Historic Structures

Nooksack Falls Hydroelectric Plant, Glacier Washington

The Nooksack Falls powerhouse, containing a relatively small generating capacity of 1,500 kilowatts, is, nevertheless, one of the oldest operating hydroelectric facilities in the state of Washington. Completed in 1906 and designed to serve the electrical needs of Whatcom County, it provides power for the nearby small town of Glacier and its sparsely populated environs. Despite some modifications through the years, most notably the replacement of the original Francis turbine with a Pelton impulse wheel in 1910, and the replacement of the penstocks and relocation of the diversion dam in 1931, the plant and machinery remained largely unchanged until a fire in 1997 destroyed the generator. It was replaced in 2003 and the plant resumed operation. In the Eastern states, the typical hydroelectric plant at the turn of the century was low head, that is, the water dropped only a short distance from the forebay to the turbines, and high volume (meaning a large quantity of water was available.) Electricity generated by Eastern hydroelectric plants was typically transmitted over relatively short distances. The hydroelectric technology developed for conditions in the East, however, was often inadequate when applied to the West. In a region characterized by high elevations, low quantities of water, and long transmission distances, engineers had to modify existing technology, and sometimes invent new technologies, to meet the Western challenge. Their success in finding solutions to such problems is embodied in the Nooksack plant, a typical high-head hydroelectric facility of the early 1900s.

Shoreham Covered Railroad Bridge, Shoreham Vermont

Some of the earliest railroad bridges were timber structures because wood was abundant, cheap, and easy to work with. In 1830, Lewis Wernwag built the first wood railroad bridge in the United States for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad over the Monocacy River in Maryland. Within a short time, wood bridges were commonplace on America's growing network of railroads. Presumably hundreds of covered railroad bridges were built in the nineteenth century. In 1841, one English traveler noted, The timber bridges of America are justly celebrated for their magnitude and strength. By their means the railways of America have spread widely and extended rapidly. By the late nineteenth century, most railroad bridges were being built of iron or steel. In 1957, there were only 29 surviving timber truss railroad bridges in the country. Today there are eight. The Shoreham Railroad Bridge is one of only two wooden covered railroad bridges left in Vermont.

Harpole Covered Railroad Bridge, Colfax Washington

The Manning-Rye Covered Bridge crosses the Palouse River outside of Colfax. It was constructed about 1918 by the Spokane and Inland Empire Railroad, an expansive interurban electric railroad line scheme that extended from the Palouse to Spokane. In contrast to most railroads, the electric railways could provide a frequent, rapid service with numerous stops. Because it was most feasible to construct the electric railroads in well developed areas, the promoters focused on areas like the Palouse, rather than on areas that had no railroad service at all. By the summer of 1907, the electric line to Colfax was completed. Presumably, the Manning-Rye Covered Bridge replaced the original structure constructed over the Palouse River in 1907. The timber housing protects a single span timber Howe truss which rests on timber pile abutments, encased with timber cribs. Because it was necessary to provide for the connection between the locomotive and the overhead electric lines, the top of the bridge was left uncovered. There are doors in the housing to provide access for the maintenance of the truss components.

Contoocook Covered Railroad Bridge, Hopkinton New Hampshire

Some of the earliest railroad bridges were timber structures because wood was abundant, cheap, and easy to work with. In 1830, Lewis Wernwag built the first wood railroad bridge in the United States for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad over the Monocacy River in Maryland. Within a short time, wood bridges were commonplace on America's growing network of railroads.

Sulphite Covered Railroad Bridge, Franklin New Hampshire

The Sulphite Railroad Bridge, sometimes referred to as the upside-down covered bridge, is a rare example of a deck-type covered bridge having its truss structure below the floor, or deck. This Pratt truss bridge was used to transport sulphur ore to a nearby pulp and paper factory. The Boston and Maine Railroad built it and operated it until 1973. In 1828, Kendall O. and James L. Peabody and Jeremiah F. Daniell established a paper mill near the confluence of the Pemigewasset and the Winnipesaukee (Winnipisogee) rivers, at a site now known as Franklin Falls. In 1854, Daniell bought out the partenership and together with his son, Warren F. Daniell, formed J.F. Daniell & Son. In 1864, Warren bought his father's interest and became sole proprietor, operating the mill until 1870, when the mill property was sold to the Winnipiseogee Paper Company. In 1874, this company was annually producing 2,496 tons of paper, valued at $625,000. In the 1890s, the International Paper Company purchased the property.

