co-principal investigator for the *Macon* expedition.
"It was very exciting."

The expedition marked the sanctuary program's first maritime heritage
expedition within the boundaries of Monterey Bay National Marine
Sanctuary. The survey was the first of a two-phase research effort to
survey this cultural and historic resource. The National Marine
Sanctuaries Act mandates the management and protection of submerged
archaeological sites within the nation's marine sanctuaries.

Data collected during the survey will be used to guide a camera-equipped
robotic submarine, also known as an "ROV," during a follow-up expedition
this year. The goal will be to create a photo mosaic of the wreck site
that can be used to document changes since the very first surveys and to
support a variety of outreach and educational initiatives.

"The remains of the *Macon* provide an excellent opportunity to study
the relatively undisturbed archaeological remnants of a unique period of
U.S. aviation history. We're really looking forward to coming back to
the site with an ROV in 2006," Schwemmer said.

According to researchers, search and survey technology has evolved
significantly since the wreck was first discovered.

"The *Macon* was found because a fisherman dragged up pieces of the
wreck," said Andrew DeVogelaere, Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary
research coordinator. "Researchers then had to guess where it might be
and poke around with a remotely operated vehicle. Now, we can use
acoustic mapping to find shipwrecks and spend less time looking for a
needle in a haystack. When we go back there next fall, we'll be using a
new generation of ROVs."

Built in 1933 as part of the U.S. Navy's lighter-than-air aviation
program, the 785-foot, helium-filled airship was the nation's largest.
Championed by Navy Chief of Aeronautics Admiral William A. Moffett, the
*Macon* truly was a flying aircraft carrier. Like its sister ship, the
USS *Akron*, the dirigible carried five Curtiss F9C-2 Sparrowhawk planes
that were launched and recovered via a special trapeze launch and
recovery system. The small biplanes were intended to protect the
aircraft in war and to serve as scouts.

The *Macon* conducted many successful aircraft launches, including an
infamous mission to clandestinely locate President Franklin Roosevelt
while at sea in the Pacific aboard the cruiser USS *Houston*. Two of the
*Macon*'s Sparrowhawks delivered a morning newspaper and a bag of mail
to the *Houston* to the total surprise of the ship's captain. The
episode almost resulted in the court marshal of the *Macon*'s commander.

The *Macon* was lost while flying north along the California coast to
its homeport near San Jose after encountering severe wind gusts that put
it into a downward roll. As the giant craft continued to drop, orders
were given to jettison the fuel and water ballast tanks in an attempt to
regain control of the airship. But nothing could stop its fatal plunge.
The *Macon* smacked tail first into the Pacific, floating for 40 minutes
before slipping beneath the waves.

Point Sur Light-Station keeper Thomas Henderson, who witnessed the
crash, recalled seeing the tail fin fly into several pieces. It was
later determined that the aluminum-frame ring that supported the upper
tail collapsed, puncturing three of the airship's helium cells.

The *Macon* and *Akron*, which suffered a similar fate, were
state-of-the art in concept, but they were vulnerable in practice. All
of the Navy's dirigibles, except one, eventually crashed.

"The *Macon* is symbolic of the last gasp of rigid airships," said Bruce
Terrell, senior marine archaeologist with the National Marine Sanctuary
Program. "It wasn't the last airship built for the U.S. Navy, but its
loss was one of the nails in the coffin for the U.S. rigid airship
program."

Following the *Macon*'s demise, the U.S. Navy gave up on the use of
rigid lighter-than-air craft. But nevertheless, the airships captured
the public's imagination.

"They are an artifact of the art deco era. It's clear they really
affected the public mind back then. We still associate large airships
with the future, even though their heyday has come and gone," Terrell
said. "Imagine what it must have been like to see one of these things
fly over your house. They were the size of battleships."

The massive hangar that once housed the *Macon* and the smaller,
non-rigid blimps later deployed by the Navy still stands at Moffett
Field, recalling the golden age of airship aviation.

"The *Macon* is part of the history of this area," DeVogelaere said.
"And it's a good way to get people to learn about aspects of NOAA that
they may not be familiar with."

Web Resources:

Underwater history expeditions:
http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/maritime/expeditions/mh_expeditions.html

NOAA and the Preserve America Initiative:
http://preserveamerica.noaa.gov

National Marine Sanctuary Program: http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: www.noaa.gov

Photos: www.achp.gov/niephotos

# Illinois

Chicago

Hilliard Homes Highlight Chicago's Architectural Heritage

The Raymond M. Hilliard Center---perhaps more widely known by its
historic appellation, Hilliard Homes---is a modernist architectural
masterpiece designed by world renowned Chicago architect Bertrand
Goldberg.

Hilliard Homes was one of those uniquely important buildings that was
placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999 despite being
less than 50 years old. The structures in the complex are associated
with the modernist architectural movement. The center's entry in the
National Register cites architecture, community planning and
development, social history, politics and government as major factors
contributing to its overall importance.

Goldberg is just one of a number of architects who have created the
legacy of built environments that make city collections of architecture
unique in America (and Chicago in particular). Although perhaps little
known to most people, Goldberg was a visionary born in Chicago in 1913,
became internationally renowned, and changed the face of Chicago before
his death in 1997.

Interestingly, Hilliard Homes was completed in 1966 by the Chicago
Housing Authority (CHA) with funding from the U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development (HUD). This housing project was completed during
the height of the rush to modernization in many urban centers in the
very same year the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (NHPA) was
enacted, in large part in response to the destruction of historic places
by urban renewal efforts.

Hilliard Homes was an example of getting contemporary construction in
urban areas right in the 1960s. Today it is an example of treating a
now-historic property exactly right to allow it to serve its purpose and
survive into the future. When rehabilitation is complete, the Raymond M.
Hilliard Center will be the largest public housing redevelopment project
in the country. However, before its renovation began, it was in danger
of being lost. By the mid-1990s the complex had badly deteriorated and
the structures were only partially occupied. Responding to the need to
save this architecturally and historically significant landmark, the CHA
designated Hilliard Homes to be the first redevelopment project
completed under its massive Chicago-wide transformation plan.

Although the CHA is demolishing most of its older public housing
high-rises, the agency is preserving and rehabilitating Hilliard Homes
as one of the few architecturally notable sites among them by
transferring it to a developer with covenants that ensure historically
accurate rehabilitation. Redevelopment of Hilliard Homes would not be
possible without federal funding through HUD. The Illinois State
Historic Preservation Officer, CHA, and HUD were all involved in making
certain the plans for redevelopment, renovation, and use were consistent
with the Section 106 provisions of the NHPA. The redevelopment was
planned and is being overseen by HUD, which stipulated the developer
seek historic preservation tax credits and whose supervision assures the
rehabilitation will be in compliance with the Secretary of the Interior
Standards for historic property renovations.

The rehabilitation retains Goldberg's unique architectural design while
incorporating upgraded fire protection, central air and heat, overhauled
elevators and building systems. Each building will feature a newly
updated entry system, ample parking, community rooms, decks, basketball
and tennis courts, and a rose garden.

# Kentucky

Lincoln's Legacy Lives On In His Old Kentucky Homes

By Kentucky Heritage Council / State Historic Preservation Office

Who was America's greatest president? Many experts and laypeople would
give that honor to Abraham Lincoln, although George Washington, Teddy
Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and a number of others would have
strong supporters. It's a question well worth examining and debating for
the light it sheds on our history and the different aspects of American
life deemed important to various people.

While the question is good for an interesting and enlightening debate,
we can all agree that Lincoln was the greatest preservationist of all
the presidents. He preserved the United States of America itself. He led
the nation through the Civil War and began the legal process of the
government outlawing the practice of slavery with an amazing blend of
humility, humanity, determination, and wisdom. It is hard to imagine any
other person being capable of steering the nation through that
significant time of national crisis and triumph.

He is beloved as well as revered because, despite humble origins, very
little formal schooling, and struggles with personal tragedy and
depression, he triumphed as a person and a president. He left the nation
vastly better than he found it. While the nation not only survived but
was strengthened through his leadership, Lincoln paid the supreme
personal price when he was assassinated by a man seeking revenge for the
defeat of the Confederacy in the Civil War. Ironically, the former
Confederate states would almost certainly have fared far better
immediately after the Civil War than they did had Lincoln served out his
second term of office.

Sinking Creek Farm, LaRue County (formerly Hardin County), Kentucky, was
listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966,
the same day that the National Historic Preservation Act was signed by
President Lyndon Baines Johnson and became law. Most existing historic
holdings of the National Park Service were listed on the National
Register that day because the National Register of Historic Places was
created by the 1966 law.

