Leavenworth Historic Industrial District - Leavenworth, Kansas - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

The proposed Leavenworth Historic Industrial District is located within the boundaries of the City of Leavenworth, Kansas. The District is part of a larger industrial area that coincides with the former freight train lines, which follow the Missouri River and Three Mile Creek to the east and south of the central commercial district. The District is a 253.6-acre, irregularly-shaped area generally bounded by Cherokee Street to the north, the Missouri River to the east, Three Mile Creek to the south, and Third Street to the west. It includes buildings on both sides of Second Street between Cherokee Street and Three Mile Creek, and both sides of Choctaw Street between Third Street and North Esplanade Street, as well as a property on the east side of Third Street at Three Mile Creek. The District includes seven contributing buildings and one contributing structure (a c.1880 brick alleyway) with a period of significance from 1874 to 1910. There are no non-contributing properties. There are four vacant lots once occupied by buildings, three of which have been converted to surface parking lots. All of the buildings are two- to four-story, late nineteenth and early twentieth century dark red brick buildings that due to their size, massing, and materials create an identifiable, cohesive area.

LOCATION AND SETTING
The District's setting reflects its late nineteenth and early twentieth century riverfront industrial land use and its historic buildings underscore this as well. All of the seven contributing buildings were constructed between 1874 and 1910. Of these buildings, all were constructed by 1905, with most major additions pre-dating 1910, and only two additions dating from 1930-C.1940. There are no non-contributing buildings in the District. There are four vacant lots once occupied by buildings, three of which have been converted to surface parking lots.

Six of the buildings are industrial manufacturing facilities and one is a two-part commercial block building. The industrial buildings compose complexes of buildings reflecting a succession of additions and expansions. Lot shapes and sizes vary throughout the district. The streets have sidewalks on both sides and concrete curbs. The contributing structure is an intact c.1880 brick alleyway between Second and Third streets north of Choctaw Street.

An analysis of the remaining natural and man-made features that contributed to the development of the industrial area provides an understanding of what elements of the historic setting remain. Natural features outside the District such as the Missouri River and Three Mile Creek continue to define the industrial area. Man-made features outside the District that contribute to its setting include the railroad tracks running parallel to the Missouri River that retain the traditional spatial relationship between the tracks and the river. The vacated space south of the Depot that was originally Main Street (First Street, Esplanade) is still evident despite the vacation of the area and conversion to a park. The 1880s railroad line cut on to Choctaw Street is no longer apparent. The original Second Street Bridge to the south of the District's eastern boundary is intact and the cut for the bridge over the creek that was the southern extension of Main Street also remains. The spatial relationship between Six Mile Creek at the western edge of the District remains intact. However, from this point east to the river, the open space belies what was once an area crowded with small frame and brick buildings. Within the District, Second, Third, Cherokee and Choctaw streets retain their original integrity. The brick alley north of the buildings facing Choctaw Street retains its original integrity and provides clues to the brick streets that remain under the asphalt paving in the District.

The larger environment that surrounds the district on north and western boundaries also changed. Historic nineteenth century buildings on the north along Cherokee, Main and Delaware streets became blighted and many were demolished. Many buildings in the business/commercial area on the west side of the district were remodeled or demolished for new construction and parking lots. Today large voids in what was once an interconnecting commercial area of retail, wholesale, warehouse and manufacturing businesses isolate historic property types into scattered clusters.

Remaining clusters that shared the same function and date from the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century remain and retain sufficient integrity to communicate their original function and period of construction. The proposed Leavenworth Historic Industrial District is one of these significant enclaves.