Clark's Covered Railroad Bridge, Lincoln New Hampshire

One of only two railroad Howe truss covered bridges remaining in the country, Clark's Bridge is the only one that still carries rolling stock. The covered bridge that would later be known as Clark's Bridge was an important link in the Barre Branch Railroad. The granite quarries attracted railroads to the Barre, Vermont, vicinity. While Barre granite was used in the construction of the state capital at Montpelier between 1832 and 1837, railroads made it possible to transport larger blocks and higher volumes nationally. The Central Vermont Railroad built a spur line in 1876 and the Barre Branch arrived in 1889. Both of these branches crossed the North Branch of the Winooski River just a short distance upstream from its confluence with the Stevens Branch. Railroads and the development of the pneumatic cutting tool contributed to growth. Between 1880 and 1910, the population of Barre grew more than 700 percent; from 2,060 to 14,928.

Taftsville Covered Bridge, Taftsville Vermont

Taftsville, Vermont, is named for the first settler of the village, Stephen Taft, who arrived from Massachusetts around 1793, although there seems to have been agricultural settlement in the vicinity earlier. He soon built a power dam on the Ottauquechee River, and a factory on the south riverbank to make axes, scythes, and other edge tools necessary in this period of expanding agriculture. His brother Daniel Taft arrived as an apprentice in 1794, and later set up his own business. Meanwhile, Stephen Taft built a sawmill on the north riverbank. Later came a plow and stove factory, a gristmill, a shingle mill, a chair factory, a brickyard, a blacksmith shop, a tannery, and a slaughterhouse. Such a busy settlement needed a bridge across the river. The date and style of the first bridge are unknown, but it was lost to a flood in 1807. Floods also washed out two successors in 1811 and 1828. These early bridges were likely either trestles, or simple, multi-span truss bridges that were not covered.

Ben Thresher's Mill, Barnet Vermont

In 1836, a dam was first built here and a saw mill operated on this site from 1836 until 1855. The site was idle from 1855 until 1872. The mill was constructed in 1872 as a Dye & Print Works. A Wagon & Woodworking Shop was established here in 1893 and the Blacksmith Shop added 1895. A Boomer & Boschert hydraulic cider press installed was installed in 1915. Ben Thresher began working at the mill in 1941 and acquired the mill in 1947. Ben Thresher's Mill is located on the Stevens River in Barnet Center, Vermont. The history of the site is recorded in the growth of rural industries and communities in Caledonia County. In the late 18th and early 19th century, saw mills, grist mills and textile mills were built simultaneously with small communities along the many waterways that flow into the Connecticut River. The Stevens River flows out of Harvey's Lake in West Barnet, through Barnet center southeasterly about seven miles and discharges its waters into the Connecticut River at Barnet Village. The Stevens River drains an area of forty-three square miles and falls approximately 450 feet from Harvey's Lake to the Connecticut River. In Barnet Village it falls eighty feet. Stevens Falls provided water power for the first rural mills in Caledonia County, Thresher's Mill is four miles upriver from the first settlement in the county at Stevens Falls.

Flint Bridge, Spanning First Branch White River, Tunbridge Vermont

Most published sources on Flint Bridge say it was built in 1845, but this is in error. No covered bridges are known to have existed in Tunbridge before the 1860s. There were bridges, but only open ones. The main road north up the valley came along the west side of the river, generally following today's Route 110. North of the Flint Bridge turnoff is a steep hillside on the west bank. To avoid this the main road crossed the river here, where there has been a bridge since before 1804. It then entered Chelsea, followed the east riverbank until re-crossing at the Moxley Bridge, and then returned to the present route. When Flint Bridge was built in 1874, therefore, it was on the main road. No details are known of the previous bridge, but it was on a lower level. Ira Mudgett, the builder, lived in Tunbridge and also worked on other bridges. We do not know why he used the queen post truss here, but there is evidence that he re-used some timber from the previous bridge, and if it too was a queenpost truss, the answer may simply be conservatism in design. The town records are complicated because several projects were going on at about the same time, and it is difficult to tell which expenses pertained to Flint Bridge, but the cost seems to have been around $750. The main road was relocated to the west riverbank in the 1890s, leaving the Flint and Moxley bridges on side roads, as we find them today.

