Garst, Roswell and Elizabeth, Farmstead Historic District, Guthrie County, Iowa

By the time of his death, Roswell Garst (1898-1977) would witness, indeed prod and push forward, a revolution in American agriculture. Garst led conservative, disbelieving and reluctant American farmers away from traditional family farming to modern corporate agribusiness, with all its implications. Read the full file.

Fiddler's Reach Fog Signal , Sagadahoc County, Maine

This fog signal is one of many aids to navigation situated along the Kennebec River and functioned to enable safe river passage through the tricky “S” turn of Fiddler’s Reach. The pyramidal tower of Fiddler's Reach Fog Signal has a footprint of 15 ½ feet square and is over 30 feet in height. It was one of the few Fog Bell Houses constructed independent of a larger light station. Read the full file.

Harbor Lane- Eden Street Historic District, Hancock County, Maine

The Harbor Lane-Eden Street Historic District is a compact 20 acre neighborhood that contains one of the last concentrations of architect designed summer cottages in Bar Harbor, Maine. Between the end of the Civil War and the start of the Great Depression, Bar Harbor was one of the most popular seasonal destinations for elite society from the Mid-Atlantic through the Great Lakes. Read the full file.

Lake Linden Historic District, Houghton County, Michigan This district encompasses the historic core of the former stamp mill community of Lake Linden, which sits in the center of the Keweenaw Peninsula. The District's buildings, many built following a disastrous fire in 1887 that destroyed much of the village, reflect the village's boom period in the late nineteenth and very early twentieth centuries when the copper-mining boom was at its height. Lake Linden's historic core is significant for containing church buildings, houses, and commercial buildings associated with ethnic communities important in the community's history, including the French Canadians, Germans, and Cornish. Read the full file.

Naval Reserve Armory, King County, Washington Completed in 1942 using WPA funding, the Naval Reserve Armory was a community-based project that the federal government eventually designated as an official National Defense Project at the start of World War II. The Armory served as an Advanced Naval training School during the war. The building appears much as it did when it was completed and exemplifies aspects of pre-war Art Deco and Moderne- particularly WPA Moderne- styles of architecture. Read the full file.

LaRoe Family Homestead Historic District, Lake County, Florida

The LaRoe Family Homestead is an example of the wartime homefront efforts of the 1940s. The property made the conversion from an agriculturally oriented family enterprise to a small industrial facility, doing piecework for an aviation supply operation. The LaRoe family, women and children included, threw themselves into war work as the men served overseas. Photographs of the LaRoe's small workshop appeared in national media as part of the Office of War Information publicity program. Read the full file.

U.S.S. LST 325, Vanderburgh County, Indiana

The USS LST 325 is one of a few surviving U.S. vessels that actually went ashore on D-Day in 1944. During the Normandy invasion, the LST 325 made over 40 roundtrips from France to England, carrying troops, supplies and wounded. The LST was the only ship designed and built for the Navy with the capability to land on beaches, unload troops and supplies and then retract off the beach.The vessel retains an extraordinary degree of historic integrity and is fully operable. Read the full file.

Sommers Ranch Headquarters Historic District, Sublette County, WY The 1908 Sommers Ranch Headquarters is an example of the modest ranches of the upper Green River Valley basin that were founded over one hundred years ago. Pioneering homesteaders, such as the Sommers family, created a ranch by a variety of means; land claims, family members' homesteads, or outright purchase of land. Today the Sommers Ranch Headquarters remain in operation. Read the full file.

Hotel Randolph, Polk County, Iowa:

The 1912 Hotel Randolph in Des Moines employed reinforced concrete for its skeletal support system and pioneered the use of this construction technology in Des Moines.  The hotel's management heavily touted the new building as Des Moines' only "absolutely fireproof hotel."  This emphasis on safety set a mandate for any hotel of any pretension in Des Moines to follow.  The immediate success of the Hotel Randolph called attention to the need in Des Moines for modern hotel accommodations.  As series of new hotels subsequently followed in the city.  Read the full file

Alleghany Mennonite Meetinghouse, Berks County, Pennsylvania:

This one-story Pennsylvania German meetinghouse-style building was built in 1855 in Brecknock Township by volunteers of the Mennonite Society and their neighbors.  Without any ornamentation, the simplicity of the Meetinghouse architecture is an important example of the quality of design and workmanship and the simple lifestyle of the Alleghany Mennonites in the mid-1800s.  It is one of the oldest surviving, least-altered and originally-furnished Mennonite meetinghouses in the nation.  Members of the Meetinghouse faithfully continued worship there for nearly a century.  After regular services were discontinued in 1954, interest in the Meetinghouse declined, the condition of the building deteriorated, and the building suffered minor vandalism.  In 1994 the Alleghany Mennonite Historical Association (AMHA) was formed to oversee and preserve the Meetinghouse property as well as develop educational events. 

