National Historic Landmark (United States)

National Historic Landmark (United States)
Name	National Historic Landmark Program
Caption	Independence Hall, a landmark associated with the Declaration of Independence, Continental Congress, and American Revolutionary War
Established	1960
Governing body	National Park Service
Location	United States

National Historic Landmark (United States) is the designation used to recognize properties of exceptional value to the history of the United States. Landmarks include buildings, districts, sites, structures, and objects associated with pivotal people, events, movements, and works across American history. The program is administered to identify, evaluate, and promote preservation of places linked to major subjects such as the American Revolution, Civil War, Civil Rights Movement, and the development of American literature and American music.

Overview

The National Historic Landmark (NHL) program identifies properties that illustrate defining aspects of the nation's heritage, including landmarks tied to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and Susan B. Anthony. NHLs connect to events like the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the War of 1812, the Mexican–American War, and the World War II mobilization. Institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution, Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, Yale University, Harvard University, and Princeton University steward or study many NHLs. Regions from New England and the Mid-Atlantic states to the Deep South, the Great Plains, the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, and Hawaii host NHLs tied to figures like Alexander Hamilton, Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Frank Lloyd Wright.

History and Development

The NHL program grew out of mid-20th century preservation impulses shaped by legislation and institutions such as the Historic Sites Act of 1935, the Antiquities Act, and the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. Early designations highlighted sites associated with the Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and James Madison. During the 1960s and 1970s NHLs expanded to cover industrial sites related to Samuel Slater, Andrew Carnegie, and the U.S. Steel Corporation, and cultural sites linked to Mark Twain, Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes, Scott Joplin, and Louis Armstrong. The program adapted to recognize places connected to the Labor Movement, Women's suffrage movement, Native American leaders such as Sitting Bull and Sequoyah, and Asian American and Latino histories tied to figures like Cesar Chavez and Yuri Kochiyama.

Criteria and Designation Process

NHL designation follows criteria emphasizing exceptional national significance associated with persons, events, architectural styles, engineering achievements, and archeological information. Nominations generally proceed through the National Park Service and the Secretary of the Interior, with evaluation by the National Park System Advisory Board and consultation with state historic preservation offices like the California Office of Historic Preservation and the New York State Historic Preservation Office. The process references landmark examples such as Independence Hall, Monticello, Mount Vernon, Fort Sumter, Gettysburg Battlefield, Alcatraz Island, Ellis Island, and Pearl Harbor National Memorial. Criteria consider associations with leaders like Benjamin O. Davis Jr., George S. Patton, Earl Warren, Thurgood Marshall, and creators like Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan, I. M. Pei, and Richard Upjohn.

Types and Themes of Landmarks

NHLs represent diverse types: presidential homes (Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, Abraham Lincoln's Springfield home), battlefields (Battle of Gettysburg, Battle of Antietam), industrial sites (Lowell National Historical Park, Sloss Furnaces), maritime sites (USS Constitution, SS United States), archaeological sites (Chaco Culture National Historical Park, Mesa Verde National Park), literary landmarks (Emily Dickinson Museum, Mark Twain House), musical sites (Sun Studio, Preservation Hall), and scientific sites (Bell Labs, Los Alamos National Laboratory). Themes include the Abolitionism, Civil Rights Movement, Women's suffrage, Immigration to the United States, Native American history, Westward expansion, Transcontinental Railroad, Industrialization, Great Depression, New Deal, Cold War, and Space Race with connections to Saturn V, John Glenn, and Apollo Program facilities.

Administration and Protection

Administration involves the National Park Service, the Department of the Interior, the State Historic Preservation Offices, private stewards like the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and local entities such as New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission and the Chicago Landmarks. Protections derive from designation status, laws including the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 and executive actions, and incentives like the Historic Preservation Tax Incentives program and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Partnerships with universities—UCLA, University of Michigan, Columbia University—and museums—Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, American Folk Art Museum—support research, conservation, and interpretation. Sites coordinate with emergency programs such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency for disaster response and cultural property protection.

Impact and Controversies

NHL designations influence tourism economies in places like Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, D.C., Charleston, South Carolina, New Orleans, and San Francisco while raising debates over authenticity, representation, and land use. Controversies involve contested interpretations at places tied to Confederate leaders, Colonial conquest, and Native American dispossession; debates have occurred over sites associated with Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, Christopher Columbus, and Pueblo Revolt narratives. Preservation conflicts have arisen with development interests including projects by Urban Land Institute partners and corporate entities like Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and ExxonMobil. Legal disputes have reached courts including the United States Supreme Court over regulatory takings and property rights. Critics point to underrepresentation of African American, Latino American, Asian American, LGBTQ histories and call for equitable nomination practices involving organizations such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the American Historical Association, Organization of American Historians, and community groups in cities like Detroit, Los Angeles, Houston, and Miami.

Category:Historic preservation in the United States