Mechanicsville Village Historic District
Mechanicsville Village Historic District known as Fenton's Corner, New-Work, Halifax, is a national historic district located at Mechanicsville, Buckingham Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The district includes 27 contributing buildings in the crossroads village of Mechanicsville, they include a variety of residential and institutional buildings, some of which are representative of the vernacular Late Victorian style. The residential buildings are predominantly 2 1/2-story and stone structures, some of which date to the early-19th century. Notable buildings include the Samuel Wilson Seed House, Thomas Walton Store and Residence, Joseph Burger House, Thomas Walton Tenant House, Phineas Hellyer House, George Nixon House, William Fell House, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989
Doylestown, Pennsylvania
Doylestown is a borough and the county seat of Bucks County in the U. S. state of Pennsylvania. It is located 35 miles north of 80 miles southwest of New York City; as of the 2010 census, the borough population was 8,380. Doylestown's origins date to 1745 when William Doyle obtained a license to build a tavern on what is now the northwest corner of Main and State Street. Known for years as "William Doyle's Tavern," its strategic location — at the intersection of the road linking Swede's Ford and Coryell's Ferry and the road linking Philadelphia and Easton — allowed the hamlet to blossom into a village; the first church was erected in 1815, followed by a succession of congregations throughout the 19th century. As the population of Central and Upper Bucks County grew throughout the 18th and into the 19th century, discontent developed with the county seat's location in Newtown, where it had been since 1725; the county seat moved north to the more centrally located Doylestown in 1813. An outgrowth of Doylestown's new courthouse was the development of "lawyers row", a collection of Federal-style offices.
One positive consequence of early 19th-century investment in the new county seat was organized fire protection, which began in 1825 with the Doylestown Fire Engine Company. In 1838 the Borough of Doylestown was incorporated. An electric telegraph station was built in 1846, in 1856 the North Pennsylvania Railroad completed a branch to Doylestown; the first gas lights were introduced in 1854. Because of the town's high elevation and a lack of strong water power, substantial industrial development never occurred and Doylestown evolved to have a professional and residential character. During the mid-19th century, several large tracts located east of the courthouse area were subdivided into neighborhoods; the next significant wave of development occurred after the Civil War, when the 30-acre Magill property to the southwest of the town's core was subdivided for residential lots. In 1869 Doylestown established; the first telephone line arrived in 1878, the same year. 1897 saw the first of several trolley lines connecting Doylestown with Willow Grove and Easton.
A private sewer system and treatment plant were authorized in 1903. The Borough took over and expanded sewer service to about three-quarters of the town in 1921. In the early 20th century, Doylestown became best known to the outside world through the "Tools of the Nation-Maker" museum of the Bucks County Historical Society. Henry Chapman Mercer constructed the reinforced concrete building in 1916 to house his collection of mechanical tools and utensils. Upon his death in 1930, Mercer left his constructed home Fonthill and adjacent Moravian Pottery and Tile Works, to be operated as a museum; the home was left on the condition that his housekeeper be allowed to live there for the rest of her life. She gave tours until the mid-1970s. In 1916, Doylestown Country Club was established and still operates a private golf course and caddy program. By 1931, the advent of the automobile and improved highway service had put the last trolley line out of business, Doylestonians were forced to embrace the automobile as the primary means of travel within the region.
The Great Depression took its toll, as many grand old houses constructed a century earlier fell into disrepair. During the 1930s, the Borough expanded its land area to the north by admission of the tract known as the Doylestown Annex. In the decade following World War II, Doylestown's business community boomed. During the 1940s, streets were paved for the first time in two decades and parking meters were introduced downtown in 1948. However, the Borough's post-war housing boom did not begin in earnest until the 1950s, when 550 new homes were built; this housing boom continued into the 1960s and 1970s, as more than 1,600 new homes were built during those decades and the Borough's population grew from 5,917 in 1960 to 8,717 in 1980. As with many small towns across the country, the growth of the post-war decades brought a new competitor to the downtown business district—the shopping mall. By the 1960s, the toll could be seen in Doylestown by the numerous vacant buildings and dilapidated storefronts in the center of town.
