United States Post Office and Mine Rescue Station
U.S. Post Office and Mine Rescue Station
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U.S. Post Office and Mine Rescue Station in 1916
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Location | Main and 2nd Sts., Jellico, Tennessee |
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Coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
Area | 0.5 acres (0.20 ha) |
Architectural style | Beaux Arts |
NRHP Reference # | 84003467[1] |
Added to NRHP | February 10, 1984 |
The U.S. Post Office and Mine Rescue Station in Jellico, Tennessee, is a historic building built in 1915 to house two U.S. federal government functions.[2] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
The first floor of the two-story Beaux Arts-style building was a post office and the second floor was devoted to the activities of the U.S. Bureau of Mines and a local mine rescue organization serving the coal mining region around Jellico.[2] Mine rescue stations were outfitted with equipment needed to respond to underground mining accidents and served as sites for conducting training of local mining personnel.[3][4] Congressman Richard Wilson Austin, who represented the area in the U.S. House of Representatives, was credited with obtaining authorization for the building's construction, which cost about $80,000 (equivalent to about $1,900,000 today).[2] Design of the building was by the Office of the Supervising Architect; design work was started by James Knox Taylor and completed by Oscar Wenderoth.[5] It was built in 1915 and dedicated the following year.[3][4] The building was considered to be unusually fine for a small town like Jellico.[2] A contemporary account suggested that it might be characterized as "government pork".[2] The facilities for the Bureau of Mines were described as the "best ... hitherto given to this organization". In addition to offices, a lecture hall, and electrical connections for a "motion-picture machine",[2] these facilities included a smoke room, equipped with an exhaust fan, which was used in training miners in the use of breathing apparatus for mine rescues.[2][4]
A similar combination post office and mine-rescue station was later built in Norton, Virginia. Norton is the only other U.S. community ever to have had a combined post office and mine-rescue station,[3][5] although one was proposed for Hazard, Kentucky.[4]
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. The author was mayor of the city of Jellico.