Portal:National Register of Historic Places/Portal article

The Alamo is the name of former mission and fortress compound, now a museum, in San Antonio, Texas. The compound, which originally comprised a church and surrounding buildings, was built by the Spanish Empire in the 18th century for the education of local Native Americans after their conversion to Christianity. After its later abandonment as a mission, it was used as a fortress in the 19th century and was the scene of several military actions, including most notably the 1836 Battle of the Alamo, one of the pivotal battles between the forces of the Republic of Texas and Mexico during the Texas Revolution.

The mission was authorized in 1716 by the viceroy of New Spain. It was established two years later in 1718 by Fray Antonio de Olivares, who brought Indian converts and records with him from the San Francisco Solano Mission near San Juan Bautista on the Rio Grande. Learn more...

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Cave Hill Cemetery is a 296-acre Victorian era National Cemetery and arboretum located at 701 Baxter Avenue, Louisville, Kentucky. It is open daily to the public from 8:00 AM to 4:45 PM (weather permitting). Its main entrance is on Baxter Avenue and there is a secondary one on Grinstead Drive. Both former Louisville mayors, for whom these streets are named (James F. Grinstead and John G Baxter), are buried in Cave Hill Cemetery.

Cave Hill was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. Cave Hill National Cemetery, containing military graves, is also on the National Register, added in 1998. Within the National Cemetery two additional items on the National Register: the 32nd Indiana Monument and the Louisville Union Monument.

Over 200 Confederate soldiers are buried in Section O. The original wooden grave markers have since been replaced by stone ones.

There were about 120,000 people interred by 2002, with space remaining for 22,000 more graves. Learn more...

Waller Hall is the oldest building on the campus of Willamette University in Salem. Built in 1867 as University Hall, the five-story, brick structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The building has been gutted twice by fires with the interior rebuilt each time, and went through renovations in 1987–1989 and 2005. From 1872 when the Oregon Institute building burned down until 1906 the building was the only permenat structure on campus.

Built in the Renaissance style of architecture, it is currently used for administration offices and is the oldest university building west of the Mississippi River in the U.S. still in use. Waller Hall is located on the north end of campus opposite the Oregon State Capitol building across State Street. All of the bricks used in the construction were fired on campus using clay excavated from the construction site in order to build the foundation. The school renamed the building in 1912 to Waller Hall in honor of longtime university trustee Alvin F. Waller. Waller is used for administrative functions, including housing the office of the university's president (as of 2008 M. Lee Pelton), and contains the Cone Chapel. Learn more...

USS Missouri (BB-63) ("Mighty Mo" or "Big Mo") is a U.S. Navy battleship, and was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the U.S. state of Missouri. Missouri is the final battleship to be built by the United States, and among the Iowa-class battleships is notable for being the site of the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II. Missouri was ordered on 12 June 1940 and her keel was laid at the New York Navy Yard in the New York City borough of Brooklyn on 6 January 1941.

During her career Missouri saw action in World War II during the Battle of Iwo Jima and the Battle of Okinawa, and shelled the Japanese home islands of Hokkaidō and Honshū. After World War II she returned to the United States before being called up and dispatched to fight in the Korean War. Upon her return to the United States she was decommissioned into the United States Navy reserve fleets, better known as the "Mothball Fleet" in 1955. She was reactivated and modernized in 1984 as part of the 600-ship Navy plan, and participated in the 1991 Gulf War.

Missouri was decommissioned a final time on 31 March 1992, having received a total of eleven battle stars for service in World War II, Korea, and the Persian Gulf. She was maintained on the Naval Vessel Register until January 1995, when her name was struck. In 1998 she was donated to the Missouri Memorial Association, and is presently a museum ship at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Learn more...

Ed Galloway's Totem Pole Park consists of eleven objects and one building on 14 acres (57,000 m²) in Rogers County, Oklahoma. The park is ten miles (16 km) north-east of Claremore and is located 3.5 miles (6 km) east of historic U.S. Route 66 and Foyil. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 30, 1999 and is currently owned and operated by the Rogers County Historical Society and the Foyil Heritage Association. The park's main totem pole is claimed to be the "World’s Largest Concrete Totem Pole."

After more than 20 years as a manual arts teacher at the Children’s Home orphanage in Sand Springs, OK, in 1937 Ed Galloway retired and moved his family to a small farm near Foyil. Shortly afterwards, he embarked on an ambitious folk art project to create a three-dimensional totem pole using modern building materials. After eleven years of work, Galloway’s totem pole was completed in 1948 and topped out at approximately 90 ft (27 m) in height. The totem pole’s construction took six tons of steel, 28 tons of cement, and 100 tons of sand and rock. The base is 30 ft (9 m) wide and rests on the back of a colourfully painted turtle. It is decorated with approximately 200 bas relief images of brightly colored Native American portraits, symbols, and animal figures that cover the entire totem pole from the base to its pinnacle. Learn more...