Old Fort Randall Church, Fairfax South Dakota

The only visible remains of historic Old Fort Randall, located in Gregory County, South Dakota, is the ruins of an old church. These ruins are on the right bank of the Missouri River, immediately downstream from a large earthfill dam (named Fort Randall) that was built in the late 1940's. The site of the Fort was selected in 1856 by General William S, Harney, Commander of the Sioux Expedition, after spending a winter at Old Fort Pierrea. He suggested that the new post be named after Colonel Daniel Randall, late Deputy Paymaster-General. On 26 June 1856, the post was laid out and construction began. The exact location of the original Fort is not definitely known for according to the Surgeon General's Report for 1875, it was for the most part torn down, and a new post was built during 1870-72, under the direction of Lieutenant Colonel E. S. Otis, Twenty-second Infantry.

Bald Mountain Gold Mill, Lead South Dakota

Bald Mountain Gold Mill lies approximately four miles west of Lead, in the Black Hills region of South Dakota. Bald Mountain itself is southeast of the mill complex, which is set on the side of a hill, facing north and looking towards the bed of False Bottom Creek. For much of its operating life Bald Mountain mill was the second largest producer in the Black Hills, surpassed only by the Homestake mine. During the period from 1906 until 1959, it grew to be the center of an industrial complex that included numerous mines, transportation facilities and the workers' town of Trojan. The development of the Bald Mountain mill over a 53 year period was directly linked to the scale of operation and success of the three successive companies that controlled it. The ownership periods of the American Eagle (1906-10), Trojan (1910-28) and Bald Mountain (1928-59) Mining Companies create three periods for study. Other important events in the history of the mill include the beginning of large changes by Trojan (c 1913), the re-opening of and subsequent investment in the mill by the Bald Mountain Company (1934-9), and forced closure of the mill during World War II (1942-45).

Monomoy Point Light Station, Chatham Massachusetts

Federal management of lighthouses was an early concern of a national government anxious to develop foreign and domestic commerce. The first congressional authorization for lighthouse expenditures was passed in August 1780, and by 1797, the states had ceded control of the twelve pre-Federal lighthouses. The Treasury Department managed, or was nominally responsible for, lighthouses and related facilities until 1903, under two very different systems of management. Treasury Department officials authorized and dispersed funds for construction, maintenance, and supply of lighthouses through the first half of the nineteenth century, without any formal means of inspecting or improving facilities. Until 1820, the Secretary of the Treasury or the Commissioner of Revenue was directly responsible for lighthouses, followed by the Fifth Auditor of the Treasury, who was the chief lighthouse administrator until 1952. Customs collectors acted as superintendents for lights in their districts, while supply contractors performed most inspection and reporting services. The regime of Fifth Auditor Stephen Pleasanton, who held the post throughout the 1820-52 period, was noted for its technical and fiscal conservatism. Given European advances in light construction, by the 1830s, concern about the adequacy of a rapidly expanding lighthouse network led to a series of investigations into American lighthouse management.

