Town of Eleanor Historic Resource Survey: Final Survey Report

Hill Studio, Inc.

From the Project Overview: "The Town of Eleanor and the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture, and History/State Historic Preservation Office (WVSHPO) engaged Hill Studio, PC in 2020 to conduct an intensive survey of historic architectural resources in the town associated with the 1934 New Deal Homestead Project called Red House Farms, later renamed Eleanor for first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Eleanor, located in Putnam County, West Virginia, is one of three planned New Deal resettlement communities in the state established under the Federal Emergency Relief Administration Act (FERA). The 150 families selected to live in the community were provided a house and about an acre of land for subsistence farming, a practice in which all the food crops raised sustain the needs of the farmer and his family. The homes were three to five bedrooms and came in twelve different styles. All homes were of cinder block construction. The community also included a school, a canning plant, a factory, a community farm, and several other buildings. Eleanor was first identified as a potential historic district in 1976, when an HPI form was created for the Eleanor Historic District (PU-0007) by the West Virginia Antiquities Commission. A Survey of Union District of Putnam County conducted in 1995 documented 113 properties in Eleanor, almost all of which dated to the 1934 New Deal project (PU-0003). The 1995 survey report recognized Eleanor’s potential for listing in the NRHP under Criterion A and recommended further study. None of the resources surveyed in 1995 are individually listed in the NRHP. The goal of the 2020-2021 intensive architectural survey was to document historic resources within the original 1935 boundaries of the Red House Farms Project and explore its eligibility for listing as a historic district in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The project scope included a survey of 125 properties in the 93-acre Phase 1 survey area that were a minimum of 50 years old. Hill Studio performed the fieldwork October 13-15, 2020. An Historic Property Inventory Form (HPI) was completed for each resource including two photographs, statement of significance, narrative description, and National Register evaluation. Hill Studio referred to previously completed HPI forms and incorporated relevant information into the new HPI forms. Properties less than 50 years old were not surveyed but are documented in this survey report with an address, date, and brief description. The Town plans to hire a consultant to survey the remainder of the properties within the 1935 boundaries of the Red House Farms Project as Phase 2. The following report outlines the survey." Project funding was provided in part by a Historic Preservation Fund grant to the State Historic Preservation Office - West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture, and History, administered by the State, Tribal, Local Plans and Grants division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior (grant number P20AF00057).

Town of Eleanor Historic Resource Survey: Final Survey Report

Collections