NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK NOMINATION NPS Form 10-900 USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) OMB No. 1024-0018 HARRY S TRUMAN HISTORIC DISTRICT Page 1 United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form 1. NAME OF PROPERTY Historic Name: Harry S Truman Historic District Other Name/Site Number: 2. LOCATION Street & Number: N/A (Range 32 West, Township 49 North, Sections 2 and 3; Not for publication: Range 32 West, Township 50 North, Sections 34 and 35.) City/Town: Independence Vicinity: State: MO County: Jackson Code: 095 Zip Code: 64050 3. CLASSIFICATION Ownership of Property Category of Property Private: X Building(s): ___ Public-Local: X District: _X_ Public-State: ___ Site: ___ Public-Federal: _X_ Structure: ___ Object: ___ Number of Resources within Property Contributing Noncontributing 445 115 buildings 4 sites structures 2 1 objects 451 116 Total Number of Contributing Resources Previously Listed in the National Register: 9 Name of Related Multiple Property Listing: NPS Form 10-900 USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) OMB No. 1024-0018 HARRY S TRUMAN HISTORIC DISTRICT Page 2 United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form 4. STATE/FEDERAL AGENCY CERTIFICATION As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended, I hereby certify that this ____ nomination ____ request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property ____ meets ____ does not meet the National Register Criteria. Signature of Certifying Official Date State or Federal Agency and Bureau In my opinion, the property ____ meets ____ does not meet the National Register criteria. Signature of Commenting or Other Official Date State or Federal Agency and Bureau 5. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that this property is: ___ Entered in the National Register ___ Determined eligible for the National Register ___ Determined not eligible for the National Register ___ Removed from the National Register ___ Other (explain): Signature of Keeper Date of Action NPS Form 10-900 USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) OMB No. 1024-0018 HARRY S TRUMAN HISTORIC DISTRICT Page 3 United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form 6. FUNCTION OR USE Historic: Domestic Sub: single dwelling, secondary structure Commerce/Trade business, financial institution, specialty store, restaurant Social meeting hall, civic Government city hall, fire station, government office Education school Religion religious facility, church school Recreation and Culture theatre, auditorium hall Landscape park, plaza (square) Transportation rail-related, road-related (vehicular) Current: Domestic single dwelling, secondary structure Commerce/Trade business, financial institution, specialty store, restaurant Social meeting hall, civic Government courthouse Education school Religious religious facility, church school Recreation and Culture theater, auditorium Landscape park, plaza (square) Transportation rail-related, road related (vehicular) 7. DESCRIPTION ARCHITECTURAL CLASSIFICATION: LATE VICTORIAN: Gothic Revival, Italianate, Queen Anne, Stick/Eastlake, Shingle LATE 19TH & 20TH CENTURY REVIVALS: Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival, Mission/Spanish LATE 19TH & EARLY 20TH CENTURY AMERICAN MOVEMENTS: Prairie School, Commercial Style, Bungalow/Craftsman MODERN MOVEMENT: Modern Movement, Moderne MATERIALS: Foundation: Stone, brick, concrete Walls: Wood, brick, stone, concrete, metal, stucco, terra cotta, synthetics Roof: Wood, asphalt, asbestos, stone, tile, synthetics Other: NPS Form 10-900 USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) OMB No. 1024-0018 HARRY S TRUMAN HISTORIC DISTRICT Page 4 United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form Describe Present and Historic Physical Appearance. Summary The Harry S Truman Historic District received National Historic Landmark designation on Veterans’ Day, November 11, 1971, for association with the thirty-third president of the United States, for the period 1919 to 1971. The district was designated under NHL criterion 2, properties that are associated importantly with the lives of persons nationally significant in the history of the United States, for the NHL Theme, “Political and Military Affairs,” and sub-theme “The American Presidency.” These correspond to the updated NHL theme, “Shaping the Political Landscape,” per the revised National Park Service Thematic Framework. Harry Truman served as President of the United States from 1945 to 1953. Previously, Truman served as Vice President during the final months of Franklin Roosevelt’s administration (1945) and as U.S. Senator from Missouri (1935-1944). Truman’s public life required temporary residence in Washington, D.C., but his home, family, friends, and all things central to his life remained in Independence, Missouri. He grew up in this small Midwestern city, living here during his childhood and throughout much of his adult life from the time of his marriage to Bess Wallace in 1919 to his death in 1972.1 Independence and its people directly influenced Harry Truman and it provides the best representation of his life and political career. The original NHL nomination, written in 1971, referred to it as “the setting which has been the physical nucleus of both his personal and his long and influential political life.”2 The initial designation of the Harry S Truman Historic District concentrated on the linear axis of North Delaware Street, with the primary district resources contained within a residential area extending from the Truman Home to the southern edge of the Harry S Truman Library and Museum with a rather vague period of significance extending from, “1919 to the present.” Contributing resources were not differentiated from others within this area. Additional resources having direct association with Truman were discussed in the documentation, but were excluded from the district boundaries. The district boundaries also excluded a portion of Independence that is directly associated with Truman’s early business career, his maturation as a presiding county judge, service as a U.S. Senator, and period of retirement as former president and elderly statesman. This revised nomination clearly identifies resources that contribute to the national significance of the Truman district and provides architectural descriptions and historical information for each property within the 153-acre district. It also improves upon the initial 1971 nomination by offering greater detail about Harry Truman and his life in Independence and increasing the size of the district to better illustrate President Truman’s direct association with a wider range of historic properties in Independence. First, this nomination identifies contributing and non-contributing resources within the Harry S Truman Historic District and confirms the period of significance to be 1919 to 1971, the completion date of the original documentation. Secondly, this documentation increases the district boundaries to include resources that were omitted from the initial NHL designation, including some that were named in the original documentation but not included within its boundary and others that were simply overlooked. The areas of significance associated with these resources continue to 1 Readers may note that no period appears after President Truman’s middle initial in the title of this historic district and text of the nomination. Harry Truman typically did not use a period after the “S” because the letter was not an abbreviation for a middle name. Truman’s parents did not give their son a specific middle name but instead used the letter “S” to represent the names of his grandfathers, Solomon Young and Anderson Shipp Truman. Because it did not stand for a specific name, Truman never considered it to be an abbreviation needing a period. 2 Robert S. Gamble and Frank B. Sarles, Jr., “Harry S. Truman Historic District,” National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination Form, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.CA., September 13, 1971, Section 8, continuation page 1. Although written on a National Register form, this serves as the NHL documentation for the Truman Historic District. NPS Form 10-900 USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) OMB No. 1024-0018 HARRY S TRUMAN HISTORIC DISTRICT Page 5 United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form be those identified in the original documentation, ”Political and Military Affairs: The American Presidency,” along with the revised theme, “Shaping the Political Landscape.” The Truman Historic District exemplifies this theme because of its intimate association with President Harry Truman, the development of his political career, tenure as U.S. Senator, Vice President, and President of the United States, and retirement as an elder statesman. Unlike most twentieth century American Presidents, Harry Truman retained a life-long association with his hometown and he returned to it upon his retirement from public office. As the initial NHL nomination stated in 1971, “Today the flavor