Boston Manufacturing Company, Waltham Massachusetts

According to business historians Glenn Porter and Harold c. Livesay, the Boston Manufacturing Company (BMC) was the first truly modern factory in the United States. Founded in 1813 by Francis Cabot Lowell, Patrick T. Jackson, and others, the BMC integrated and mechanized production from raw material to finished product under a single management and within a single factory. This new industrial form, says textile manufacturing historian Caroline F. Ware, soon came to dominate the cotton industry, because it marked a radical departure from all that had gone before, differing almost as much from the early mill as the latter had from its handicraft predecessors. Much of the BMC's success stemmed from its innovative development of an entire series of new or improved textile machines. According to Harvard business historian George Sweet Gibb, the power loom of the Boston Manufacturing Company affected the American cotton textile industry as no other innovation since 1790 had done. It signalized the awakening of American mechanics and the end of their slavish dependence on British technology. Moreover, says Ware, it was power-loom weaving that furnished the technical basis for reorganization of the factory and for a practically unlimited extension in the size of the factory plant. In her prize-winning 1931 study of the early New England cotton textile industry, Caroline F. Ware asserts that the story of the New England cotton industry is the story of the industrialization of America. This industry brought the factory system to the United States and furnished the laboratory wherein we worked out industrial methods characteristic of the nation. Ware and most other economic historians date the beginning of the American cotton textile industry to 1790, the year in which William Almy and Moses Brown, utilizing the ideas and skills of English immigrant Samuel Slater, opened the country's first successful cotton mill in Providence, Rhode Island. Following the Providence example, a number of entrepreneurs started cotton mills during the next two decades, and by 1810 some 168 cotton factories with 90,000 spindles were operating in the United States. These mills struggled, however, against competition from cheap goods imported from England and against shortages of skilled workers and investment capital. The trade embargo of 1807-9 and the war of 1812 altered these conditions significantly by shutting off foreign competition, freeing commercial capital for investment in manufacturing, and sparking a wave of new mill construction. Chief among these new enterprises stood the Boston Manufacturing Company, which was organized, says Ware, along a new industrial form that soon came to dominate the cotton industry and that marked a radical departure from all that had gone before, differing almost as much from the early mill as the latter had from its handicraft predecessors.

Rookery Building, Chicago Illinois

The Rookery building is on the site of a former city water tank built in 1842. When the tank survived the 1871 fire, John Van Osdell designed a temporary city hall, two stories high, which was built around it. The tank was later converted to a reading room and became the first home of the Chicago Public Library. The building received its name from the fact that many pigeons had made the water tank area their home. The story is as follows: One day an irate citizen stormed into Mayor Joseph Hedill's office and protested against the pigeon population in the district. 'Why this building is nothing but a rookery', he complained. The name stuck.

Avery Island Salt Works, Avery Island Louisiana

Archeological evidence for the production of salt by prehistoric Native Americans suggests that salt has been made on Avery Island from at least AD 1000 by early Plaquemine peoples. Artifacts such as basketry and shallow ceramic pans for evaporating brine have been found in the Salt Mine Valley on the south side of the island, pointing to occupation during a period between AD 1300 and 1650. The Attakapa were the last Native Americans to inhabit the island, but they abandoned it before the arrival of Europeans. The historic Attakapas district, of which present day Iberia Parish is a part, was first inhabited by the French in 1778 and, a short while afterwards, by Acadians migrating from Nova Scotia. These settlers established the colony of New Iberia in the 1780s. Among those traveling west from New Orleans at this time was Eliza Hayes, abandoned by her husband, and her five children, The family arrived at Petite Anse Island, later to become known as Avery Island, in 1789 and established a homestead on the high, level ground on the north side. Local tradition maintains that in 1791, while hunting for deer, Eliza Hayes' eldest son John discovered a brine spring in the southern portion of the island. From this time the family began to evaporate salt for their own use. In 1811 they received title to 338.51 acres of land on the north side where they had made their home.

West Union Covered Bridge, West Union Indiana

In 1876, Joseph J. Daniels built the West Union Covered Bridge to replace his earlier Harrison Bridge, which had washed out in a flood. J. J. Daniels was a prolific bridge-builder from Rockville, the county seat of Parke County. He built nearly sixty covered bridges in Indiana between 1855 and ca. 1900.

American Oak Leather Company, Cincinnati Ohio

The American Oak Leather Company was founded in 1880 by James E. Mooney, a progressive Cincinnati industrialist and community leader. He was a financial backer of the Cincinnati Incline Railways which contributed to the growth and expansion of the City. He was also president of the Cincinnati Coffin Company and had other business interests throughout the Ohio Valley and the Midwest. The American Oak Leather Company produced sole and harness leather, belting leather and patent leather for carriages and furniture manufacturers. The business was the largest of its kind when it opened in 1881, employing as many as 1000 workers. The company survived two major floods and three destructive fires. The A.O.L. Complex included five major buildings by 1900. The largest building was built in 1895. A second smaller building was built across Dalton Street to the east. This building was connected to the principal structure by a second story bridge. The smaller building was demolished sometime in the early 1950s. To the north of the first building were three additional buildings. These were later replaced by an ell-shaped structure around 1910.

