WASHINGTON, August 4, 2015 – Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and National Park
Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis today announced the designation of
four new national historic landmarks. The designation recognizes the
sites as places that possess exceptional value and quality in
illustrating or interpreting the heritage of the United States.
“Though very different from one another, these places reflect the
creatively and ingenuity of the American spirit,” said National Park
Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis. “National historic landmarks are an
example of how the mission of the National Park Service extends beyond
park boundaries to recognize additional places of national significance
in communities throughout the country."
The four national historic landmarks announced today are:
- First Peoples Buffalo Jump, Cascade County, Mont.
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| Photo: stateparks.mt.gov |
First Peoples Buffalo Jump is one of the oldest, largest, and best
preserved bison cliff jump locations in North America. Its monumental
record of stone surface architecture, deeply stratified bison bone
deposits, multiple tipi ring concentrations, and extensive evidence of
ceremonies indicate that, for approximately 5,700 years, First Peoples
Buffalo Jump held the paramount position in the Northern Plains “bison
culture.” This site holds the potential for defining the evolving
sophistication of mass-procurement strategies of hunter-gatherer
societies in the Northern Plains, and may also provide insights
regarding cultural development of Precontact hunter-gatherer societies
in the western United States.
- George Washington Masonic National Memorial, Alexandria, Va.
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| Photo: gwmemorial.org |
The George Washington Masonic National Memorial stands among the most
architecturally significant projects to honor George Washington and one
of the boldest private efforts to memorialize him. The Grand Lodges of
the states and territories, which usually operate independently, joined
forces to build this national memorial. This eclectic building combines
neoclassical architecture common to American memorials and civic
buildings with a modern skyscraper design.
- Lafayette Park, Detroit, Mich.
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| Photo: nps.gov |
Lafayette Park is one of the earliest planned and most fully-realized
urban renewal projects of the mid-twentieth century. It succeeded in
creating an ethnically-diverse community that continues to thrive today
and is generally regarded as one of the best and most successful
examples of a residential urban renewal development in the nation. It
was a collaborative design endeavor between architect (Ludwig Mies van
der Rohe), developer (Herbert Greenwald), planner (Ludwig Hilberseimer),
and landscape architect (Alfred Caldwell).
- Red Rocks Park and Mount Morrison Civilian Conservation Corps Camp, Jefferson County, Colo.
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| Photo: nps.gov |
The outstanding architecture and landscape architecture of Red Rocks
Park and Mount Morrison Civilian Conservation Corps Camp illustrate the
principles and practices of New Deal-era naturalistic park design and
master planning in a metropolitan park as well as the use of Civilian
Conservation Corps (CCC) labor to develop such a park. Mount Morrison
CCC Camp is one of the few surviving camps in the nation that retains a
high concentration of original resources. The amphitheater in the park
is one of America’s best known performing arts venues, famous for its
natural acoustics, design, and setting.
