DOE Prepared by the Oregon Department of Transportation (Julie Osborn) in 2001
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Oregon Department of Transportation DETERMINATION OF ELIGIBILITY FOR THE NATIONAL REGISTER VAN BUREN BRIDGE PROJECT ODOT KEY 20688, SHPO Case No. 19-0502 WRITTEN BY: CHRIS BELL, LIZ CARTER, HAYLI REFF, AND CHRIS RUIZ Property Name: Corvallis Downtown Historic District Date of Construction: c. 1856-1960 Period of Significance: c. 1856-1960 Location: Corvallis downtown Roughly bounded by 1st Street and 6th Street on the east and west, Van Buren Avenue and Washington Avenue on the north and south, respectively Township 11 South Range 5 West Section 35 and Township 12 South, Range 5 West, Section 2 County: Benton Original Use/Function: Commerce/Trade, Social, Government, and Transportation Current Use/Function: Commerce/Trade, Social, Government, Recreation and Culture, Transportation This Determination of Eligibility for the Corvallis Downtown Historic District was built upon the DOE prepared by the Oregon Department of Transportation (Julie Osborn) in 2001. Unless otherwise noted, the bulk of the contextual background provided below was taken directly from that document. The current Determination of Eligibility deviates from the 2001 document in three significant ways. First, it expands the period of significance from 1950 to 1960 in order to embrace several buildings constructed in the 1950s that retain sufficient historical integrity to be considered contributing resources in the district. This expansion also allows for some 1950s-era changes to earlier buildings—including some storefront changes, which were common in the post-WWII years— to be recognized as potentially significant in their own right. Second, the southern boundary of the district has been adjusted to exclude new, twenty- first century construction, which in some cases involved the demolition of historic buildings that had been included in the 2001 District DOE. The remainder of the boundary remains as it was presented in 2001. It is acknowledged, however, that preparation of a National Register Nomination Form for the district would likely entail more detailed analysis of individual buildings and of the district as a whole, which could result in further changes (expansion or retraction) of the boundary, depending on additional survey work and/or a shift in the period of significance. Third, one archaeological site was added to the district and the contributing/non-contributing status of several resources was changed as a result of current research. Corvallis, Oregon Downtown Historic District Determination of Eligibility Museum Report 2020-081 (5/3/21) 1 In addition, this revised document has attempted to correct previous discrepancies or errors in dates, addresses, and descriptions to the degree possible. However, because the current effort did not involve intensive research of each individual building within the district boundary, therefore inadvertent errors or omissions may remain or have been carried over from previous research. It should be noted that the building count, the number of individual addresses, and the number of tax lots may not be equal. In some cases, a single building with multiple addresses occupies more than one tax lot, and in other cases there are single tax lots on which there is more than one distinct building. For the purposes of this DOE, the resource list accounts for historically distinct, individual buildings rather than present-day tax lots. Additionally, there are circumstances in which a single building that historically functioned as a single building is now situated on two tax lots, with two addresses, and has been divided functionally. In those cases, the building is counted alphanumerically (1a, 1b, etc. ). Again, this methodology may be altered if the district is considered for formal listing in the National Register of Historic Places. Within the approximately forty-acre district, there are one hundred and one (101) distinct buildings, structures, and sites.1 Of those, sixty-nine (69 or 68%) are counted as “Contributing” elements, twenty (20) of which are included in the Local Landmarks list, and seven (7) are individually listed in the National Register. These landmarked sites include the following: Table 1. List of Local Landmarks and Individually National Register-listed Properties Local National # Resource Name Resource Address Landmark Register 12 U.S. Post Office 311 S.W. 2nd St 1982 15 Kline’s Department Store 215-223 S.W. 2nd St 1989 16 Hotel Corvallis 201-211 S.W. 2nd St 1982 1987 17 Benton County State Bank 143 S.W. 2nd St 1982 1979 Johnson Porter/Majestic 21 115-121 S.W. 2nd St 1989 Theater 22 Julian Hotel 103-107 S.W. 2nd St 1982 1984 23 City Meat Market 111 N.W. 2nd St 1996 26 Weigand [Maggie] Building 133-135 N.W. 2nd St 1989 43 Taylor Building 136-140 S.W. 2nd St 1989 45 Kline, Lewis G., Building 219-235 S.W. Madison Ave 1982 1986 Crawford & Farra Brick 340 S.W. 2nd St 1982 55 Territorial Capitol Marker 1989 1 There are 122 tax lots