Read the full file.

Merced Theatre, Merced County, California This handsome Spanish Colonial Revival styled commercial complex was the work of prolific San Francisco Bay area architects James and Merritt Reid and represents a fine local example of Depression-era Period Revival-style commercial design. Read the full file.

Woodlawn Quaker Meetinghouse, Fairfax County, Virginia

This meetinghouse was the center of a community of faith founded by settlers rooted in the Quaker traditions of the Delaware Valley and William Penn's Colony. Unlike other settlements, Virginia's early Quakers were met with persecution, causing many to flee or to be banished from the colony in the 17th century. The Alexandria Monthly Meeting continues to use the meetinghouse. Read the full file.

Bonnie & Clyde Garage Apartment, Newton County, Missouri

This garage apartment in Joplin, Missouri is associated with Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow more than any another other Missouri building. The notorious lovers who became legends for their crime spree through the South and Midwest with the Barrow Gang lived in the rock-faced structure for a number of days prior to a shootout between them and Missouri lawmen on April 13, 1933. Read the full file.

Neutra Studio and Residence, Los Angeles County, California

Commonly known as the VDL Research House II (VDLII), the property is a noteworthy example of twentieth century Modernism directly associated with one of the field's most noted practitioners- Richard J. Neutra. The property served as the home, studio, and social center for Netura and his family during the architect's most prolific period of activity. Read the full file.

"Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas " Sign, The, Clark County , Nevada

The sign that reads, "Welcome to Las Vegas , Nevada ," has welcomed people to Las Vegas since 1959.  The sign is a work of art in neon that has become an iconic symbol of the city.  The 1950s saw an explosion of casino construction on the Las Vegas Strip, and the 1959 "Welcome" sign represented the optimism and boosterism of Las Vegas casino owners and civic leaders.   Designed by local sign maker Betty Whitehead Willis, the sign is situated in the median strip of Las Vegas Boulevard South, probably in its original (or near original) location.   Clark County has provided visitors with a turn out and parking area in the center of the right of way to accommodate the hundreds of thousands of visitors who annually seek to have their photographs taken in front of the sign.  Read the full file.

Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon #37396, Hancock County , Indiana

This plane is an intact, operable, very rare example of a special purpose WWII aircraft, the anti-submarine patrol bomber. Built in 1945, #37396 was deployed to VPB-136, to Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, Puget Sound , Washington in July, 1945. Read the full file.

Argabrite House, Greenbrier County, West Virginia
Built in 1908, this Queen Anne cottage was designed by the firm J.H. Daverman and Son, which published plan books featuring small, affordable houses…See full documentation

Lodi School Hillside Improvement Site, Columbia County , Wisconsin

Consisting of two adjacent landscaped parcels of land, the Lodi School Hillside Improvement Site marked the culmination of a several decades-long struggle on the part of the citizens of Lodi to improve and beautify the southern entryway to the city.  Funding for the landscaping of the School Hill hillside and for the rip-rapping work on the banks of Spring Creek came from 1930s era public relief funds provided by the Federal Government.  The subsequent creation of Veterans Memorial Park on the west bank of Spring Creek was funded by donations from the citizens themselves and was a project of the Lodi Garden Club. See full documentation

Homestead-Horton Neighborhood Historic District, Windham County , Vermont : This district is a cohesive, well preserved example of a residential district that developed during the late 19th and early 20th centuries to provide housing to the burgeoning workforce in Brattleboro . During the era of heightened industrial activity from the 1870s to the mid-20th century the growth of neighborhoods like this one transformed the town from a village to an urban center….See full documentation

Waynesboro Historic District, Burke County , Georgia

The Waynesboro Historic District, established in 1783, is located in east central Georgia . Today's district clearly reflects Waynesboro 's beginnings; after railroads reached the area by the mid-1800s, the town grew to become the regional hub for processing and shipping farm products. The layout of the downtown is virtually unchanged. See full documentation

Billy Simpson's House of Seafood and Steaks, District of Columbia : This restaurant, which opened in 1956, and its proprietor played a central role in the social and political culture of the District of Columbia 's African American community during the period of transition from segregation to an era of Home Rule with a largely black political leadership. "Billy" Simpson created a meeting place for the African American luminaries of politics, government and entertainment. See full documentation

Hays House, Jefferson County , Mississippi
The Hays House in Lorman , MS is a well-preserved, intact, and rare example of a Greek Revival cottage with full-facade gallery. The galleried cottage is closely related to the Creole cottage of Louisiana and the Biloxi cottage. These forms rely in some fashion on Caribbean building traditions and were adopted across Alabama , Mississippi and Louisiana . See Full Documentation See full documentation