Kawaiahaʻo Church (or Ka wai a Haʻo) is a historic Congregational church located in Downtown Honolulu on the Hawaiian Island of Oʻahu. At one time the national church of the Hawaiian Kingdom and chapel of the royal family, Kawaiahaʻo Church is popularly known as Hawaiʻi's Westminster Abbey. It is one of the oldest standing Christian places of worship in Hawaiʻi, although four thatched churches stood at or near the present site before construction of the stone church. It is designated as a National Historic Landmark on the National Register of Historic Places. Learn more...

The John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge spans the Ohio River between Cincinnati, Ohio and Covington, Kentucky. When the first pedestrians crossed on December 1, 1866, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world at 1,057 feet (322 m), a status it maintained until 1883. Today, many pedestrians use the bridge to get between the arenas in Cincinnati (Paul Brown Stadium, Great American Ball Park, and U.S. Bank Arena) and the hotels and parking lots in Northern Kentucky.

The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and designated a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1983. It remains the busiest of Cincinnati's four non-expressway automobile or pedestrian bridges. Initially called the "Covington-Cincinnati Suspension Bridge," it was renamed in honor of its designer and builder on June 27, 1983.

The state of Kentucky closed the bridge on November 13, 2006 to make extensive repairs to the structure. It was scheduled to reopen April 22, 2007, but reopened about a month ahead of schedule in late March. However, it will close again for much of 2008 for repainting. Learn more...

The Indiana Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument is a 284-feet tall neoclassical oolitic limestone and bronze monument in the center of Indianapolis (and Marion County, Indiana). It was erected to honor Hoosiers who were veterans of the American Revolution, territorial conflicts that partially led up to the War of 1812, the Mexican–American War, and the US Civil War. It was designed by German architect Bruno Schmitz, and was completed in 1901. In addition to its external commemorative statuary and fountains, the basement of the monument is the Colonel Eli Lilly Museum, a museum of Indiana history during the American Civil War. There is also an observation deck that can be reached by stairs for free or by elevator for a $1.00 charge.

The circle is the standard symbol of the city of Indianapolis, and the city's flag is an iconic representation of Monument Circle and the two streets (Meridian and Market) that feed into and out of it. One of Indy's recognizable nicknames, "the Circle City" comes from Monument Circle. At one time, it was illegal to build any building taller than the monument within Indianapolis city limits, although there are now many skyscrapers exceeding its size.

The poem America, Messiah of Nations was written by James Whitcomb Riley for the dedication of the monument and was transformed into a march by John Philip Sousa. Both Riley and Sousa performed the poem and march at the dedication ceremonies. Learn more...

Manzanar is most widely known as the site of one of ten concentration camps where over 110,000 Japanese Americans were imprisoned during World War II. Located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada in California's Owens Valley between the towns of Lone Pine to the south and Independence to the north, it is approximately 230 miles (370.1 km) northeast of Los Angeles. Manzanar (which means “apple orchard” in Spanish) was identified by the United States National Park Service as the best-preserved of the former camp sites, and it is now the Manzanar National Historic Site.

Long before the first prisoners arrived in March 1942, Manzanar was home to Native Americans, who mostly lived in villages near several creeks in the area, and then to the ranchers and miners who established the town of Manzanar in 1910, but had abandoned the town by 1929 after the City of Los Angeles purchased the water rights to virtually the entire area. As different as these groups might seem, they are tied together by the common thread of forced relocation. Learn more...

Created in 1924, Fort Matanzas National Monument is a United States National Monument run by the National Park Service. The Monument consists of a 1740 Spanish fort, Fort Matanzas, and about 100 acres (0.4 km²) of salt marsh and barrier islands along the Matanzas River on the northern Atlantic coast of Florida. As an historic area under the Park Service, the National Monument was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. The Headquarters and Visitor Center were added separately to the National Register on December 31, 2008.

The Fort is constructed of coquina, a common shellstone building material in the area. It is 50 feet (15 m) long on each side with a 30-foot (9.1 m) tower. The marshy terrain was stabilized by a foundation of pine pilings. The standard staff for the Fort was one officer in charge, four infantrymen, and two gunners, though more troops could be stationed if necessary. All soldiers at Fort Matanzas served on rotation from their regular duty in St. Augustine. Five cannons were placed at the Fort - four six pounders and one 18 pounder. All guns could reach the inlet, which at the time was less than a half mile away. Learn more...

The Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site, which was established in 1974, preserves the historic and archaeological remnants of the Northern Plains Indians in North Dakota. This area was a major trading and agricultural area. There were three villages that occupied the Knife area. In general, these three villages are known as the Hidatsa villages. Broken down, the individual villages are Awatixa Xi’e (lower Hidatsa village), Awatixa and Big Hidatsa village. Awatixa Xi’e is believed to be the oldest village of the three. The Big Hidatsa village was established around 1600. Learn more...

Fort Churchill State Historic Park is a 4,461-acre (18.05 km²) Nevada state park in Lyon County, Nevada, in the United States. Located south of the town of Silver Springs, it is in the Central Nevada Region of Nevada State Parks, and is one of seven National Historic Landmarks in the state of Nevada. The site is one end of the historic Fort Churchill and Sand Springs Toll Road. Learn more...

