History is made all around us all the time, said Stephanie Meeks, President of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. And sometimes, there are very important pieces of history that take place in very common looking buildings.
On Wednesday, the National Trust for Historic Preservation unveiled its annual list of America's 11 most Endangered Historic Places.
The 11 most list serves as an alarm when important places are threatened, Meeks said.
But while the organization sounds the alarm, Meeks noted it's the local citizens that make things happen.
Grassroots preservation plays an important role in saving national heritage, she said. There are 15 million local preservation activists working in their towns and communities across America. They are the heart and soul of the preservation movement and have been behind the great successes we've had with the 11 most endangered list.
The privately funded nonprofit organization works to save America's irreplaceable architectural, cultural, and natural heritage. The trust has identified over 233 threatened one-of-a-kind historic treasures since 1988 and uses the annual list, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, as a rallying call to raise awareness and save endangered sites from every region of the country.
The Trust's efforts run the gamut of American history from the oldest surviving McDonald's in Downey, Calif. to JFK International Airport's TWA terminal.
Attention from the nonprofit has, at times, quickly garnered public support to rescue a treasured landmark. In other instances, however, it has been the impetus for a long battle to save important pieces of American history.
Not all battles have ended well. According to Meeks, 10 sites have been lost over the past quarter century, including Minneapolis' Guthrie Theater and Detroit's Tiger Stadium. Both were demolished.
Three of the sites on this year's list, Ellis Island Hospital, Texas Courthouses, and Sweet Auburn Georgia, are carryovers from previous years. Meeks said there is more work to be done and she hopes that by including them again, the organization can spur additional conservation efforts.
All of these places have great stories to tell, she said.
Click Start for a look at the complete list of the 11 most endangered historic places in America in 2012.
Historical Significance: This mostly unused and unrestored complex of buildings, part of the Ellis Island National Monument, once comprised the largest U.S. Public Health Service institution in the country.
Threat: Lack of Funding
Partners: Save Ellis Island, National Park Service, New York Landmarks ConservancyNTHPHistorical Significance: Founded in 1817 by a group of separatists who fled Germany in search of religious freedom.
Threat: Insufficient Protection
Partners: Zoar Community Association, Ohio Historical Society, U.S. Army Corps of EngineersNTHPHistorical Significance: Built in 1874, this modest structure is the last known surviving boyhood home of Malcolm X.
Threat: Lack of Funding
Partners: Historic Boston, Inc.NTHPHistorical Significance: Terminal Island played a vital role during WWI and WWII as a major shipbuilding center and was also the site of a tragic chapter of American history when an entire Japanese-American community there was forcibly removed and imprisoned at the internment camp Manzanar.
Threat: Demolition
Partners: Los Angeles ConservancyNTHPHistorical Significance: George Washington rallied his forces here to defeat British troops in the Revolutionary War.
Threat: Inappropriate Development
Partners: Princeton Battlefield SocietyNTHPHistorical Significance: Joe Frazier, a gold medal winner at the 1964 Olympics and later Heavyweight Champion of the World, trained for his victorious bout against Muhammad Ali inside this modest three-story brick building.
Threat: Insufficient Protection
Partners: Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia, Temple UniversityNTHPHistorical Significance: One of America’s greatest conservationists and the 26th president lived here off and on.
Threat: Inappropriate Development
Partners: Theodore Roosevelt National ParkNTHPHistorical Significance: The historic district of Auburn Avenue, birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr., was once known as “the richest Negro street in the world,” but spiraled into decline in the 1980s.
Threat: Inappropriate Development
Partners: Historic District Development Corporation, Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, Atlanta Preservation CenterNTHPHistorical Significance: Three historic Rustic Style bridges over the Merced River built in 1928 and 1932 face removal.
Threat: Demolition
Partners: NoneNTHPHistorical Significance: Texas courthouses helped establish a unique identity for each of the state’s counties and continue to serve as a source of community pride.
Threat: Lack of Funding, Neglect
Partners: Texas Historical Commission, Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program, Preservation TexasNTHPHistorical Significance: Last year, the U.S. Postal Service identified nearly 4,400 post offices that it plans to study for closure. These post offices traditionally played an essential role in the lives of millions of Americans.
Threat: Insufficient Protection
Partners: City of GenevaNTHP