On February 12, 1809, in a rude log cabin measuring less than 20 feet by
20 feet, Abraham Lincoln was born to Thomas and Nancy (Hanks) Lincoln.
The farm was named after an impressive spring located near where the
cabin was built. A few miles away is Knob Creek Farm, where the family
moved when it turned out that the title to Sinking Spring Farm, which
Thomas Lincoln had purchased for \$200 and the assumption of a small
debt owed by the previous owner, had some serious legal shortcomings
that ultimately resulted in the purchase being invalid.

Abraham Lincoln's earliest memories were from Knob Creek Farm, where he
lived until he was seven, helping his father with carpentry work and
farming. In fact, one of his earliest recollections was of the time he
nearly drowned in Knob Creek and was saved by a neighbor's son. How
different American history would be had Lincoln died in childhood, as
his younger brother, Thomas, did. His older sister, Sarah, also died
young, in her 20s in childbirth. After the family moved to Indiana when
Lincoln was seven, his mother died after being poisoned by toxic plants
that had been eaten by a cow whose milk she drank.

Today you can see the places where Lincoln lived his early years in
Kentucky, before his family joined the national movement west. They went
first to Indiana and then to Illinois, where he made his mark as a youth
and man, built a statewide and then national reputation, and became
president of the United States.

Lincoln continues to capture our imagination. Now he is the subject of a
national, two-year celebration planned from 2008-2010 by the Abraham
Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, a 15-member panel created by Congress.
Across the country, communities, organizations, and individuals are
planning parades, museum exhibitions, performances, and other activities
in his honor.

Perhaps the most significant historic site associated with Lincoln is
the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site, which now houses
a neo-classical building dedicated on the centennial of his birth in
1908 with a cornerstone laid by President Theodore Roosevelt. Located on
Sinking Spring Farm, the memorial houses a modest log cabin symbolic of
the one in which he was born. (Both his birth cabin and the home in
which he lived at Knob Creek Farm no longer exist.) The spring that was
the farm's namesake still bubbles and flows nearby.

A few miles away is the site of Knob Creek Farm where Lincoln and his
family lived before moving to Indiana in 1816. A log tavern, restaurant,
and reconstructed cabin built in 1933 and billed as the Lincoln Boyhood
Home are now considered to be classic examples of early American
roadside architecture. The Mary Todd Lincoln House in Lexington was home
to Mary Ann Todd (the future Mrs. Lincoln), from 1832 to 1839, and she
and her husband visited often after their marriage.

Constructed in 1803-06 in the late Georgian style, the home's 14 rooms
attest to the socioeconomic standing of one of Lexington's most
influential families. All of these sites are listed in the National
Register of Historic Places.

Web Resources:

Lincoln Birthplace, National Park Service: www.nps.gov/abli

Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission:
www.lincolnbicentennial.gov/index.php

Kentucky Lincoln Bicentennial Commission:
www.history.ky.gov/Programs/Lincoln_Bicentennial_Commission.htm

Kentucky Heritage Council / State Historic Preservation Office:
www.heritage.ky.gov

***Did You Know?***

*The cabin where Abraham Lincoln was born was probably a typical
frontier dwelling: about 18 by 16 square feet, a dirt floor, one window
and one door, a small fireplace, a shingled roof, and a low chimney made
of clay, straw, and hard wood. The tiny window opening might have been
covered with greased paper, animal skin, or an old quilt to keep out
summer insects and the cold winter wind.*

# Massachusetts

Lenox

The Mount Tells the Tale of Edith Wharton

Edith Wharton was an extraordinary woman who was born into wealth and
privilege on January 24, 1862, in an era when American women were
second-class citizens of the United States of America.

In her novels and other works, she recorded how this status affected the
upper classes, becoming such an accomplished writer that she was the
first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, in 1921, for her
novel *The Age of Innocence*. She was also the first woman awarded an
honorary doctorate from Yale University and full membership in the
American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Wharton became famous writing about the peculiar social structure of the
upper class and the plight of upper-class women who were often virtual
appendages of their husbands and dependent upon a good marriage to make
their fortune in life. However, her first book was *The Decoration of
Houses*, co-authored with architect Ogden Codman, which appeared in
1897.

The Mount, Wharton's 1902 country estate located in Lenox,
Massachusetts, is a National Historic Landmark. In this place she put
her theories and thoughts about what a house and its gardens should be
into tangible form. The Mount, one of a small percentage of National
Historic Landmarks dedicated to a woman, was where some of Wharton's
most important literary work was written. It was the only house and
gardens she designed and reflects the design principles she articulated
in her first major book. While creating her own gardens at the Mount,
she wrote, and in 1904 published, *Italian Villas and Their Gardens*.
Both books remain in print because of their great importance to
architectural and gardening history and practice.

Despite Wharton's love of the Mount, her husband Theodore sold the house
during a series of sometimes bizarre actions that reflected their bad
marriage and his deteriorating mental and physical health. Afterwards,
her beloved home suffered from age and neglect as it passed through
different owners and varying uses. The structure and gardens fell into
such a state of disrepair that it became an eyesore and embarrassment to
the local community.

No longer. Since its 2002 reopening as a meticulously restored villa
meeting high standards of historic renovation, including compliance with
the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for historic structure
renovations, visitation has increased more than three-fold. An icon of
literary history was saved from destruction to instruct and inspire
future generations. It continues to tell the history of this
extraordinary woman through the house she designed and loved. In 2005,
the resurrection of the Mount was honored with a Preserve America
Presidential Award.

Web Resources:

The Mount: www.edithwharton.org

Secretary's Standards: www.cr.nps.gov/hps/tps/tax/rehabstandards.htm

Photos: www.achp.gov/niephotos

***Did You Know?***

*Women did not receive the universal right to vote in the United States
of America until the Nineteenth Amendment was enacted on August 26,
1920. Before this time, women often had more limited property and legal
rights than men. The adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment was part of
the evolutionary process of the Constitution and culminated an organized
women's suffrage movement that dated back more than 70 years.*

Newspaper Lesson:

Find newspaper articles of successful women in the news. Choose a person
to do a report on using newspaper articles and other research. Identify
who she is, what is her area of expertise, what is she accomplishing,
what education level has she attained to be able to do her work, and
other information as requested by your teacher. Based on articles in the
newspaper and online resources, discuss as a class whether women have
the same rights and opportunities as men.

# Minnesota

Minneapolis

After Disastrous Fire, Mill City Museum Ruins Remain to Tell Tales of
Agriculture and Industry

In 1878, what was then the world's largest flour mill was completed on
the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Known as the Washburn A Mill, the wheat milled there over the next 50
years was sufficient to bake 12 million loaves of bread every day. It
required about 175 full train cars a day to transport the wheat the mill
turned into flour. This wheat came from approximately 23,000 individual
farms scattered as far west as the Rocky Mountains and north into the
fields of Canada. By 1880 when the mill opened, 70 percent of the
cropland in Minnesota was planted in wheat.

Industrialization and a booming agricultural sector were rapidly
transforming the United States. The population of Minneapolis increased
by 1,300 percent between 1870 and 1890 as people flocked to the area to
find work in its mills and related industries---of which the Washburn A
Mill was only one example. Between 1880 and 1930, Minneapolis was known
as the "Flour Milling Capital of the World." Business centered on
agriculture was and remains extraordinarily important to the American
economy, but that is a largely underappreciated fact among many
contemporary people.

As coal from American mines provided energy for the world's
industrialization, flour and other agricultural products from the United
States' fertile fields helped feed the world's people during this period
of rapid change. As the world benefited from American production,
America benefited from lessons gleaned from other nations---covertly.

Espionage is not just a matter for governments. Businesses have long
engaged in industrial espionage. The chief original designer of the
Washburn A Mill, Austrian engineer William de la Barre, at one point
worked full time in a competing mill in Budapest, Hungary. There, he
drew models of milling equipment that would later be used in improving
the Washburn A Mill operations. He also visited other mills in Europe to
gain insight into practices that would improve production in
Minneapolis.

Eventually, through technological and other changes and the passage of
time, the Washburn A Mill began to decline in importance in regard to
its original purpose. However, even though it finally stopped milling
flour in 1965 and was essentially abandoned for many years, today it
again makes a vital contribution to the local economy, character, and
quality of life.

The Washburn A Mill used to feed the body. Now it feeds the mind, and
its subject is the importance of agriculture and related industries to
Minneapolis and Minnesota in particular, and to America in general. How
that story is told is a riveting story itself.