The Bucks County Redevelopment Authority responded with a federal urban renewal scheme that called for the demolition of 27 historic buildings. The local business community objected to such wholesale clearance and responded with its own plan called Operation'64, the Doylestown Plan for Self-Help Downtown Renewal; this private initiative was successful in saving Doylestown's old buildings and historic character, while improving business at the same time. One historic landmark that could not be saved was the 80-year-old courthouse and clock tower, replaced by the present county complex in the early 1960s. By the end of the 1980s, the downtown business district was again showing the toll of massive new competition from the latest wave of suburban shopping centers, as well as the recession that hit hardest in the northeastern states. In response, the Borough Council established a volunteer group of civic-minded representatives from business organizations and the residential community to begin formulating plans for the downtown area in 1992.
This effort resulted in streetscape improvements composed of cast iron street lamps and brick pavers, facade improvements and other beautification efforts, the establishment of a Main Street Manager Program. As the 1990s progressed, the downtown area rebuilt itself by turning to an out-of-town audience. Doylestown had long been respected as a bucolic tourist destination; the gent
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, object, site, or structure, recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Of over 90,000 places listed on the country's National Register of Historic Places, only some 2,500 are recognized as National Historic Landmarks. A National Historic Landmark District may include contributing properties that are buildings, sites or objects, it may include non-contributing properties. Contributing properties may or may not be separately listed. Prior to 1935, efforts to preserve cultural heritage of national importance were made by piecemeal efforts of the United States Congress. In 1935, Congress passed the Historic Sites Act, which authorized the Interior Secretary authority to formally record and organize historic properties, to designate properties as having "national historical significance", gave the National Park Service authority to administer significant federally owned properties. Over the following decades, surveys such as the Historic American Buildings Survey amassed information about culturally and architecturally significant properties in a program known as the Historic Sites Survey.
Most of the designations made under this legislation became National Historic Sites, although the first designation, made December 20, 1935, was for a National Memorial, the Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis, Missouri; the first National Historic Site designation was made for the Salem Maritime National Historic Site on March 17, 1938. In 1960, the National Park Service took on the administration of the survey data gathered under this legislation, the National Historic Landmark program began to take more formal shape; when the National Register of Historic Places was established in 1966, the National Historic Landmark program was encompassed within it, rules and procedures for inclusion and designation were formalized. Because listings triggered local preservation laws, legislation in 1980 amended the listing procedures to require owner agreement to the designations. On October 9, 1960, 92 properties were announced as designated NHLs by Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton; the first of these was a political nomination: the Sergeant Floyd Monument in Sioux City, Iowa was designated on June 30 of that year, but for various reasons, the public announcement of the first several NHLs was delayed.
NHLs are designated by the United States Secretary of the Interior because they are: Sites where events of national historical significance occurred. More than 2,500 NHLs have been designated. Most, but not all, are in the United States. There are the District of Columbia. Three states account for nearly 25 percent of the nation's NHLs. Three cities within these states all separately have more NHLs than 40 of the 50 states. In fact, New York City alone has more NHLs than all but five states: Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York. There are 74 NHLs in the District of Columbia; some NHLs are in U. S. commonwealths and territories, associated states, foreign states. There are 15 in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, other U. S. territories. S.-associated states such as Micronesia. Over 100 ships or shipwrecks have been designated as NHLs. About half of the National Historic Landmarks are owned; the National Historic Landmarks Program relies on suggestions for new designations from the National Park Service, which assists in maintaining the landmarks.
