Just Listed: Recent Additions to the National Register of Historic Places

Just Listed is a semi-annual feature of Pennsylvania’s cultural resources that were recently listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Since our last Just Listed post, 27 resources from all corners of the Commonwealth have been listed in the National Register of Historic Places.  You can explore these and other historic properties in Pennsylvania via CRGIS, our online map and database.

Mount Zion A.M.E. Church, Tredyffrin Township, Chester County

Listed January 27, 2015, for Social History and Ethnic Heritage significance at the State level.

Pennsylvania’s public schools had been integrated from the beginning of formal education, but a movement began after World War I to segregate schools.  In almost all instances, local efforts by African Americans to restore integrated schools failed; of the few successful efforts, the “School Fight” in the Easttown/Tredyffrin districts was the most prominent.  Between 1932 and 1934 African American opposition to school segregation in Easttown and Tredyffrin Townships was known locally as the “School Fight.”  The Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church in Chester County was the center of opposition to school segregation.  Only 12 of district’s 224 African American students attended public schools during the two years of the School Fight, and during most of the time the African American schools only had a single local student.

Mount Zion and its congregation played a central role in the School Fight as the primary location where the African American community planned strategy to resist the segregation policy and support the local African-American community.  Here the African American community developed the means to combat the policy and organized a boycott.  The church provided space to organize education for students affected by the boycott, seek legal representation, and provide assistance to families impacted by the boycott, whether or not they were members of the congregation.

C.F. Adams Building (Erie Insurance Exchange), City of Erie, Erie County

Listed January 27, 2015, for Architectural significance at the local level.

The C.F. Adams Building was constructed in 1912 by Charles Farrar Adams, as the headquarters of his Erie-based C.F. Adams Company.  Adams chose the location just off of Perry Square, in the heart of the City of Erie.  The building was designed by a leading architectural firm, Donaldson & Meier Architects, out of Detroit, Michigan.  Adams began his career as a salesman for his father’s company, the F.F. Adams Company, maker of Keystone brand washers, wringers, stepladders, and other wooden products.  The Depression cut deeply into the company’s sales and in 1930 the company’s headquarters were moved to Chicago. In 1933, the company closed its business permanently. The building stood empty until 1938, when it was purchased by the Erie Insurance Exchange.  Erie Insurance used the C.F. Adams Building as its headquarters until 1956, when it sold the building to the Erie County Crippled Children’s Society, Inc.

The C.F. Adams Building is a significant example of Romanesque Revival and Craftsman styles in an office building. The interior of the building features outstanding Craftsman features, such as the barrel-vaulted coffered ceiling and skylight and oversized Grueby-tiled fireplace.  The exterior has Romanesque Revival detailing in the arched entry, gable-end arcade of windows and gable parapets.  The quality of materials and unity of design details between the interior and exterior of the building create an expression of Craftsman and Romanesque Revival architecture.

Washington Trust Company Building, City of Washington, Washington County

Listed January 7, 2015, for Architectural significance at the local level.

The Washington Trust Company formed at a time of rapid growth of the banking industry in Washington County in response to the accumulation of wealth from the extraction of its natural resources.  At the turn of the twentieth century, the United States Geological Survey estimated that 97% of Washington County was underlaid by rich seams of bituminous coal.  The quality of this coal made it ideal for the manufacture of iron and, later, steel.   Another source of wealth was oil.  In 1885, Washington residents digging wells for natural gas to heat and light their homes struck oil instead, and a lucrative new industry was born.  Between 1885 and 1916, thousands of oil wells pumped the Washington oil field for commercial production.  The sale of this oil, facilitated by Washington’s excellent rail connections, further increased the prosperity of the county seat.

Completed in July, 1903, the Washington Trust Company Building was intended to serve as more than a mere bank headquarters.  The building was the premier business address in Washington and housed the Washington Trust bank in its grand banking rooms on the first floor and the offices of doctors, dentists, engineers, insurance agents, and real estate professionals in the floors above.  The Washington Trust Company Building also capitalized upon its proximity to the Courthouse, conveniently housing many of the county’s legal professionals across the street from the halls of justice.  The Elks Club rented the entire sixth floor, and the main retail space on Main Street was occupied by Woolworth’s Five and Ten.  By 1925, the building’s success had created a demand for even more banking and office space, and the 390-room, “absolutely fireproof” addition was constructed on the vacant lot behind the original building by 1927.

Pennsylvania properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places since April 2014

All images for the National Register properties featured in this blog are on file in State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO). The SHPO would like to thank the authors of each nomination: Mount Zion A.M.E. Church – Robert J. Wise, Jr. and Seth Hinshaw from Wise Preservation Planning LLC; C.F. Adams Building – Bonnie Wilkinson Mark from Delta Development Group, Inc.; and Washington Trust Company Building – Angelique Bamberg, Principal at Clio Consulting.