Mathias Rinckel Mansion, Carson City Nevada

Mathias Rinckel (1833-1879) was born in Altenheim in Germany. He was the youngest of a family of seven children. When he was nine months old, the family immigrated to America and settled in Warsaw, Illinois. In 1849 Matt, then a sixteen year old farmer, joined a group of five young men and proceeded west to the gold fields. He remained in the Feather River district in California for ten years, by which time he had accumulated a degree of wealth in placer mining. Leaving California, Rinckel came to Genoa in what was then Carson County, Utah Territory, and the next year, 1860, went to Virginia City, where he increased his fortune in mining.

Fortnum Motor Company, Bridgeboro New Jersey

Lester F. Fortnum, Sr. founded the Fortnum Motor Company in 1913 in Bridgeboro, New Jersey. Until 1911 Mr. Fortnum worked as a shipper in the Henry Taubels Hoisery Mills in Riverside. Beginning his sales career in 1912 at the age of 22, Fortnum sold his first bicycle in a building adjacent to the firehouse on South Bridgeboro Street in Bridgeboro, As business progressed and technology changed, Lester Fortnum shifted from bicycles to motorcycles, and finally in 1913 he sold his first automobile. On May 26, 1914, Lester Fortnum purchased the 2.33 acre parcel of land where the company's building is now located. Fortnum had the showroom and office section of the structure built on the site that year. In the same year Fortnum received his first licensed automobile franchise from the Ford Company.

Marcus Garvey School, Newark New Jersey

This school was constructed in 1888 as an eight-room primary school and was called the 13th Avenue Public School. Successive enlargements between 1891 and 1915 accommodated and reflected the growth of Newark's immigrant populations. The first addition was constructed just three years after its opening and increased its capacity to 17 rooms. This addition completed the original design of the school building as planned in 1887-88. A photograph of the 13th Avenue facade taken after the construction of the first addition and before 1903 indicates that the building, as originally designed was a three-story Romanesque Revival Style brick and brownstone school. The 1891 addition is indistinguishable from the original portion in this photograph; the two combined read as one seamless school building. The main entrance fronted 13th Avenue; a second side entrance was at the comer of Richmond Street and Thirteenth Avenue. There were two detached bathrooms immediately behind the school suggesting that the school did not have indoor plumbing at that time.

Whittier Theatre, Whittier California

The Whittier Theatre was not Whittier's first movie house, but it was its most prominent one. At least three other motion picture theaters preceded the Whittier Theatre: the Family Theatre (124 S. Greenleaf Avenue) and the Optic (111 S. Greenleaf Avenue) were both operated by the G.H. Keipp family sometime after 1900, probably in the 1910s [Whittier Daily News, n.d., c. 1910s] the Scenic Theatre was in business at 211 E. Philadelphia when the Whittier Theatre opened its doors in the summer of 1929. When the Whittier Theatre was being planned, the owners deliberately selected a site on the outskirts of town to escaoe the Whittier blue laws that would have prohibited showing movies on Sunday [Tribune/News December 13, 1987]. The Whittier Theatre was designed as a combination movie palace and stage theater, and it is noteworthy that the premiere gala included not only the screening of Monte Blue's From Headquarters but three special vaudeville numbers. The relative isolation of the theater from the main commercial district of uptown Whittier seems to have had an adverse effect on the complex's businesses for several years. Although the two principal adjacent businesses (the McNees Cafe and the Whittier Pharmacy) were stable, city directories indicate that, up until about 1936, other businesses came and went, and there were several vacancies. The heyday of the Whittier Theatre lasted from the late 1930s until the 1950s, when television began making inroads on movie-going. Excerpts from newspaper articles make it clear that the theater is fondly remembered by many of the area's residents as a popular social focal point and an important part of their younger years.

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