The City of Erie transferred ownership of the vessel to the newly formed USS Niagara Foundation in 1929. They were set up to restore it and make it the centerpiece of a museum.
However, the Great Depression forced the State of Pennsylvania to take over. Two years later the state gave $50,000 for another restoration in 1931. In 1938, the state stopped funding the ship. It was transferred to the Pennsylvania Historical Commission and it became a WPA project.
The commission contracted Howard I. Chapelle to restore the Niagara and he used plans for period ships built by Noah Brown like the USS Saratoga.
Very little of the original USS Niagara remained by this time. What hadn't rotted had been sold off as souvenirs.
--Brock-Perry
2012 marks the 200th anniversary of America's "Forgotten War," the War of 1812 that took place over three years, 1812 to 1815.
Battle of New Orleans.
Showing posts with label WPA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WPA. Show all posts
Friday, August 25, 2017
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Mackinac Island's Fort Holmes-- Part 1: Originally Built by the British
From Mackinac Parks site.
I started writing about this fort on June 10, 2016.
Fort Holmes sits atop the highest elevation on the island and was recently reconstructed and free and open to the public during normal operating hours from May to October. It is a small wooden and earthen fortification.
When the U.S. reoccupied Mackinac Island after the War of 1812, the name was changed from Fort George (the British built the fort and named it in honor of Britain's King George III) to Fort Holmes in honor of Major Andrew Hunter Holmes who was killed in the 1814 Battle of Mackinac Island.
After the war, the fort was also the site of at least two different viewing towers.
In 1936, the WPA (Works Progress Administration) used the original 1817 blueprints to rebuilt the fort, but it later fell into disrepair.
--Brock-Perry
I started writing about this fort on June 10, 2016.
Fort Holmes sits atop the highest elevation on the island and was recently reconstructed and free and open to the public during normal operating hours from May to October. It is a small wooden and earthen fortification.
When the U.S. reoccupied Mackinac Island after the War of 1812, the name was changed from Fort George (the British built the fort and named it in honor of Britain's King George III) to Fort Holmes in honor of Major Andrew Hunter Holmes who was killed in the 1814 Battle of Mackinac Island.
After the war, the fort was also the site of at least two different viewing towers.
In 1936, the WPA (Works Progress Administration) used the original 1817 blueprints to rebuilt the fort, but it later fell into disrepair.
--Brock-Perry
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