Five Michigan Properties Added to the National Register of Historic Places

LANSING, Mich., Oct. 8, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA), announced the recent listing of five Michigan properties in the National Register of Historic Places. The national register, which is maintained by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, is the nation's list of properties worthy of being preserved.

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The J.J. Deal and Son Carriage Factory, 117 West St., Jonesville, Hillsdale County
The former J.J. Deal and Son Carriage Factory is representative of mill and factory buildings constructed in the United States in the second half of the nineteenth century. It was the largest factory building ever built in Jonesville, and it is the only nineteenth-century factory building remaining in the village. 

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Bramble, 2336 Military St., Port Huron, St. Clair County
Built in 1943 and commissioned in 1944, U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Bramble (WAGL/WLB-392) is one of a class of 39 Seagoing Buoy Tenders designed, constructed and commissioned in the early 1940s. Bramble is nationally significant as one of the first American vessels to successfully circumnavigate the North American continent through the Northwest Passage, a route that had eluded explorers for more than 400 years. While its career began as an ocean-going vessel, Bramble spent its later years in the Great Lakes tending buoys and ice-breaking. It was decommissioned in 2003 and remains moored in Port Huron.

Hamtramck Stadium, 3201 Dan St., Hamtramck, Wayne County
Hamtramck Stadium draws its significance from its role as the site of Negro League baseball from the time it opened in 1930 through 1933. Additionally, several National Baseball Hall of Fame players had Hamtramck Stadium as their home field, including Norman "Turkey" Stearnes, "Cool Papa" Bell and "Smokey Joe" Williams. In later years, the stadium served the Hamtramck community for local recreational baseball leagues, school leagues, and other community events. Today Hamtramck Stadium is one of only twelve remaining Negro League home field ballparks in the country.

The Eagle Harbor Coast Guard Station Boathouse, 9282 Marina Rd., Eagle Harbor, Keweenaw County
The Eagle Harbor Boathouse is the last surviving structure at the site of the Eagle Harbor Life-Saving/Coast Guard Station. The Eagle Harbor Life-Saving Station was built in 1911 and went into operation in 1912.  In 1915 the Life-Saving Service and U.S. Revenue Marine Service merged to form the U.S. Coast Guard.  The Eagle Harbor station served the outer end of Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula until its closing in 1950.

The Island City Historic District; North and South Main, East and West Hamlin, East and West Knight, King, Hall, and Spicer Streets; Eaton Rapids vicinity; Eaton County.
The Island City Historic District contains the historic central business district, the plant of the city's leading industrial operation in the late nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries, and the water power infrastructure that, initially constructed in the mid-nineteenth century and renovated over the years since, was the reason behind Eaton Rapids' early development.  The district meets national register criterion A in several ways.  The downtown's commercial buildings, dating from the 1860s to the 1950s, reflect the long history of the area as the city's commercial hub.  The Horner Woolen Mills complexes reflect the importance of wool as an important product of the area during the nineteenth century and the importance of the Horner mills as the city's leading industry during the first half of the twentieth century.  

Michigan has more than 1600 listings in the National Register of Historic Places, including some 250 districts made up of more than 20,000 properties. Eight additional properties were recently nominated to the register by the State Historic Preservation Review Board. Those properties include:

• Boyne City Central Historic District; South from Boyne River to Main St., east from Front St. along Ray and Water Sts./Boyne Ave. to Pearl St.; Boyne City, Charlevoix County
• Lippsett Hardware Building, 175 Main Street , Pickford Township, Chippewa County
• Williamston Downtown Historic District, First blocks of East and West Grand River Avenue and South Putnam Street, Williamston, Ingham County
• Hanover High School Complex, 105 Fairview Street, Hanover, Jackson County
• Benjamin and Maria (Ogden) Drake Farmstead,  927 North Drake Road, Oshtemo Charter Township, Kalamazoo County
• Grand Rapids Storage and Van Company Building, 1415 Lake Dr. SE, Grand Rapids
• Willard Building, 150 East Fulton, Grand Rapids, Kent County
• Midgaard, 44 Middle Island Point Road, Marquette Township, Marquette County

To read the nominations of these properties and see photographs, visit Michigan.gov/nrhp. Click on "Review Board."

The State Historic Preservation Review Board considers nominations to the register three times per year. The review board forwards nominations to the keeper of the National Register, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. The State Historic Preservation Office coordinates the National Register Program in Michigan.  For information on the National Register of Historic Places and other programs of the State Historic Preservation Office, visit www.michigan.gov/shpo or call (517) 373-1630.

The State Historic Preservation Office is part of the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA), which provides financial and technical assistance through public and private partnerships to create and preserve decent, affordable housing for low- and moderate-income residents and to engage in community economic development activities to revitalize urban and rural communities.*

*MSHDA's loans and operating expenses are financed through the sale of tax-exempt and taxable bonds as well as notes to private investors, not from state tax revenues. Proceeds are loaned at below-market interest rates to developers of rental housing, and help fund mortgages and home improvement loans. MSHDA also administers several federal housing programs. For more information, visit www.michigan.gov/mshda.

The State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) is financed in part by a grant from the National Park Service, Department of the Interior. The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of the Interior. The Department of the Interior prohibits discrimination on its federally funded assistance programs.  If you believe you've been discriminated against please contact the Office of Equal Opportunity, National Park Service, 1849 C. St. NW, Washington DC 20240.

SOURCE Michigan State Housing Development Authority