A friends' group of owners and managers, the National Historic Landmark Stewards Association, works to preserve and promote National Historic Landmarks. If not listed on the National Register of Historic Places, an NHL is automatically added to the Register upon designation. About three percent of Register listings are NHLs. American Water Landmark List of U. S. National Historic Landmarks by state List of churches that are National Historic Landmarks in the United States Listed building, a similar designation in the UK National Historic Sites and Persons, similar designations in Canada National Natural Landmark United States Memorials United States National Register of Historic Places listings Official National Historic Landmarks Program website A History of the NHL Program List of National Historic Landmarks National Historic Landmarks: Archaeological Properties Historical Landmarks - United States Lighthouses
United States
The United States of America known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U. S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D. C. and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico; the State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean; the U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The diverse geography and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.
Paleo-Indians migrated from Siberia to the North American mainland at least 12,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century; the United States emerged from the thirteen British colonies established along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the colonies following the French and Indian War led to the American Revolution, which began in 1775, the subsequent Declaration of Independence in 1776; the war ended in 1783 with the United States becoming the first country to gain independence from a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, with the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, being ratified in 1791 to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties; the United States embarked on a vigorous expansion across North America throughout the 19th century, acquiring new territories, displacing Native American tribes, admitting new states until it spanned the continent by 1848. During the second half of the 19th century, the Civil War led to the abolition of slavery.
By the end of the century, the United States had extended into the Pacific Ocean, its economy, driven in large part by the Industrial Revolution, began to soar. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a global military power; the United States emerged from World War II as a global superpower, the first country to develop nuclear weapons, the only country to use them in warfare, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. Sweeping civil rights legislation, notably the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968, outlawed discrimination based on race or color. During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed in the Space Race, culminating with the 1969 U. S. Moon landing; the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the world's sole superpower. The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation, it is a representative democracy.
The United States is a founding member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States, other international organizations. The United States is a developed country, with the world's largest economy by nominal GDP and second-largest economy by PPP, accounting for a quarter of global GDP; the U. S. economy is post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge-based activities, although the manufacturing sector remains the second-largest in the world. The United States is the world's largest importer and the second largest exporter of goods, by value. Although its population is only 4.3% of the world total, the U. S. holds 31% of the total wealth in the world, the largest share of global wealth concentrated in a single country. Despite wide income and wealth disparities, the United States continues to rank high in measures of socioeconomic performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP, worker productivity.
The United States is the foremost military power in the world, making up a third of global military spending, is a leading political and scientific force internationally. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a world map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America in honor of the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci; the first documentary evidence of the phrase "United States of America" is from a letter dated January 2, 1776, written by Stephen Moylan, Esq. to George Washington's aide-de-camp and Muster-Master General of the Continental Army, Lt. Col. Joseph Reed. Moylan expressed his wish to go "with full and ample powers from the United States of America to Spain" to seek assistance in the revolutionary war effort; the first known publication of the phrase "United States of America" was in an anonymous essay in The Virginia Gazette newspaper in Williamsburg, Virginia, on April 6, 1776. The second draft of the Articles of Confederation, prepared by John Dickinson and completed by June 17, 1776, at the latest, declared "The name of this Confederation shall be the'United States of America'".
The final version of the Articles sent to the states for ratification in late 1777 contains the sentence "The Stile of this Confederacy shall be'The United States of America'". In June 1776, Thomas Jefferson wrote the phrase "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" in all capitalized letters in the headline of his "original Rough draught" of the Declaration of Independence; this draft of the document did not surface unti
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States federal government's official list of districts, buildings and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance. A property listed in the National Register, or located within a National Register Historic District, may qualify for tax incentives derived from the total value of expenses incurred preserving the property; the passage of the National Historic Preservation Act in 1966 established the National Register and the process for adding properties to it. Of the more than one million properties on the National Register, 80,000 are listed individually; the remainder are contributing resources within historic districts. For most of its history the National Register has been administered by the National Park Service, an agency within the United States Department of the Interior, its goals are to help property owners and interest groups, such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation, coordinate and protect historic sites in the United States.