The Washburn A Mill, like the mythical Phoenix, literally was raised
from the ashes in renewed and revitalized form. After ceasing production
in 1965, the mill was placed on the National Register of Historic
Places---created by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966---in
1971. In 1983, its status increased as it was listed as a National
Historic Landmark and the surrounding area became the St. Anthony Falls
Historic District.

It is important to understand that the Washburn A Mill and more than two
dozen other mills and industrial structures of various types were
located at St. Anthony Falls on the Mississippi River during the 19th
century to utilize the power of the river's moving water to operate
machinery. St. Anthony Falls is the only waterfall on the Mississippi
River and is said to be, within the United States, second in natural
waterpower only to Niagara Falls. This industrial cluster fell into
disrepair and neglect as time passed, and the area became blighted and
run down. Although located on a beautiful river, it fell on hard times.
The St. Anthony Falls Heritage Board was created to help renovate and
revitalize the area, which includes many important cultural and natural
heritage assets.

In 1991, times became much harder for the Washburn A Mill when a fire
believed to have been started by vagrants living in the structure
destroyed it. Or was it destroyed?

The Minnesota State Historic Preservation Officer resisted the natural
immediate inclination to tear down the ruins of the Washburn A Mill
after the fire and was joined by officials and preservation interests
who also felt there were alternatives to demolition. The Minnesota
Historical Society worked with architects, the city, the county, private
and corporate funding partners, state and federal officials to preserve
the ruins and use them as part of the strategy to revitalize the
once-thriving district that contained the roots for much of Minnesota's
origin.

The bold, brilliant concepts they created resulted in the 2003 opening
of the Mill City Museum, a modern nine-story structure that incorporates
and uses the remains of the Washburn A Mill to help tell the story of
"The Flour Milling Capital of the World." In addition to the museum,
public and educational programs and special events take place there, and
part of the structure offers rental offices to private businesses. A
ninth-floor observation deck offers views of St. Anthony Falls and the
historic district, which blends historic assets with new construction,
parkland, and new businesses, and attracts an ever-increasing number of
residents and visitors.

More than two-thirds of the funding necessary for Mill City Museum
construction was raised from private sources, with various local, state,
and federal governmental entities helping with the rest. The Mill City
Museum is proof that sustainable historic preservation is not a cost for
maintaining the past, but an investment in the future.

Web Resources:

Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office: www.mnhs.org/shpo

Photos: www.achp.gov/niephotos

# Montana

Kootenai National Forest

Historic Raven Natural Resources Learning Center Preserves Forest
Service History, Educates Urban Youth

Deep in the forested mountains of northwest Montana, snuggled near the
Canadian border, where whitewater rivers flow and grizzly bears roam,
there is a place called Historic Raven Natural Resources Learning
Center.

That's what it is called now, but beginning in 1906 this was the Raven
Ranger Station, dating to the origins of the U.S. Forest Service, United
States Department of Agriculture. Located not too far west of Glacier
National Park, and 60 miles south of the town of Libby, one century ago
Raven Ranger Station served as a horse- and mule-powered supply station
for the southern end of the 2 1/2 million acre Kootenai National Forest.

During the Great Depression, between 1934 and 1942, the Civil
Conservation Corps constructed eight buildings at the site. The log
buildings include an office, garage and maintenance building, bunkhouse,
cookhouse, fire cache, gas shed, and combination living quarters/garage.
Before and after the addition, the ranger station served not only the
needs of the Forest Service but also as a community center for people
living in the remote area. It was a mail drop for 70 years, it provided
the first telephone connections in the area, and was used as a central
meeting and gathering place.

But modern technology and roads made the station obsolete and unneeded
by the mid-1970s. In 1984 a major forest fire roared around the site,
burning 13,000 acres but leaving the Raven Ranger Station structures and
40 surrounding acres of old growth pine unscathed. An old-timer who had
not seen the station since the 1930s happened by after the fire and
said, "It's wonderful to see a place from the past like this."

But the buildings were no longer needed to serve their original purposes
and were becoming ruins through lack of use and maintenance---a process
the preservation community calls "demolition by neglect."

A Forest Service survey of important historic sites in the region that
contains Raven Ranger Station confirmed that it ranked as the most
historic property in the inventory. It was determined to be eligible for
listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Section 106 of the
National Historic Preservation Act requires federal agencies to take
historic worth into consideration when considering the effects of their
activities and to consult with other interested and affected parties in
deciding their fate. In this case that included nearby residents and
communities, and the Montana State Historic Preservation Officer. There
was great community support for preserving the ranger station. But
without the funds to maintain a now-surplus property, how could that be
done?

The answer came in the form of community action and involvement.
Communities for a Great Northwest is a non-profit natural resource
education foundation that was formed in Libby, Montana, in 1988.
Provider Pals is a project formed in Libby in 1997 whose mission is to
instruct youths---especially those from urban areas who are not familiar
with rural areas. It teaches them about the industries and people who
produce the raw materials used to create the products society requires
and consumes, such as boards for construction or mined minerals to
manufacture bicycles or machinery.

In agreement and partnership with the Forest Service, the Raven Ranger
Station was renovated and put to use as a learning center. The saw shop
was converted to a rental cabin. The Ranger's house is used for a
learning center, and the warehouse/garage became a classroom building.
The bunkhouse continued to be a bunkhouse for students coming to the
programs at Historic Raven Natural Resources Learning Center. Funding
for the effort is provided by companies and organizations across the
nation, and students participating in the week-long summer sessions in
northwest Montana come from places such as Little Rock, Arkansas, San
Diego, California, New York, New York; Washington, D.C.; Detroit,
Michigan; and Los Angeles, California.

Historic Raven Learning Center received a 2004 Preserve America
Presidential Award for its innovative preservation and reuse of a
historic U.S. Forest Service ranger station.

Web Resources:

Provider Pals: www.providerpals.com/raven.html

# Nationwide Program

Giant Blue Whales and World's Largest Santa Claus Benefit from Quirky
Corporate Preservation Program

Hampton Hotels has come up with a seemingly peculiar, but actually
perfectly appropriate, suggestion to their customers: Hit the road.

And the company is suggesting exactly where they can go.

They can waddle up to the Big Duck in Flanders, New York, or finally
understand how he can carry so much in that pack when viewing the
World's Largest Santa Claus in North Pole, Alaska. When in the
neighborhood they might be interested in the Jesse Owens Memorial Park
in Oakville, Alabama, or the Blue Whale in Catoosa, Oklahoma. The
Gingerbread Castle in Hamburg, New Jersey sounds like a tasteful
destination, as does the Eat-Rite Diner of historic Route 66 in St.
Louis, Missouri. At the far end of the contiguous United States
travelers can find La Plaza Park in San Bernardino, California, near
Route 66's western terminus. The kind of environment that educated many
of our ancestors can be experienced at Wash Oak Schoolhouse in
Northville, Michigan, and the days of horse and buggies are brought to
mind by the covered historic Hogback Bridge at Winterset, Iowa.

These are just a few of the places receiving volunteer refurbishment
assistance so far through Hampton's program. The initiative identifies
and assists in rehabilitation of significant, iconic, or just plain
quirky roadside attractions across the nation. Employees give their
efforts, the company provides funding---\$2 million to work on 25
landmarks to date---and communities, heritage resources, and happy road
tripping tourists across the nation benefit.

The program, wholly funded by the company, originated in Hampton's
search for an appropriate way to create recognition for its more than
1,350 Hampton hotels along U.S. highways, build customer loyalty, and
encourage more automobile trips to experience authentic heritage
resources. In 2000, Hampton conducted a survey among guests and learned
92 percent believed it was important to preserve roadside landmarks,
while 65 percent said they would be more likely to frequent businesses
that were involved in preserving America's landmarks. "Explore the
Highway with Hampton, Save-A-Landmark" resulted.

The program is designed to involve communities, employees, and guests.
Communities play an essential role in support for the program from local
officials and suggestions from local residents about potential landmarks
that need and deserve assistance. Employees are enlisted to participate
and support the program, building better links with local communities,
guests, and pride in being part of the Hampton enterprise. Customers are
literally given the suggestion that it is to their benefit to hit the
road, and assistance in such forms as Hidden Landmarks are provided on
the hamptonlandmarks.com Web site. These offerings include more than
1,000 lesser-known pop culture and hidden landmarks across the nation.
This is where to find where Elvis Presley first plucked a guitar string
and where Babe Ruth first slugged a home run.