Dyer, Arthur J., Observatory, Davidson County , TN.
 The 1953 Arthur J. Dyer Observatory was built under the guidance of well-known astronomer Carl K. Seyfert and has been an important research facility for Vanderbilt University . The local community played such a significant part in its construction, the observatory was committed to serving the public as well as research and graduate training. The observatory is regularly open to the public for school tours, popular lectures, observation nights, and other programs See full documentation

Rosemont, New Castle County , Delaware

Built c. 1890, Rosemont, also known as the Joseph W. and Ida Guest House, is located along the high ground above the Delaware River in Brandywine Hundred. Today only one acre survives of the original landscape. As if to demonstrate its rare status, the house is completely hidden from view by suburban development. See full documentation

Wing Park Golf Course, Kane County , Illinois

The century-old Wing Park Golf Course stands as the oldest and best preserved nine-hole municipal course in Illinois , featuring its original configuration of trees, fairways and greens. Early municipal courses such as the one at Wing Park played a major role in popularizing the game of golf at a time when venues for public play were severely limited. See full documentation  

Kenmil Place , McCracken County , Kentucky

Kenmil Place , located in Paducah , KY , is an excellent example of Classical Revival style domestic architecture. The house began as an Italianate style, side passage house from the 1880s. In 1923 the house more than doubled in size and gained its current Classical Revival features. The key elements of the Classical Revival style are a symmetrical facade and a dominant two-story portico supported by classical columns . .. See full documentation

Hot Springs Historic District, Madison County , North Carolina . This district is significant as the historic center of a small mountain community in the northwest corner of Madison County, NC. Once natural warm springs were discovered by settlers in the early nineteenth century, the town became one of the earliest resort communities in the state...See full documentation.

Paul Bunyan Statue, Multnomah County , Oregon
Built in 1959 in anticipation of the Oregon Centennial Exposition held in Portland that year, the robust, iron and plaster statue of Paul Bunyan sat prominently along historic Route 99 ( Pacific Highway ) at the gateway to the local Kenton community. A remnant of the auto-centric society ushered in by the post-war boom, the statue is a fine example of mid-twentieth century roadside architecture…. See full documentation.

Block 35 Cobblestone Alley, Pulaski County, Arkansas
This alley is an extremely rare surviving 19th-century cobblestone alley, in fact, it may be the last remaining example, in downtown Little Rock. The alley, approximately 300 feet long, still retains its original c.1889 cobblestone pavement. As a result, the Block 35 Cobblestone Alley remains an extremely intact example of early street design and construction, and a tangible reminder of early travel in Little Rock . ..See full documentation.

Hopkins House, Shawnee County , Kansas This 1859 house is an outstanding example of a Greek Revival limestone domestic design retaining high integrity. The house has associations with Territorial Kansas and Eli Hopkins, a founder of Tecumseh , KS . Unlike many southern sympathizers who chose to leave Kansas in the late 1850s, Eli Hopkins and his Tecumseh neighbors stayed in Kansas and pledged their loyalty to the Union…See full documentation.

Joseph and Mary Jane League House, Bibb County , Georgia This 1950 house is an early and exceptional example of a Contemporary-style Ranch-type house in Georgia . Its low form, H-shaped footprint, zoned interior, open-space plan, building materials, and integration of indoor spaces with outdoor landscaping all reflect up-to-date ranch-house design. Jean League Newton, the architect of this house, was among the earliest professionally trained women architects in Georgia . ..See full documentation.

Pythian Opera House, Lincoln County , Maine

This opera house in Boothbay Harbor, erected in 1894, is a substantial and architecturally impressive three-and-a half story structure designed as a multi-purpose building to serve governmental functions for the nascent town, offer a venue for cultural activities and host local Fraternal organizations. It was also an important public hall utilized by the community as a site for entertainment and recreation until the late 1980s. ..See full documentation.

Quaker Sites in the West River Meeting, Southern Anne Arundel County, Maryland, c. 1650-1785, Anne Arundel County, Maryland

Featured this week is a Multiple Property Documentation Form used for a Multiple Property Submission, the format through which historic properties related by theme, general geographical area, and period of time may be documented as a group and listed in the National Register.  The Multiple Property Submission of archaeological sites associated with Quakers in the West River region of Anne Arundel County , Maryland , is based on archaeological and archival work carried out over a decade (1991-2007) by The Lost Towns Project of Anne Arundel County.  Significant property types such as agricultural outbuildings and landscapes, quarters and religious sites were identified based on functional uses reflected in historical documentation and as known through comparable archaeological sites in the region.  See full documentation.