The City of Rocks , also known as the Silent City of Rocks, is a U.S. National Reserve and Idaho state park lying two miles (3 km) north of the south central border with Utah.

The rock spires in the City of Rocks and adjacent Castle Rocks State Park are largely composed of granitic rock of the Oligocene Almo pluton and Archean Green Creek Complex.

The California Trail passed through what is now the City of Rocks. Wagons trains of the 1840s and 1850s left the Raft River valley and traveled through the area and over Granite Pass into Nevada. The names or initials of emigrants written in axle grease are still visible on Register Rock. Ruts from wagon wheels also can be seen in some of the rocks. Learn more...

The John Dickinson House, generally known as Poplar Hall, is located on the John Dickinson Plantation, a property owned by the State of Delaware and open to the public as a museum by the Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs. It was the boyhood home and sometime residence of the American revolutionary leader John Dickinson.

The main house is an Early Georgian mansion and was built on a 13,000-acre (53 km²) plantation in 1739/40 by Judge Samuel Dickinson, the father of John Dickinson. Wings were added in 1752 and 1754. The house faced a near-by bend of the St. Jones River which is no longer there as the river has been straightened. The original house suffered major damage during a British raid in August 1781 and was nearly destroyed in a fire in 1804. John Dickinson lived there for extended periods only in 1776/77 and 1781/82, although he kept up a keen interest in the property and often visited. Purchased by the National Society of Colonial Dames of America in 1952, it was given to the State of Delaware and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1961. Learn more...

The Bingham Canyon Mine is an open-pit mining operation extracting a large porphyry copper deposit southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, in the Oquirrh Mountains. It is owned by Rio Tinto Group, an international mining and exploration company headquartered in the United Kingdom. The copper operations at Bingham Canyon Mine are managed through Kennecott Utah Copper Corporation which operates the mine, a concentrator plant, a smelter, and a refinery. The mine has been in production since 1906, and has resulted in the creation of a pit over 0.75 miles (1.2 km) deep, 2.5 miles (4 km) wide, and covering 1,900 acres (7.7 km²). According to Kennecott, it is the world's largest man-made excavation. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966 under the name Bingham Canyon Open Pit Copper Mine. Learn more...

In the Wounded Knee Massacre, on December 29, 1890, 500 troops of the U.S. 7th Cavalry, supported by four Hotchkiss guns (a lightweight artillery piece designed for travel with cavalry and used as a replacement for the aging twelve-pound mountain howitzer), surrounded an encampment of Miniconjou Sioux (Lakota) and Hunkpapa Sioux (Lakota) near Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota. The Army had orders to escort the Sioux to the railroad for transport to Omaha, Nebraska. One day prior, the Sioux had given up their protracted flight from the troops and willingly agreed to turn themselves in at the Pine Ridge Agency in South Dakota. They were the very last of the Sioux to do so. They were met by the 7th Cavalry, who intended to use a display of force coupled with firm negotiations to gain compliance from them.

The commander of the 7th had been ordered to disarm the Lakota before proceeding. During the process of disarmament, a deaf tribesman named Black Coyote could not hear the order to give up his rifle. This set off a chain reaction of events that led to a scene of sheer chaos and mayhem with fighting between both sides in all directions. Learn more...

The Coolidge Homestead, also known as Calvin Coolidge Homestead District or President Calvin Coolidge State Historical Site, was the childhood home of the thirtieth President of the United States, Calvin Coolidge. Located in Plymouth Notch, Vermont, Coolidge lived there from age four in 1876 to 1887, when he departed for Black River Academy for education. The home, itself, was bought by his father, John Coolidge, who expanded the home from a simple one and a half story farm house to its present size and appearance today. Despite living most of his life in Northampton, Massachusetts, Coolidge often returned to the homestead to visit his family and was staying there when President Warren G. Harding, died. Coolidge was sworn in by his father in the family parlor after taking the Oath of Office for the presidency. Due to his father's refusal to modernize the house, the house remains to this day in the same condition, and in some cases, the same furnishings, as it was the night Coolidge took the oath. Learn more...

The Wheeling Suspension Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the main channel of the Ohio River at Wheeling, West Virginia. It was the largest suspension bridge in the world from 1849 until the Queenston-Lewiston Bridge was opened in 1851. It was designed by Charles Ellet, Jr., who also worked on the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge. The Wheeling bridge was the first to span the Ohio River, and was an important link on the National Road.

The main span is 1,010 feet (310 m) from tower to tower and allows barges to pass underneath. The east tower rests on the Wheeling shore, while the west tower is on Zane's Island. The east tower is 153.5 feet (46.8 m) above the low-water level of the river, or 82 feet (25 m) from the base of the masonry. The west tower is 132.75 feet (40.46 m) above low water, with 69 feet (21 m) of masonry.

It remains the oldest vehicular suspension bridge in the United States still in use and is listed as both a National Historic Landmark and Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. Learn more...