This program represents a corporation stepping up to the plate with an
innovative, replicable model to use private funding for public benefit.
It sets a precedent and pattern for others to emulate. It demonstrates
preservation is a good investment. And it indicates the nationwide
preservation ethic is strengthening as appreciation for the uniqueness
of our diverse culture and history grows.

The project has two noteworthy historic preservation outcomes to date.
First, it is preserving more recent unique heritage resources, the stuff
of Route 66 "Mother Road" legend, places and objects that might
otherwise be ignored and simply vanish. Second, it was sufficiently
significant and innovative to receive a 2006 Preserve America
Presidential Award.

# New Mexico

San Rafael Canyon

**Three-Century-Old Three Corn Ruin Reveals Contemporary Historic
Preservation Issues**

By Tom Drake

New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs

Three Corn Ruin, a Navajo pueblito, was built in stages between
approximately 1717 and 1728. Perched on a massive 50-foot tall isolated
bedrock promontory along the periphery of San Rafael Canyon, the Navajo
chose the site for its limited access. But it is not immune to the
elements, damage from visitors, and the greed of looters and vandals
today.

A 1999 preservation assessment funded by a Historic Preservation Fund
(HPF) grant administered by the New Mexico Historic Preservation
Division found masonry walls in critical disrepair; some of them having
been seriously undermined by people digging under walls and into the
rooms of 15 extant masonry structures. A masonry structure of 13 rooms
and two forked-stick hogans built on a small plaza comprise the
pueblito, which is surrounded by a defensive wall along its periphery.
If a stabilization plan was not devised, the situation would have been
catastrophic, according to Larry Baker, executive director of the San
Juan County Museum.

"In other words, walls would fall down," he said in a recent telephone
interview.

The \$2,000 HPF grant paid for what Baker described as a bare-bones
assessment, but it later played a large role in securing a 2005
legislative allocation that funded the \$99,970 stabilization of the
site. (The HPF was created by the National Historic Preservation Act of
1966 to provide a source of funding for State Historic Preservation
Officers, Tribal Historic Preservation Officers, and related
preservation activities.)

The San Juan County Museum, with Baker as principal investigator and
Chris Zellers, project director, was awarded a consulting contract
through the State Land Office. Materials were assembled for the required
excavation permit---including the HPF-funded Preservation Assessment
along with site descriptions, a summary of previous research and project
methods and objectives---were submitted to HPD and approved by its
governor-appointed Cultural Properties Review Committee in April 2005.

It also funded 151 days of physical work spent stabilizing the pueblito.
Workers erected extensive scaffolding around its huge boulder. Materials
compatible with those originally used to build the pueblito were
selected including mortar, sediment, water, stone, and backfill sediment
from the area.

Excessive rebuilding and repointing of masonry ruins are considered
inappropriate preservation measures. Baker said only necessary repairs
were made, and no reconstruction was done at the site.

"We did not want to alter the original architectural fabric," he said.

The assessment of Three Corn Ruin, named for a petroglyph found at the
base of its rock, revealed a wealth of information. Inhabited for only
10 years after its completion, the pueblito's original roofs still
provide shelter. The leaves used to fabricate them were dated to 1717.
Two burial areas were discovered near the site, along with burned rock
piles and numerous pot shards. Extensive trash scatter including native
ceramics and a piece of Chinese porcelain dating from 1644 to 1722---the
oldest of its sort discovered in New Mexico---rested on the boulder's
slopes.

Baker, along with Jim Copeland, an archaeologist with the Farmington
Bureau of Land Management, and Tom Whitson, a volunteer site steward
from the New Mexico Four Corners region, were awarded Heritage
Preservation Awards at the 2006 ceremony in May for their work in
establishing what is considered the premier site steward program in the
state.

HPD SiteWatch, funded by the Historic Preservation Fund, has eight
chapters statewide with Northwest New Mexico Site Stewards recently
joining the fold. The program trains citizen volunteers to monitor
archaeological and historic sites for signs of erosion, vandalism and
looting. Baker said Northwest Site Steward volunteers visit Three Corn
Ruin approximately twice each month, and that he drops by periodically
to check on the site. Although access to Three Corn Ruin requires a
State Land Office permit, Baker readily admitted that its remoteness
makes random visits largely undetectable. But he believes the site
stewards are playing a crucial role in preserving the ruin and the
recent work, which he estimated would stabilize the 300-year-old masonry
walls for at least another 10 years, making only routine repairs and
maintenance necessary for the preservation of this invaluable resource.

# Web Resources:

# Photos: www.achp.go/niephotos 

# North Carolina

**Tennessee**

Virginia

**Georgia**

Blue Ridge Mountains

Blue Ridge Heritage Initiative Preserves and Promotes Cultural and
Natural Heritage Assets

Culture is as much a part of heritage as history texts or important
buildings, and preserving and protecting culture is the focus of the
Blue Ridge Heritage Initiative that threads through the southern
Appalachian Mountains in parts of North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia,
and Georgia.

This project won a Preserve America Presidential Award in 2004, one of
the first such awards ever given, because it was seen as an exemplary
model for a means to link together a widespread group of cultural and
natural assets and provide a logical means to inform people about them,
as well as enticing Americans to experience these places for themselves.

The initiative promotes four groups of heritage tourism trails: Blue
Ridge Music; Cherokee Heritage; Craft Heritage; and Farms, Gardens, and
Countryside. Beautiful detailed guidebooks for each of these driving
tours help visitors explore important cultural stories, places, and
traditions of the southern mountains. A collaborative effort of such
diverse groups as the North Carolina Arts Council, Tennessee Overhill
Heritage Association, Virginia Humanities Council, the Eastern Band of
Cherokee Indians, HandMade in America, and the National Park Service's
Blue Ridge Parkway, the initiative shows how partnerships can be formed
and focused to benefit all.

The group set designation as a National Heritage Area as a major
ultimate goal to protect regional resources and traditions, and
proceeded to develop community projects that would demonstrate to
residents that heritage tourism could meet their needs. The concept was
well received by people living in the area, who were eager to preserve
their heritage and spark more interest in the area.

The result was creation of four trails, which are listed below with
descriptions offered by the National Park Service followed by an
analysis of some of the perhaps surprising results of the initiative.

-   *The Craft Heritage Trails* wind through back roads and scenic
    byways in 21 mountain counties along the Blue Ridge Parkway and
    showcase artisan studios, undiscovered shops and galleries on eight
    separate trails in 74 communities.

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-   *The Blue Ridge Music Trails* provide visitors with the opportunity
    to meet local musicians, visit venues that showcase Blue Ridge
    Mountain folk music and traditional dance, and participate in many
    of the musical performances, venues, gatherings, and festivals
    offered throughout the year within 44 Virginia and North Carolina
    counties and towns.

-   *The Cherokee Heritage Trail* consists of three major auto loops and
    highlights sites of ancient towns, important places in Cherokee
    myths and legends, and museums that display Cherokee artifacts. The
    trail provides the opportunity for visitors to meet with Cherokee
    artists, who share their story-telling, music, arts, and crafts in
    more than 15 North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia communities.

-   *The Farms, Gardens and Countryside Trails* of the Blue Ridge
    consist of seven auto loop trails that traverse 87 western North
    Carolina communities rich with horticultural and agricultural
    heritage sites.

The Blue Ridge Parkway is a 469-mile scenic drive corridor that connects
Shenandoah and Great Smoky Mountains National Parks and is located in
the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and North Carolina. The heritage
trails travel within 50 counties in four states including all 29
counties along the Blue Ridge Parkway, from Waynesboro, Virginia in the
north to Chattanooga, Tennessee, showcasing 150 distinct southern
Appalachian communities.

# Web Resources:

Photos: www.achp.gov/niephotos

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc147211149 .anchor}Ohio, Arizona

Dayton, Green Valley

The First, and Thankfully Not the Last, Words in Flight Straddle the
Nation

If you want to see where aviation began, and where it all could have
ended, Dayton, Ohio, and Green Valley, Arizona, are places to experience
important milestones in flight and explore authentic places where
history was made.

Dayton, Ohio, is where two bicycle-making inventive brothers named
Orville and Wilbur Wright designed and created the first airplane. Green
Valley, Arizona, is where the sole remaining survivor of the launch
facility for a Cold War class of missiles is located. And it is
preserved to impart its powerful story about a weapon that helped win
that war simply by its existence.

Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park commemorates the work
of Orville and Wilbur Wright in the area and in the structures and
places where the brothers lived and worked. Historic sites at the park
include the building that housed the Wright Cycle Company and Wright and
Wright Printing, and the Huffman Prairie Flying Field. The 1905 biplane
*Wright Flyer III* also is on display*.* All three of these sites are
National Historic Landmarks that help demonstrate the home environment
is critical to the process of learning. The Wright's attempts to conquer
the air began when they were children here and received encouragement
from their parents to experiment and investigate whatever aroused their
curiosity. One of their key discoveries enabling powered flight was made
by carefully watching buzzards fly around a hill in Dayton and noting
how the birds' wings angled as they turned. The pair tackled the
mysteries of powered flight and at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, flew into
history on Dec. 17, 1903. Kitty Hawk, of course, is another National
Historic Landmark.

A relative eyeblink of time later, in the aftermath of World War II when
the Iron Curtain of Communism had descended across many nations, Air
Force Facility Missile Site 8 (571-7) Military Reservation in Green
Valley, Arizona, became home to the Titan II Intercontinental Ballistic
Missile (ICBM). This National Historic Landmark is now the last
surviving intact site of 54 such Titan II locations that were on instant
alert to launch their nuclear payloads between 1963 and 1987. The Titan
II was the behemoth of the ICBM project, capable of lofting the heaviest
payloads in the nuclear arsenal and delivering them around the globe.
After the launch site was decommissioned, the Titan Missile Museum
opened on May 21, 1986. Nowhere else in the United States is there such
a facility. Access to this once closely guarded site represents a rare
preserved opportunity to fully understand the much-feared prospects of
the conduct of a major nuclear exchange and the government's efforts to
deter it during the Cold War era.

Widely separated geographically by the breadth of the United States, the
time that elapsed between the first manned powered flight on the East
Coast and the deployment of the Titan II missiles in Arizona was a mere
six decades. The significance of both, and their place in creating and
preserving the United States as it exists today, are accessible to the
public thanks to the historic preservation movement.

Web Resources:

Photos: www.achp.gov/niephotos

***Did You Know?***

*The Wright brothers' first successful powered aircraft, named the*
Flyer*, made four flights on Dec. 17, 1903. The longest flight was 852
feet and lasted 59 seconds, slower than a human can run the same
distance.*

# Oklahoma

Fort Sill

## 

Fort Sill, Oklahoma, Tells Tales of Violence, Valor, and Preservation

Many threads of American history are woven together at Fort Sill,
Oklahoma, and in the life of the man who first established the fort.

Major General Philip H. Sheridan was sent to Oklahoma in 1869 to
establish a military post essential for pursuing the wars then raging
across the west against various Indian tribes. On Jan. 8, 1869, soldiers
under his command began the process of creating this frontier outpost,
much of which still remains and can be experienced at the Fort Sill
National Historic District, which includes the largest museum operated
by the U.S. Army.

Of the 46 structures included in the historic district, 26 are occupied
by the Fort Sill Museum. Over the past several years, the fort completed
major restorations of three cavalry barracks and six laundress quarters.
In addition, 14 historic buildings received new roofs, and six cupolas
and 20 chimneys were reconstructed. The fort is also refurbishing the
interior of the cavalry barracks to include two new exhibit galleries
focusing on the warrior tradition of Native American tribes associated
with the history of Fort Sill. Considerable restoration work has been
initiated on the historic guard house.

When Sheridan's men staked out the site that became Fort Sill, he was
leading a campaign into Indian Territory that included six cavalry units
and some famous Army scouts. Both "Buffalo Bill" Cody and "Wild Bill"
Hickock were among those riding with Sheridan. "Buffalo Soldier" troops
from the 10th Cavalry, the famous African American unit, camped at the
site and later constructed some of the stone buildings that can still be
viewed at the Old Post Quadrangle.

Following cessation of hostilities with Indian tribes in the southern
plains region in 1875, much land opened up for white settlement and the
famous Oklahoma land rushes took place in a series stretching over
several years. The final land rush was not a rush at all, but a lottery
offered in July 1901. At Fort Sill, 29,000 hopeful potential
homesteaders registered for the drawing for land.

In 1894 the famous Geronimo and 341 other Apache prisoners of war were
brought to Fort Sill where they lived in villages on the range. Geronimo
was granted permission to travel for a while with Pawnee Bill's Wild
West Show, and he visited President Theodore Roosevelt before dying of
pneumonia in 1909 at Fort Sill, where he is buried.

With the disappearance of the frontier, the mission of Fort Sill
gradually changed from cavalry to field artillery. The first artillery
battery arrived at Fort Sill in 1902, and the last cavalry regiment
departed in May 1907.

The School of Fire for the Field Artillery was founded at Fort Sill in
1911 and continues to operate today as the world-renowned U.S. Army
Field Artillery School. At various times Fort Sill has also served as
home to the Infantry school of Musketry, the School for Aerial
Observers, the Air Service Flying School, and the Army Aviation School.

Today as the U.S. Army Field Artillery Center, Fort Sill remains the
only active Army installation of all the forts on the South Plains built
during the Indian wars. It serves as a national historic landmark and
active home of the U.S. Army Field Artillery.

Fort Sill's Founder Leader in Battle to Preserve Yellowstone National
Park

General Philip H. Sheridan, founder of Fort Sill, Oklahoma, is himself a
subject worthy of study for highlighting the key role the military
played in early conservation and preservation efforts in the United
States.

Born to Irish immigrant parents in Albany, New York, on March 6, 1831,
Sheridan was raised in Somerset, Ohio, went to the U.S. Military Academy
at West Point---where he was suspended for a year after getting in a
fight with another cadet, but returned to finish his education,
graduating in 1853 near the middle of his class---and was posted as part
of a detachment assigned to the Grand Ronde Indian Reservation in Oregon
as a young officer. The Civil War gave him a chance to demonstrate his
leadership skills, and by the age of 31 he was a brigadier general in
the Union forces. He rose to lead the cavalry in the Army of the
Potomac. He was nicknamed "Little Phil" because he stood only 5 ft. 5
in. tall, but he was a ferocious and brilliant cavalry officer and his
stature in the saddle was as high as anyone's.

After the war, Sheridan commanded the 5th Military District in the
former Confederate states of Louisiana and Texas, where he enforced the
right of African Americans to vote and hold office including serving on
juries, and monitored the progress of the states toward re-assimilation
into the United States of America. It was during his tenure that a riot
in New Orleans that occurred during the Louisiana constitutional
convention in 1866 resulted in the deaths of 34 African Americans at the
hands of a mob. As a consequence, Sheridan removed the mayor of New
Orleans from his office, and later ousted the governors of Louisiana and
Texas, citing their opposition to appropriate reconstruction of their
states.

In 1867, President Ulysses S. Grant put Sheridan in charge of the
Department of the Missouri. His orders were to pursue war with Indian
tribes and force them to abide by the terms of treaties and government
policy. It was during this period that he established Fort Sill.

In 1871, Sheridan took several military units to Chicago to assist in
maintaining order and providing assistance in the wake of the Great
Chicago Fire. Fort Sheridan, Illinois, north of Chicago, was named in
his honor largely because of his role in that effort. In 1883 he became
the Commanding General of the U.S. Army, a position he had until shortly
before his death in 1888.

Interestingly, Sheridan was an early conservationist who had a great
deal to do with preservation of the world's first national park.

As a general, he supported efforts and assigned officers to survey the
area that would become Yellowstone National Park during its early
official exploration. As early as 1875, he was trying to put the area
under military control to limit destruction of its unique natural
formations and wildlife. In 1882, when the Department of the Interior
granted development rights in the park to private interests who wanted
to develop a railroad into the park and obtain land for their own uses
and profit, Sheridan organized opposition to the plan and personally
lobbied Congress to better protect the park. His suggestions included
expansion of the park's borders, reducing the amount of development,
prohibiting leases near park natural features, and even putting the area
under military control to protect it. He also arranged an expedition to
the park for President Chester A. Arthur. In 1883, Congress approved
most of Sheridan's plan. Then, in 1886, after numerous park
superintendents had failed to adequately protect the park, Sheridan
ordered the first U.S. Cavalry into the park, and the military
thereafter operated and protected the park until the National Park
Service took over in 1916.

So the marvels of Yellowstone National Park in large part survived and
are intact because of the active preservationist efforts of the U.S.
Army, led by a man who pursued an unyielding scorched earth policy
against the Confederacy in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and
American Indians in the southern plains region of the United States.