within the district boundary, but for the purposes of this analysis individual historic buildings were counted, rather than modern tax lots. If a National Register nomination were prepared, consultation with the State Historic Preservation Office would clarify whether, for legal purposes, resources should be counted by building or tax lot. Corvallis, Oregon Downtown Historic District Determination of Eligibility Museum Report 2020-081 (5/3/21) 2 56a Avery, J.C., Building 400 S.W. 2nd St 1982 Wilhelm/McKellips-Groves 58 240 S.W. Washington Ave 1989 Garage 63 Rennie-Smith Building 251-257 S.W. Madison Ave 1990 71 Harding Building 301-311 S.W. Madison Ave 1989 79 Whiteside Theater 361 S.W. Madison Ave 1989 2009 83 Benton County Courthouse 120-190 N.W. 4th St 1982 1978 84 Hotel Benton/Benton Hotel 408 S.W. Monroe Ave 1982 1982 City Hall 92 501 S.W. Madison Ave 1982 Madison St. Methodist Church Southern Pacific Warehouse 93 563 S.W. Madison Ave 1982 Wells Fargo Office Thirty-two buildings (32 or 32%) are considered “non-contributing” due to a loss of integrity (24 resources) or a construction date that falls outside the period of significance (8 resources). There are twenty (20) vacant parcels scattered throughout the district. Several resources that are counted as “Contributing” in this Historic District DOE may meet National Register criteria for potential individual listing, as they meet age and integrity criteria, and may have some individual significance architecturally or for their associations with particular events, trends, or people significant in the history of Corvallis. While the potential individual eligibility of these properties is not specifically called out in the narrative below, properties in this category include (but may not be limited to) the following: Table 2. List of Potentially Individually National Register-eligible Properties Local # Resource Name Resource Address Landmark? Hwy 34/Van Buren Ave at 1 Highway 34/Van Buren Bridge Willamette River 12 U.S. Post Office 311 S.W. 2nd St Y 15 Kline’s Department Store 215-223 S.W. 2nd St Y 21 Johnson Porter/Majestic Theater 115-121 S.W. 2nd St Y 43 Taylor Building 136-140 S.W. 2nd St Y 55 Crawford & Farra Brick 340 S.W. 2nd St Y 56a Avery, J.C., Building 400 S.W. 2nd St Y 56b Warehouse 400 S.W. 2nd St ? 57 A.L. Stevenson Garage 442 S.W. 2nd St Wilhelm/McKellips-Groves 58 240 S.W. Washington Ave Y Garage 63 Rennie-Smith Building 251-257 S.W. Madison Ave Y Johnson Porter Building 68c 114 S.W. 3rd (100-114 S.W. 3rd) Corvallis Pacific States Tel. Co. Corvallis, Oregon Downtown Historic District Determination of Eligibility Museum Report 2020-081 (5/3/21) 3 71 Harding Building 301-311 S.W. Madison Ave Y 73 Crees Building 220-230 S.W. 3rd St 77 Lipman’s Department Store 215 S.W. 4th St City Hall 92 501 S.W. Madison Ave Y Madison St. Methodist Church Southern Pacific 93 563 S.W. Madison Ave Y WarehouseWells Fargo Office 94 Archaeological Site 35LIN842 Not Applicable N Note that several of the above properties have already been included in Corvallis’ Local Landmarks list. Additional research and analysis on each individual property will be required to make more definitive determinations with regard to National Register eligibility. Archaeological resources have been identified within the Corvallis Downtown Historic District and adjacent to the boundary and site documentation has been reviewed to see if these resources contribute to the district. The district boundary overlaps the proposed Marysville (Corvallis) Industrial District/Marysville Landing archaeological district. The archaeological district encompasses most of downtown Corvallis and is bounded on the north by Van Buren Avenue, from the bridge west to the intersection 5th Street, south along 5th Street to the intersection with C Avenue and east to the confluence of the Willamette and Marys River. The archaeological potential of the area, especially on industrial riverfront, was noted by Chappel et al. (1992), who conducted a pedestrian survey for archaeological and historic cultural resources. Additionally, Littlefield (1998) evaluated the potential for archaeological deposits along the Willamette riverfront. He identified archaeological remains of a steamboat and structural remains of riverfront warehouse submerged along the riverbank and recommended archaeological testing in several locations in the Riverfront Park. An October 2020 side-scan sonar and magnetometer study of the Willamette River, from the Van Buren Bridge south to Adams Avenue, identified several anomalies but could not confirm the presence of submerged archaeological resource associated with the nineteenth and twentieth century riverfront businesses. Additional archaeological resource within the boundaries of the archaeological district but outside of the proposed Corvallis Downtown Historic District include Site 35BE44 (Weber et al. 1983), a historic dump area located at what is now the intersection of 1st and B streets (approximately 200 meters south of the southern edge of the historic district boundary).