2011 National Historic Landmark Designations

Grand Mound

Grand Mound is the largest of five earthworks at the Smith Site, located in the Rainy River
border region (Koochiching County) between Minnesota and Canada. The mound is nationally significant under NHL Criterion 4, because it is the type specimen of a rare class of pre-contact earthen architecture. The 25-foot high, ovate mound with its 200-foot long,
low, thin tail is unlike any other known earthwork in the United States. It is believed by
some to represent a muskrat, the mythic "Earth Diver" of Algonquian cosmology who
heroically brings up mud so that the flooded world can be created anew. The Smith Site,
which is included in the designation, is also nationally significant under Criterion 6 due to
its rich, intact, stratified archeological record. It is also the type site for Laurel ceramics,
and more broadly, the Laurel Culture—a prominent northern tier Middle Woodland complex,
200 BC-AD 1400.

Lynch Knife River Flint Quarry

Lynch Knife River Flint Quarry is a precontact flint quarry in Dunn County, North Dakota. The nearly 700-acre property is the geological type site for Knife River Flint, which was quarried by hand from pits at the site and traded widely across the continent. The property is nationally significant for its potential to yield new information about the interrelationships of people, technology, and the environment, including the role of this lithic material in tool production, native subsistence strategies, seasonal rounds of individual Native American groups, and trade relations between groups throughout North America during these periods. 11,000 BCAD 1600.

Battle Mountain Sanitarium, Hot Springs, South Dakota.

Photo courtesy of Dena Sanford, National Park Service.

Battle Mountain Sanitarium

Battle Mountain Sanitarium National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, Hot Springs, South Dakota, represents the period of 1902-1930 when the National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (NHDVS) from a primarily residential system to one offering extensive medical services to veterans. It is the only branch established as an independent medical facility, treating musculoskeletal conditions and respiratory ills.

The Harry S. Truman Historic District NHL

The Harry S Truman Historic District NHL, Independence, Missouri, was initially designated on Veterans Day, November 11, 1971. A residential area beginning from the Truman Home on the south and extending northward along North Delaware Street, encompassing some of the neighborhood to the east and west, largely defined the original district. The revised nomination improves the documentation for the Truman District and expands its boundaries to include properties omitted from the initial designation. The contributing resources possess a high degree of historic integrity and strong association with the man, his life, and the community that shaped our 33rd President, representing the period 1919 to 1971.

Split Rock Light Station, Beaver Bay vicinity, Minnesota.

Photo courtesy of John N. Vogel.

Split Rock Light Station

Split Rock Light Station, Beaver Bay vicinity, Minnesota, is a rare example of a Great Lakes light station designed as a single, cohesive and self-sufficient complex with all major elements built during the initial period of construction. It served as a vital aid to navigation for commercial freighters traveling the busy and narrow shipping lanes that served the Lake Superior ports of Two Harbors and Duluth-Superior from 1909-1969. At the turn of the 20th century, when the U.S. emerged as the world’s industrial giant, ship traffic at these harbors carried tons of iron ore mined from the Minnesota Iron Range— the source of the nation’s largest and richest iron ore deposits.

Northwestern Branch NHDVS, Milwaukee Wisconsin.

National Park Service

Northwestern Branch NHDVS

Northwestern Branch National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (NHDVS), Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was one of three original NHDVS facilities and represents all phases of NHDVS history, from the beginning and growth of veterans’ benefits after the Civil War through increased focus on medical and geriatric care after 1900. Established in 1866 and opened in 1867, the northwestern branch was one of three original NHDVS facilities. It retains the oldest buildings in the system and a largely intact designed landscape.

Meadow Brook Hall

Meadow Brook Hall, Rochester Hills, Michigan, is an outstanding example of an American country estate of the twentieth century. The monumental Tudor Revival residence was built for Matilda Wilson, an heir to the Dodge automobile fortune. The design represents an effort to replicate English architectural traditions executed by American craftsmen and designers. In operation from 1915-1947, the illusion of a self-sufficient English manor with a working farm was created with numerous support buildings, including agricultural buildings and housing for the workers.

Pennsylvania Railroad Depot, Dennison, Ohio.

Photo courtesy of the Dennison Railroad Depot Museum.

Pennsylvania Railroad Depot

The Pennsylvania Railroad Depot and Baggage Room in Dennison, Ohio, is nationally significant as a representation of the movement of millions of servicemen and women across the U.S. during World War II and for the mobilization of civilians on the home front. Located on one of the nation’s main rail lines, the Dennison train depot was a stopping point for trains transporting servicemen and women to the West Coast for service in the Pacific, to debarkation points on the East Coast for service in Europe, and, ultimately, back home from overseas. It is the only surviving station in the United States that reflects its role as a World War II canteen, 1942-1946. The Pennsylvania Railroad Depot/Baggage Room was the home of the Dennison Depot Salvation Army Servicemen’s Canteen, the third largest in the country.

Akima Pinšiwa Awiiki House, Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Photo courtesy of Angela M. Quinn.

Akima Pinšiwa Awiiki House

The Akima Pinšiwa Awiiki (Chief Jean-Baptiste de Richardville House), Fort Wayne, Indiana, is a rare example of a treaty house remaining in the U.S. that was constructed as the direct result of treatymaking between American Indians and the U.S. government. Built in 1827 as part of the terms of the 1826 Treaty between the Myaamia (Miami) and the U.S., the Awiiki was the primary residence and the locus of Akima Pinšiwa’s activities as a sovereign leader in Miami negotiations with the United States government during the years 1818-1841.

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Originally published in "Exceptional Places" Vol. 6, 2011, a newsletter of the Division of Cultural Resources, Midwest Region. Written by National Park Service Staff.