*Did You Know?*

*Of course the National Park Service springs to mind when discussing
federal heritage stewardship, but the Department of Defense (DoD) has an
incredible number of historic resources in its possession, including
more than 75 National Historic Landmarks. Many of these properties are
open to the public. DoD's Legacy and Preserving American Heritage
programs highlight the history of former and active military sites, and
provide educational opportunities and information on heritage resources.
Today's travelers and students can explore museums and frontier posts,
or tour battleships and the military academies, with the aid of the
Military Heritage Guidebook and four regional maps. There are more than
300 sites of interest across the United States featured in these
documents, including more than 90 museums and a list of state by state
heritage resources. For more information, visit the following Web
address:
www.denix.osd.mil/denix/Public/Library/NCR/heritagetourism.html?fm-culres.*

# Oregon

Portland

Pioneer Courthouse in Portland, Oregon, Proves Preservation is
Continuous Process

Ironically, America's entry into World War II with all its major
devastation worldwide was a major reason why the richly historic Pioneer
Courthouse in Portland, Oregon, survived to the present day. Fear of
earthquakes is the reason it may continue to survive far into the
future.

The second-oldest existing federal courthouse building west of the
Mississippi River, Pioneer Courthouse was first constructed in the early
1870s after being approved by Congress and President Ulysses S. Grant in
1869. It was designed by a team led by prominent federal architect
Alfred Mullet, who also developed the Old Executive Office Building
(part of the White House complex in Washington, D.C.), and the famous
San Francisco Mint, which survived the great earthquake of 1906. Pioneer
Courthouse was grand indeed for the young port city. Built as a
combination courthouse, post office, and customs office, customs
officers initially received their only reliable information about ships
coming into and leaving the sea and river port by keeping watch from the
building's cupola that towered above the Willamette River dockyard area.

As Portland grew rapidly, the courthouse became too small for all its
intended purposes. When a new courthouse was built in the 1930s, the
elegant Pioneer Courthouse was slated for demolition. But when America
entered World War II, space for government purposes became essential and
the courthouse was essentially conscripted into the war effort. After
the war, the razing of the structure again became a real possibility.
However, the building was an icon of Portland, a historic structure that
was immensely popular with the city's citizens, and its loss would have
left a gaping hole in the city's physical heritage.

The General Services Administration (GSA) began a feasibility study and
determined the popular structure could be rehabilitated and continue to
be used. In the 1970s, Pioneer Courthouse became a National Historic
Landmark, and the space adjacent to it became Pioneer Courthouse Square,
used for civic gatherings, celebrations, and events of all types and
nicknamed "Portland's Living Room."

Over the years, as is typical of government buildings, the interior of
Pioneer Courthouse had become converted into a warren of office spaces
that bore little resemblance to its original grandeur. In 2000 the
interior was renovated, with some original spaces restored and others
modernized for new purposes, as the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
expanded into space abandoned by the U.S. Postal Service.

However, Portland, like much of the West Coast, is in an active seismic
zone. The beloved old building received special treatment in the first
years of the 21st century, when it became one of only approximately 50
buildings in the world protected from earthquakes by seismic isolators.
Essentially, 75 of these devices were put in place beneath the
courthouse's support columns, and they will insulate the building from
earthquake tremors in the future. This means a building GSA considers
one of its five most significant historic structures now enjoys the
protection of the most contemporary engineering practices.

There are two other things to know about the Pioneer Courthouse.

When the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals expanded into the entire building,
local people feared that with no post office, they would lose access to
the structure. The 9th Circuit Court, understanding this concern and not
wanting to deprive the people of Portland from access while providing
for its own essential security, worked with the GSA, the Advisory
Council on Historic Preservation, the Oregon State Historic Preservation
Officer, and the National Park Service to come up with an acceptable
plan. This was done under Section 106 consultation, as created by the
National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. GSA, the building's owner,
organized a Citizens Advisory Committee to help devise the plan allowing
the public to access and enjoy the National Historic Landmark, and help
the Postal Service relocate to another historic building in downtown
Portland so that service would continue to be available to residents and
visitors in the area.

The 75 "friction pendulum seismic isolators" that protect the structure
from earthquakes are far from the only use of modern technology
associated with the project. Thanks to the Web, a documentary film
providing much more detailed historic and technical information is
readily available. The project and the building were so important that
GSA created the documentary "At the Forefront of Adventure and
Architecture: Pioneer Courthouse" to interpret the history of the
building and the remarkable way it was preserved. The film is available
for viewing on the Web at the GSA homepage, www.gsa.gov, in the
"buildings" section under "historic buildings."

# South Carolina

Charleston

***H. L. Hunley* Was First Submarine to Successfully Sink Enemy Ship**

For 131 years the *H.L. Hunley* lay at the bottom the sea just outside
Charleston, South Carolina, its whereabouts unknown since the
Confederate submarine became the first such craft to sink an enemy ship
in battle on the evening of Feb. 17, 1864.

The *Hunley* was not the first submarine. As far back as the
Revolutionary War, a small submarine called the *Turtle* had failed in
its attempt to hook explosives on a British ship and sink it in New York
Harbor. Both the Union and Confederate sides had built unsuccessful
versions of submarines in addition to the *Hunley* during the Civil War.

As an essential part of its Civil War strategy, the United States of
America had put a shipping embargo on traffic to ports that served the
Confederate States of America to prevent the Confederacy from receiving
goods that would prolong the war. This strategy succeeded in slowly
strangling the flow of goods into and out of the Confederate States of
America. Charleston harbor was important not only for its marine
activities but also for the symbolism, as it was at Fort Sumter in the
harbor that the first shots of the Civil War were fired. The *Hunley*
submarine was somewhat of a desperation measure that the Confederates
hoped would help break the blockade, or at least open gaps in it.
Inherently dangerous to its operators, the *Hunley* had already taken 14
former crew members to watery graves in earlier training and test runs.
In fact, it was named after its inventor who had perished within the
treacherous craft.

The *Hunley* was a sleek, small craft that contained some features that
foretold the future of submarines. Most impressively, the submarine
contained areas that could be flooded with water and then pumped dry to
maintain its ability to dive, proceed underwater, and then surface. It
was powered by a propeller turned by cranks depending upon the muscle
power of its crew. Its armament was an explosive mine on the end of a
wooden shaft protruding in front of the *Hunley*, designed to be
attached on an enemy vessel and detonated by a long rope as the
submarine withdrew from the immediate vicinity of its victim. However,
there is some evidence that the mine used in the attack of Feb. 17 might
have been detonated by an electrical connection using a battery.

It was after a long period of preparation that a crew of eight brave
volunteers slipped into the harbor from Charleston and attacked the USS
*Housatonic*, attaching a mine to the ship and sinking it with the loss
of five Union lives. The submarine's crew was to have shown a blue
lantern light after a successful attack to alert people ashore that it
had been successful in its mission and was returning. Some witnesses on
the night it sank the *Housatonic* reported seeing a blue light after
the attack. But the *Hunley* never returned.

That is, it didn't return for 136 years. In 1995, a team led by the
noted, best-selling author Clive Cussler and his team from the National
Underwater and Marine Agency, working with the South Carolina Institute
of Anthropology and Archaeology, found and marked the wreck for later
recovery. In 2000, now in the possession of the U.S. Navy, the *Hunley*
broke through the surface for the first time in 136 years after a
massive recovery and raising effort.

Preservation efforts of this complexity required a large team of expert
and amateur participants. It took a tremendous partnership to find,
raise, and now to conserve, study, and interpret the *H. L.* *Hunley*.
In addition to the discovery by Cussler's team, partners include: the
South Carolina Institute of Archeology and Anthropology; U.S. Department
of Defense; U.S. Navy and Navy Historical Center; U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, Savannah District; Friends of the Hunley, Inc.; Titan
Maritime, LLC; South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, Marine
Resources Division; South Carolina Department of Archives and History;
U.S. Coast Guard, Ninth District; and the National Park Service.

Today the bodies of the crew have been respectfully and ceremonially
interred in a nearby cemetery after being carefully examined and studied
to properly identify them and to help understand the events of the night
the *Hunley* disappeared. Archeologists, historians, researchers,
technical and recovery experts are working with the artifacts and the
submarine itself to conserve, understand, and share it with the world.
The *Hunley* is being conserved in a state-of-the-art recovery and
research laboratory in Charleston.

And the *Hunley* will be available to wonder about and tell its tales to
visitors of Charleston, South Carolina, for many years to come.

