Harriman Historic District
The Harriman Historic District is an ensemble of buildings in the northern part of Bristol , Pennsylvania , in the United States . There is a 6.8 hectare large residential area with 109 buildings, mostly homes, and the local Secondary School .
Construction began here in the early 20th century and peaked when the United States entered World War I in 1917. The Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) commissioned a construction company based in Massachusetts , to build houses for the accommodation of the workers at the nearby shipyard were employed by the Merchant Shipbuilding Corporation was operated (MSC). The Bristol project grew to be the largest single project the EFC undertook.
Production at the shipyard fell around 1921, which was caused by a slack in shipbuilding in the post-war years. The government closed the shipyard as a result and many of the houses were auctioned . On April 30, 1987, the area with the remaining historical inventory was added to the National Register of Historic Places as a Historic District .
description
The protected district has a slightly oval shape, its boundaries are formed in the north and south by East and West Circle, in the east it extends to Farragut Avenue and in the west to Trenton Avenue. Of the 109 buildings in the area, all but five are historical buildings.
When planning the project, the architects strived to not only serve to accommodate the residents, but also to design the family houses individually as far as practicable. Most of these houses are built in the Tudor Revival or Colonial Revival architectural styles , the ground floors are made of exposed bricks , the upper floors are plastered or consist of ornate wooden structures. The houses have wide verandas and steep gable roofs .
The only larger non-residential structure still in existence is today's Bristol Junior / Senior High School. Other structures such as the hotel and the restaurant were demolished years ago to make way for other residential buildings. The streets in the neighborhood, many of which bear the names of US presidents , are wide and tree-lined.
Also part of the district are six rows of company apartments that were built in 1907 by the no longer existing Standard Cast Iron Pipe & Foundry Company. These houses with their uniform appearance form a sharp contrast to the individually designed houses, the construction of which the EFC commissioned.
history
The railroad mogul W. Averell Harriman , anticipating the United States' entry into World War I, founded the Merchant Shipbuilding Corporation (MSC) in 1917 to build merchant ships that were then needed. Harriman acquired the old John Roach & Sons shipyard on the Delaware River in Chester , Pennsylvania. He also bought land on the banks of the river above Bristol owned by the bankrupt Standard Cast Iron Pipe & Foundry Company. He planned to build a more modern shipyard at this point. After the United States entered the war, Harriman negotiated an agreement with the Emergency Fleet Corporation under which the EFC built the shipyard in Bristol and leased the site from the MSC. In return, MSC had forty freighters with a tonnage of 9,000 tons built at the shipyard for a fixed price. The first ships were laid down in September 1917 and the first ship was launched in August 1918.
The EFC-built shipyard drew 11,000 workers and their families to Bristol, quickly draining the local property market. Efforts to declare the area a war zone in order to confiscate existing housing to accommodate the workers failed. The EFC therefore decided to start an ambitious residential construction project. The project was approved by the United States Congress in December 1917 , which released $ 35 million for the purpose.
The Bristol Settlement Project was the largest single project the EFC undertook. A completely new city district was created, which was named "Harriman". Construction began in March 1918 and the first houses were completed in July. However, due to high rents, the shipyard workers hesitated to move into the building. After completion, the new district consisted of 320 houses, 278 apartments and 22 dormitories, so a total of 3800 workers and their families were accommodated. The new district had its own networks for the supply of water and electricity as well as for sewage disposal. 212 apartments and 66 single-family houses were connected to a central heating system. The housing project also included 18 shops, a school, a forty-bed hospital, a 500-room hotel and a restaurant that served 12,000 meals a day.
Despite the great effort that went into building the shipyard and the new settlement, not a single ship was completed before the end of the war. However, both the EFC and Harriman expected a boom in shipbuilding during the post-war period, so it was decided to build all forty ships originally ordered. These expectations were not fulfilled, as the war was followed by a lull in shipbuilding. In 1921 the shipyard had no more orders and was closed in February of that year. The government then auctioned off the houses in the neighborhood piece by piece, but was only able to raise $ 870,000 - with building costs totaling 5.6 million. Harriman was then incorporated into Bristol.
The Harriman Historic District is significant in the context of World War I mobilization . It is the largest settlement project undertaken by the EFC and its relatively high integrity as an example of a government planned and funded housing estate from the First World War.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d O'Bannon, Patrick W .; National Register of Historic Places nomination, Harriman Historic District , Pennsylvania Historical Museum Commission; December 1986; Retrieved May 8, 2009.
Coordinates: 40 ° 6 ′ 31 ″ N , 74 ° 50 ′ 39 ″ W.