While National Register listings are symbolic, their recognition of significance provides some financial incentive to owners of listed properties. Protection of the property is not guaranteed. During the nomination process, the property is evaluated in terms of the four criteria for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places; the application of those criteria has been the subject of criticism by academics of history and preservation, as well as the public and politicians. Historic sites outside the country proper, but associated with the United States are listed. Properties can be nominated in a variety of forms, including individual properties, historic districts, multiple property submissions; the Register categorizes general listings into one of five types of properties: district, structure, building, or object. National Register Historic Districts are defined geographical areas consisting of contributing and non-contributing properties; some properties are added automatically to the National Register when they become administered by the National Park Service.
These include National Historic Landmarks, National Historic Sites, National Historical Parks, National Military Parks, National Memorials, some National Monuments. On October 15, 1966, the Historic Preservation Act created the National Register of Historic Places and the corresponding State Historic Preservation Offices; the National Register consisted of the National Historic Landmarks designated before the Register's creation, as well as any other historic sites in the National Park system. Approval of the act, amended in 1980 and 1992, represented the first time the United States had a broad-based historic preservation policy; the 1966 act required those agencies to work in conjunction with the SHPO and an independent federal agency, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, to confront adverse effects of federal activities on historic preservation. To administer the newly created National Register of Historic Places, the National Park Service of the U. S. Department of the Interior, with director George B.
Hartzog Jr. established an administrative division named the Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation. Hartzog charged OAHP with creating the National Register program mandated by the 1966 law. Ernest Connally was the Office's first director. Within OAHP new divisions were created to deal with the National Register; the division administered several existing programs, including the Historic Sites Survey and the Historic American Buildings Survey, as well as the new National Register and Historic Preservation Fund. The first official Keeper of the Register was an architectural historian. During the Register's earliest years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, organization was lax and SHPOs were small and underfunded. However, funds were still being supplied for the Historic Preservation Fund to provide matching grants-in-aid to listed property owners, first for house museums and institutional buildings, but for commercial structures as well. A few years in 1979, the NPS history programs affiliated with both the U.
S. National Parks system and the National Register were categorized formally into two "Assistant Directorates." Established were the Assistant Directorate for Archeology and Historic Preservation and the Assistant Directorate for Park Historic Preservation. From 1978 until 1981, the main agency for the National Register was the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service of the United States Department of the Interior. In February 1983, the two assistant directorates were merged to promote efficiency and recognize the interdependency of their programs. Jerry L. Rogers was selected to direct this newly merged associate directorate, he was described as a skilled administrator, sensitive to the need for the NPS to work with SHPOs, local governments. Although not described in detail in the 1966 act, SHPOs became integral to the process of listing properties on the National Register; the 1980 amendments of the 1966 law further defined the responsibilities of SHPOs concerning the National Register.
Several 1992 amendments of the NHPA added a category to the National Register, known as Traditional Cultural Properties: those properties associated with Native American or Hawaiian groups
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is a principal agency of the U. S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy; the Census Bureau is part of the U. S. Department of Commerce and its director is appointed by the President of the United States; the Census Bureau's primary mission is conducting the U. S. Census every ten years, which allocates the seats of the U. S. House of Representatives to the states based on their population; the Bureau's various censuses and surveys help allocate over $400 billion in federal funds every year and it helps states, local communities, businesses make informed decisions. The information provided by the census informs decisions on where to build and maintain schools, transportation infrastructure, police and fire departments. In addition to the decennial census, the Census Bureau continually conducts dozens of other censuses and surveys, including the American Community Survey, the U. S. Economic Census, the Current Population Survey.