Web Resources:

Naval Historical Center: www.history.navy.mil

Friends of the Hunley, Inc.: www.hunley.org/index.asp

Photos: www.achp.gov/niephotos

# Texas

Statewide

**Texas Heritage Trails Program Promotes Benefits of Preservation**

By the Texas Historical Commission

"I remember just lying in the grass, staring at the clouds, wondering
where they drifted off to after they floated over Texas."*---*Renée
Zellweger, actress and Texas native

With a heritage as diverse as the landscapes, the opportunity for
travelers to discover Texas has never been greater. From Spanish
missions, oil boomtowns, historic forts, and the home of the earliest
known residents of North America, Texas is filled with countless
opportunities for tourists to peer into yesteryear. The Texas Historical
Commission is working with communities across the state to highlight the
benefits of preservation and regional partnerships through its Texas
Heritage Trails Program.

Texas ranks second in the U.S. in the number of cultural and heritage
travelers visiting the state, according to the Travel Industry
Association of America. Since its inception in 1997, the Texas Heritage
Trails Program (THTP) works with communities across the state to
revitalize local neighborhoods, increase visitation to cultural and
historic sites and raise awareness of the importance of historic
preservation to the tourism industry.

Utilizing the 10 Texas travel trails designated by the Texas Department
of Transportation in 1968, the Texas Heritage Trails Program has
developed heritage regions based on these driving trails and works with
all 254 counties in the state. The 10 heritage regions are: Brazos,
Forest, Forts, Hill Country, Lakes, Independence, Mountain, Pecos,
Plains, and Tropical.

This state-wide initiative encourages residents to take pride in and
celebrate their Texas heritage. It serves as an innovative model to
foster economic development and encourage communities to partner on a
regional level. By developing and promoting unique historic and cultural
resources, communities that once competed for visitors now meet
bi-monthly as a regional organization to identify mutually beneficial
tourism. The regional boards are comprised of preservationists, museum
directors, convention and visitors bureaus, small businesses, and
community leaders.

Through historic preservation, the Texas Heritage Trails Program helps
revitalize local economies by creating jobs, raising property values,
generating retail sales and tax revenues and increasing visitation to
historic and cultural sites. In recognition of the program's success, it
received the Preserve America Presidential Award for Heritage Tourism at
a White House ceremony in May 2005. This honor was a reflection of
partnerships between regional volunteers, coordinators, and the
commission staff.

The program also develops regional travel guides*---*six are currently
available---and creates cooperative marketing opportunities for the
various regions. These travel guides highlight distinct regional
histories and the cultural experiences visitors can discover.

"The travel guides are a road map and history lesson all in one," said
Janie Headrick, state coordinator for the Texas Heritage Trails Program.
"You might be surprised at what you find in neighboring towns or even
your hometown."

Additionally, 10 regional Web sites provide promotional outlets for
large and small towns to highlight their travel resources. Visit the
Texas Historical Commission's Web site at www.thc.state.tx.us/travel to
explore each of the regions and download the travel guides.

Teresia Wims, economic development coordinator for Mount Vernon, a
designated Preserve America community in Texas with an abundance of
heritage resources, has experienced first hand the benefits of the
program.

"We have a lot to see, and partnering with the commission has been a
real asset for bringing visitors to Mount Vernon," Wims said. "We can't
do it on our own, and the program, especially its training and
networking opportunities, helps tremendously by increasing an
understanding of heritage tourism."

Because many smaller communities have limited financial resources, Wims
said the financial value of the state initiative is one of its most
important assets.

"This program is the only one that provides the return on investment
that I feel is worth it. The commission has supported our efforts in
preservation and has shown integral support for our tourism projects,"
she said.

For example, regions are eligible to receive Texas Heritage Tourism
Partnership Grants. The heritage program has also received funding
through a Preserve America Grant initiative,
www.thc.state.tx.us/communityassist/capramerica.html to develop a new
program to provide in-depth training and assistance for participating
communities.

Preserving Texas' history, culture, and landscapes ensures future
generations experience, enjoy, and learn about the state's rich history.
The Texas Heritage Trails Program also strives to combine local
preservation efforts with statewide and national resources and support.

"Heritage tourism is a tremendous economic development tool," Headrick
said. "Through this program, our cultural and historical treasures are
preserved while communities benefit economically and educationally. It
is a win-win situation."

*The Texas Historical Commission (THC) is the state agency for historic
preservation and is recognized nationally for its preservation programs.
The THC is part of a five-agency Memorandum of Understanding working
with the Office of the Governor -Economic Development and Tourism, the
Texas Commission on the Arts, the Texas Department of Transportation,
and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to protect and promote
Texas' unique culture and legacy.*

Web Resources:

Texas Heritage Trails Program:
www.thc.state.tx.us./heritagetourism/htprogram.html

Photos: www.achp.gov/niephotos

# Virginia

Appomattox and Manassas

**Wilmer McLean Had a Knack for Being in Historic Places**

The first battle of the Civil War raged at a place the Confederate
forces called Manassas after a nearby town, and the Union termed Bull
Run, after a river that flows through the site.

On July 18, 1861, skirmishes of what would become the First Battle of
Bull Run three days later on July 21 were fought on a farm near Manassas
belonging to Wilmer McLean. Manassas is located not too far from
Washington, D.C., the U.S. capital. After the fight, Wilmer McLean, who
was loyal to the Confederate cause, decided that he should move his
family and business interests to safer ground. He abandoned farming and
became a sugar merchant trading in the Confederate States of America.

He moved a bit more than 100 miles south and settled in a hamlet called
Appomattox Court House after its most prominent structure. And by a
curious trick of fate, it was in the parlor of his home that on April 9,
1865, Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and
some of their officers met to make the surrender arrangements that
effectively ended the Civil War.

In later years, it was claimed that McLean liked to say that the Civil
War began in his back yard and ended in his parlor. Whether it was he or
someone else who said that, the facts behind the strange coincidence and
the saying are real. He had an amazing knack for being an involved
spectator at important points in Civil War history.

Today, you can visit the McLean parlor and the house that contains it,
which is preserved by the National Park Service. Unfortunately, you
cannot see his farm. All that remains of that structure is a road sign
noting the site, which is now covered by commercial development that
encroaches on Manassas National Battlefield Park.

**Web Resources:**

National Park Service: www.nps.gov

# Washington

Bremerton

Preserving the History of a Place that No Longer Exists: Sinclair Park,
Bremerton, Washington

How do you preserve something historic when the place requiring
preservation no longer exists?

Actually, there are a number of ways to accomplish that, and it happens
rather frequently, although nothing substitutes for the real thing. One
recent real world example of saving a place that no longer exists
involves a Bremerton, Washington, neighborhood known as Sinclair Park.

Sinclair Park was one of many temporary communities and neighborhoods
that sprang into existence during World War II, when the entire nation
was involved in the effort essential to win the war. In towns like
Bremerton, tens of thousands of workers were needed to produce the ships
needed to conduct a global war. Entire communities were created, and
some existing towns saw their populations explode.

In 1940, Bremerton had a population of 15,134. At the end of the war in
1945 its population was approximately 82,200. Bremerton was home to the
Puget Sound Naval Station, which included a Navy yard that constructed
ships and affiliated civilian businesses that converted their production
to war needs. At one point, about 300 people a day were arriving in the
area to take jobs related to ship building. They came from all across
the United States.

After the catastrophic attack on the U.S. Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor
on Dec. 7, 1941, and the nation's entry into the war, the need for ships
to wage war and transport materials and troops was overwhelming. The
Pacific fleet, badly damaged in the sneak attack on Hawaii, had to be
rebuilt and made into a much larger and stronger force than it was
before the attack. Even while fearing a Japanese assault on the West
Coast after Pearl Harbor, the government began to rapidly build up its
military resources and bases along the Pacific Coast. Puget Sound, an
enormous area protected from the open seas, was an excellent spot to
build the necessary war-fighting capability that would be necessary to
prevail.

The Federal Public Housing Authority, created to build temporary housing
for workers, constructed about 80,000 units for workers in Washington
and Oregon alone. The Bremerton Housing Authority, which focused on the
local area where the 280 units of Sinclair Park was established, also
created West Park for 600 occupants, West Park Addition for 560, View
Ridge for 1,524, East Park for 560, Anderson Cove for 160, and Sheridan
Park for 2,226 residents.

The war was won. When it ended, so did many war-related jobs. The
temporary communities like Sinclair Park were dismantled, as was
intended from the outset. The small, wooden houses that had sheltered
people who came from all across the country were sold to those who
wanted to relocate them. Many of the houses in places such as Sinclair
Park were purchased by veterans returning from the war as inexpensive
housing. Some of the houses were moved and found new life as summer
cabins and vacation cottages around the area. A fair number of the many
thousands who had relocated to the Puget Sound region decided to stay
and found civilian jobs. If a few years, about all that was left to
recall Sinclair Park was the large community center that was the
community's gathering place and social center during the war years. The
neighborhood was largely forgotten by the generations born after the
war.

