America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places

The National Trust for Historic Preservation recently unveiled its 31st Annual List of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. Schools in East Los Angeles, Denver’s Larimer Square, Historic Resources in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Historic Route 66 included in 2018 list.

Mary and Eliza Freeman Houses – Bridgeport, CT.

Mary and Eliza Freeman Houses in 2012. Courtesy of Pedro Xing at Wikipedia

Widely considered the oldest houses built by African Americans in Connecticut, the Freeman Houses help to tell the unique story of the free black community in the North prior to the Civil War. The houses have been vacant for many years and are badly deteriorating.

Mount Vernon & Piscataway National Park, Mount Vernon, VA. and Accokeek, MD.

The Potomac River at Piscataway National Park. Courtesy USDOI, NPS Source @ https://www.nps.gov/parkoftheweek/photo-275.htm

Dominion Energy has proposed constructing a gas compressor station across the Potomac River from Mt. Vernon and directly adjacent to Piscataway National Park. This project has the potential to negatively impact the historic viewshed of Mt. Vernon and natural beauty of Piscataway National Park.

Route 66 – Multiple States.

Courtesy of Dietmar Rabich at <a href=”Photo by USDOI, NPS Source @ https://www.nps.gov/parkoftheweek/photo-275.htm“>Wikipedia</a>

Known as America’s “Mother Road,” Route 66 is an internationally significant symbol of our nation’s romance with the open road. While Congress has taken important steps to designate Route 66 a permanent National Historic Trail, which would bring national recognition and economic development to the route’s historic sites, legislation must be passed by the U.S. Senate and signed by the president before the end of 2018. Otherwise, a vital preservation opportunity may be lost.

Ship on the Desert (Wallace E. Pratt House) – Salt Flat, TX.

Courtesy of the National Park Service

Located within Guadalupe Mountains National Park, in the high desert landscape of West Texas, this striking early Modernist house has suffered from deferred maintenance and is not currently open to the public.

Walkout Schools of Los Angeles – Los Angeles, CA.

Theodore Roosevelt High School. Courtesy of MiztuhX at Wikipedia

The Walkout Schools are five historic campuses that played a key role in the 1968 East L.A. Chicano Student Walkouts, which helped catalyze the national Chicano Civil Rights Movement. These tangible representations of the power of student activism are now threatened, as some of the buildings face calls for demolition by the school district. The schools include: James A. Garfield High School; Theodore Roosevelt High School; Abraham Lincoln High School; Belmont High School; and El Sereno Middle School (formerly Woodrow Wilson High School).

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Royalton, VT photograph courtesy of Redjar at Wikipedia

Four Towns of Vermont’s Upper Valley – Royalton, Sharon, Strafford, and Tunbridge, VT. The charming village centers and idyllic surrounding farms and forests in four historic towns would be permanently altered by a development proposal calling for construction of a new planned community in this rural part of Vermont.

Follow on Twitter at @savingplaces and join the conversation using the hashtag #11Most.

America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places has identified nearly 300 threatened one-of-a-kind historic treasures since 1988. Whether these sites are urban districts or rural landscapes, Native American landmarks or 20th-century sports arenas, entire communities or single buildings, the list spotlights historic places across America that are threatened by neglect, insufficient funds, inappropriate development, or insensitive public policy. The designation has been a powerful tool for raising awareness and rallying resources to save endangered sites from every region of the country. At times, that attention has garnered public support to quickly rescue a treasured landmark; while in other instances, it has been the impetus of a long battle to save an important piece of our history.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a privately funded nonprofit organization, works to save America’s historic places. SavingPlaces.org | @savingplaces</i>