Furthermore and foreign trade indicators released by the federal government contain data produced by the Census Bureau. Article One of the United States Constitution directs the population be enumerated at least once every ten years and the resulting counts used to set the number of members from each state in the House of Representatives and, by extension, in the Electoral College; the Census Bureau now conducts a full population count every 10 years in years ending with a zero and uses the term "decennial" to describe the operation. Between censuses, the Census Bureau makes population projections. In addition, Census data directly affects how more than $400 billion per year in federal and state funding is allocated to communities for neighborhood improvements, public health, education and more; the Census Bureau is mandated with fulfilling these obligations: the collecting of statistics about the nation, its people, economy. The Census Bureau's legal authority is codified in Title 13 of the United States Code.
The Census Bureau conducts surveys on behalf of various federal government and local government agencies on topics such as employment, health, consumer expenditures, housing. Within the bureau, these are known as "demographic surveys" and are conducted perpetually between and during decennial population counts; the Census Bureau conducts economic surveys of manufacturing, retail and other establishments and of domestic governments. Between 1790 and 1840, the census was taken by marshals of the judicial districts; the Census Act of 1840 established a central office. Several acts followed that revised and authorized new censuses at the 10-year intervals. In 1902, the temporary Census Office was moved under the Department of Interior, in 1903 it was renamed the Census Bureau under the new Department of Commerce and Labor; the department was intended to consolidate overlapping statistical agencies, but Census Bureau officials were hindered by their subordinate role in the department. An act in 1920 changed the date and authorized manufacturing censuses every two years and agriculture censuses every 10 years.
In 1929, a bill was passed mandating the House of Representatives be reapportioned based on the results of the 1930 Census. In 1954, various acts were codified into Title 13 of the US Code. By law, the Census Bureau must count everyone and submit state population totals to the U. S. President by December 31 of any year ending in a zero. States within the Union receive the results in the spring of the following year; the United States Census Bureau defines four statistical regions, with nine divisions. The Census Bureau regions are "widely used...for data collection and analysis". The Census Bureau definition is pervasive. Regional divisions used by the United States Census Bureau: Region 1: Northeast Division 1: New England Division 2: Mid-Atlantic Region 2: Midwest Division 3: East North Central Division 4: West North Central Region 3: South Division 5: South Atlantic Division 6: East South Central Division 7: West South Central Region 4: West Division 8: Mountain Division 9: Pacific Many federal, state and tribal governments use census data to: Decide the location of new housing and public facilities, Examine the demographic characteristics of communities and the US, Plan transportation systems and roadways, Determine quotas and creation of police and fire precincts, Create localized areas for elections, utilities, etc.
Gathers population information every 10 years The United States Census Bureau is committed to confidentiality, guarantees non-disclosure of any addresses or personal information related to individuals or establishments. Title 13 of the U. S. Code establishes penalties for the disclosure of this information. All Census employees must sign an affidavit of non-disclosure prior to employment; the Bureau cannot share responses, addresses or personal information with anyone including United States or foreign government
Pennsylvania Route 413
Pennsylvania Route 413 is a 31-mile-long, north–south state highway in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The route runs from the New Jersey state line on the Burlington–Bristol Bridge over the Delaware River outside Bristol, where it continues as Route 413 into New Jersey, to PA 611 in Bedminster Township; the route passes through the lower and central portions of Bucks County, serving Bristol, Langhorne and Buckingham. The route intersects U. S. Route 13 and Interstate 95 near Bristol, I-295 near Penndel, US 1 in Langhorne Manor, US 202 in Buckingham; the modern-day alignment of PA 413 follows the Durham Road, an 18th-century road that connected Bristol to upper Bucks County. PA 413 was designated in 1928 to run from US 309 in Sellersville east to PA 113 in Blooming Glen; the route was extended to US 122 in Buckingham by 1930. In 1946, the northern terminus was moved to US 611 in Pipersville, with portions of the route between Sellersville and Pipersville becoming parts of PA 113 and PA 152; the route was extended south to US 13 in Bristol by this time, replacing PA 101 between Bristol and Penndel and PA 113 between Penndel and Buckingham.