Bremerton is in Kitsap County. In the first years of the 21st century,
the county needed to build a new emergency readiness center to serve the
region. It selected the site occupied by the old Sinclair Park Community
Center Building. But before construction could begin, the old community
center would have to be torn down.

Much of the funding for the new Kitsap County emergency readiness center
came from the U.S. Department of Defense through the Washington State
Military Department. Because under Section 106 of the National Historic
Preservation Act of 1966 (NHPA) every federal agency or office has to
consider historic preservation when engaged in an undertaking, and
funding a project is an undertaking. The building that sat on the site
selected for the new emergency readiness center had to be researched to
see whether it was historic.

That's when the story of Sinclair Park came to life again.

The people who had lived in Sinclair Park during the war years still
remembered the time they spent there. Before the war, many of them had
lived in Chicago and other cities in the Midwest. Most of those who
lived in Sinclair Park were African Americans. Indeed, the population of
Bremerton included as many as 10,000 African Americans during the height
of the war years, forever altering the demographics of the region. This
population movement was the foundation of African American culture in
the Puget Sound area.

The Washington State Military Department and the State Historic
Preservation Officer (SHPO) and other parties consulted on the issue
agreed that the old Sinclair Park Community Center Building could be
razed and removed in order to make way for the new emergency center but
not until it was thoroughly documented for posterity. Further, working
in conjunction with the Black Historical Society of Kitsap County, Puget
Sound Naval Shipyard, Kitsap County Historical Society Museum, Bremerton
Housing Authority, Washington State Historical Society and other
partners, the history of Sinclair Park would be made accessible.

One of the chief products preserving the story of Sinclair Park that
resulted from this effort is a digital history called the Sinclair Park
Project. The Black Historical Society of Kitsap County conducted scores
of interviews with former residents. Government and private archives
produced hundreds of photographs and records. The Sinclair Park
Community Center Building was meticulously photographed and documented
by professional architects. This practice of "preservation through
documentation" is one way in which heritage assets that are not
sufficiently unique to preserve or cannot be put to use, or are in
situations where they must be removed to make way for other uses of the
area, can continue to be part of the historic record.

Quincy Jones Sold His First Song While Living at Sinclair Park

One of the arrivals to the new neighborhood of Sinclair Park was a boy
of 11 from the south side of Chicago. Quincy Delight Jones Jr. honed his
taste for music in Sinclair Park, where a sympathetic adult allowed him
to practice on the upright piano after hours in the old Sinclair Park
Community Center Building. The lad eagerly tried out different
instruments in the school band before focusing on the trumpet as his
particular passion. After the war, he teamed up with a Seattle musician
named Ray Charles for a brief period, then went on to a distinguished
career.

Today he is the most nominated Grammy artist in history, receiving 77
nominations and 26 awards to date. Among other acknowledgments of his
accomplishments, he has received an Emmy, been nominated seven times for
an Oscar, and is recipient of the Academy of Arts and Sciences Jean
Hersholt Humanitarian Award. Harvard University established the Quincy
Jones Professorship of African-American Music in 2001. It began in
Bremerton. When he sold his first song, he received the news in a letter
he picked up at the Sinclair Park Community Center Building.

# Wisconsin

Eau Claire

Having Fun is Historic, Too:

Carson Park Baseball Stadium Helped Eau Claire Through Hard Times

In the 1930s, most Americans were experiencing financial hard times.

The Great Depression was in full swing, when as many as one in four wage
earners in the country were involuntarily unemployed. Desperate times
require desperate measures, so President Franklin D. Roosevelt created
the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1935 to give jobs and hope to
millions of the unemployed. By the time the program expired eight years
later, it had employed more than 8.5 million individuals. It also had
built, renovated or repaired more than 124,00 bridges, 125,000 public
buildings, 850 airports, 8,000 parks, and a whopping 651,000 miles of
roads.

Overseas, the world was marching to war in both Europe and Asia. At
home, the federal government began to prepare Americans to participate
in that conflict if necessary while trying to overcome the effects of
the Great Depression.

Even in bad times, it is important to have good times. Recreation
facilities were among the public undertakings that those working with
the WPA created, maintained, or enhanced for all Americans.

As one example, consider the case of the Carson Park Baseball Stadium in
Eau Claire, Wisconsin, whose history is related by the Wisconsin
Historical Society. Just multiply this example by the amount of work
accomplished under the WPA nationwide to get some idea of the WPA
legacy.

The Carson Park Baseball Stadium has a long association with baseball in
Eau Claire. Carson Park was established as a city park in 1915, one year
after an heir of William Carson, a wealthy area lumberman, donated the
site. In the early 1930s the success of the Eau Claire Bears, a "farm"
team affiliated with the Chicago Cubs, encouraged Eau Claire to apply to
the WPA to fund recreational improvements in Carson Park. The
centerpiece of these projects was the simple but elegant
sandstone-walled stadium, built to seat more than 1,500 fans. The stone
was quarried from a site in nearby Downsville, Wisconsin. Unemployed
skilled laborers were given work on the stadium through 1936 and readied
the ballpark for action by early 1937.

The total cost was \$60,000 with the city of Eau Claire's share being
\$25,000-\$35,000. The project included the baseball stadium and
diamond, a football stadium, a sewage disposal plant, and three tennis
courts. Seating for baseball was originally 1,500 and 1,300 for
football. In the baseball stadium, dressing rooms with showers and
toilets were also included in the project. An eight-foot fence covered
by canvas surrounded the outfield area to prevent would-be onlookers
from a free peek at the games. Consideration was also given at this time
to lighting the fields, and in 1936, the first football game was played
under the lights at Carson Park.

On May 4, 1937, the first game was played on the new Carson Park
baseball diamond as the Eau Claire Bears hosted the Superior Blues in a
Class D Northern League game. Wisconsin Gov. Phillip LaFollette attended
as the municipal band provided the appropriate mood music. June 1, 1937
was the official dedication of the baseball diamond as the Bears hosted
the Class AAA American Association Minneapolis Millers in an exhibition
game. News reports had the fans hanging from the rafters of the
1,500-seat stadium with a total estimated crowd of 5,000. This was also
the first game under the lights at the baseball diamond. The Bears'
attendance in Carson Park's inaugural year topped 40,000.

The first season of minor league baseball at Carson Park was a
resounding success. The Bears players liked the southwest-northeast
orientation that mostly shaded them from the late afternoon sun. Both
the fans and players enjoyed the bucolic surroundings of Half Moon Lake
and the wooded park. From 1937 to 1962, the Eau Claire Bears called
Carson Park home, winning the Northern League pennant three times.

In the early 1990s recognition of baseball legend Hank Aaron's
connection to Eau Claire's baseball heritage renewed interest in Carson
Park. Aaron played his first season of professional baseball with the
Eau Claire Bears in 1952, where his talent was evident to local fans. In
1952 the Eau Claire Bears roster rookie shortstop from Alabama led the
Northern League in hitting. Few would have guessed 54 years ago that
this youngster would go on to break Babe Ruth's career homerun mark and
etch his name in history forever.

On Aug. 17, 1994, Aaron returned to Eau Claire and Carson Park to
celebrate the unveiling of a statue depicting him as the 18-year-old
shortstop for the Eau Claire Bears. Five thousand fans jammed the Carson
Park baseball stadium and surrounding areas to greet Hammerin' Hank that
day.

Building on that awareness, in 1995 the city of Eau Claire proposed a
\$560,000 renovation project for the stadium. Completed in 1998, the
project included new and improved seating in the grandstand, a
completely remodeled area under the grandstand, and new
handicapped-accessible approaches. The renovation project makes baseball
at Carson Park a more enjoyable experience for fans and players, while
retaining the character and distinctiveness of the stadium.

The design of the stadium and diamond are essentially the same today as
they were in 1937 except for the small, one-person rooftop press box. In
recent years major renovations have been made within and outside the
baseball stadium, but the basic layout from 1937 has remained intact.

Today the tradition of Eau Claire baseball is alive and well in Carson
Park at one of America's surviving WPA stadiums. The historic stadium
links baseball's past to the present and preserves a "field of dreams"
for current and future fans and players. The stadium is open during
regularly scheduled events.

The Carson Park Baseball Stadium was nominated to the National Register
of Historic Places in 2003.

Visit the Wisconsin Historical Society's website at
www.wisconsinhistory.org. The site has links to the many research areas
and programs available at the Wisconsin Historical Society.

**Web Resources:**

Photos: www.achp.gov/niephotos