The route was extended south to its current terminus and moved to its current alignment between Bristol and Penndel by 1950. In 1977, PA 413 was routed to bypass Newtown. PA 413 begins at the Burlington–Bristol Bridge over the Delaware River in Bristol Township, Bucks County, where the road continues south into Burlington, New Jersey as Route 413. From the bridge, PA 413 heads north as two-lane undivided Veterans Highway, passing over the abandoned Maple Beach community before curving northwest and back north through woodland; the route heads into industrial areas and widens into a four-lane road, bending northeast and crossing Conrail Shared Assets Operations' Bristol Industrial Track. PA 413 turns northwest at an intersection with Otter Street and passes under Amtrak's Northeast Corridor before it reaches an intersection with US 13. Past this intersection, the road becomes a four-lane divided highway and passes between homes to the west and a shopping center to the east, at which point it forms the border between Bristol Township to the west and the borough of Bristol to the east.
The route enters Bristol Township again and continues through residential areas with a few businesses as a five-lane road with a center left-turn lane, passing to the west of the Lower Bucks Campus of Bucks County Community College. PA 413 becomes a six-lane divided highway as it comes to a ramp that provides access to I-95 to the west. Following this, the route reverts to a five-lane road with a center left-turn lane and runs through commercial areas; the road becomes a four-lane divided highway before it passes under the Pennsylvania Turnpike and narrows into a two-lane undivided road. PA 413 gains a center left-turn lane and passes businesses as it forms the western border of the planned residential community of Levittown. At the New Falls Road intersection, the route crosses into Middletown Township and runs between apartment complexes to the west and woods to the east as a two-lane road; the road heads through residential areas with occasional businesses along the western edge of Levittown, continuing north to an intersection with US 1 Bus.
At this point, PA 413 turns southwest to form a concurrency with US 1 Bus. on four-lane divided Lincoln Highway reaching a diamond interchange with I-295. Past this interchange, the roadway continues as a four-lane undivided road, passing through commercial areas and crossing into the borough of Penndel. In Penndel, PA 413 splits from US 1 Bus. by turning northwest onto two-lane undivided Durham Road. A block the route intersects the northern terminus of PA 513 and heads north on Bellevue Avenue; the road crosses CSX's Trenton Subdivision and SEPTA's West Trenton Line near the Langhorne station serving the SEPTA line and enters the borough of Langhorne Manor. Here, PA 413 runs north-northwest through wooded residential areas; the route turns east onto four-lane undivided Pine Street, with Bellevue Avenue continuing north to provide access to and from the northbound lanes of the US 1 freeway to PA 413. PA 413 curves north, crossing back into Middletown Township, comes to a bridge over US 1 before it intersects Gillam Avenue, which along with connecting Bellevue Avenue provides access to and from the southbound lanes of US 1 to PA 413.
Following this intersection, the road heads into the borough of Langhorne, narrowing back into a two-lane undivided road and heading into residential areas. The route crosses PA 213 in the center of Langhorne and passes near some businesses before heading past more homes. PA 413 crosses back into Middletown Township, where the name changes to Newtown Langhorne Road, passes under Norfolk Southern's Morrisville Line and an abandoned railroad line before heading into wooded areas along the eastern bank of the Neshaminy Creek and curving northwest; the road curves back to the north away from the creek and passes by residential subdivisions a short distance to the west of Core Creek Park. The route passes to the west of St. Mary Medical Center before running past more homes. PA 413 runs past the George School to the west and farm fields and neighborhoods to the east before it comes to the PA 332 intersection. Here, PA 413 turns west to join PA 332 on the four-lane divided Newtown Bypass, with State Street continuing north into the borough of Newtown.
The bypass heads through wooded areas in Newtown Township and comes to a bridge over the abandoned Fox Chase/Newtown railroad line. The road curves northwest and intersects PA 532, at which point PA 532 joins PA 332 and PA 413 on the Newtown Bypass; the highway turns north and passes through wooded areas with nearby residen
