Landmarks On The Rim
People visit the Grand Canyon for scenery, not architecture. But an assortment of buildings there, infused with history and the sensibility of one strong woman, are worth a long look.
April 1996 | Volume 47, Issue 2
Print
EmailInside, the floors gleam with polyurethane. The Hopi wall paintings have been cleaned and put behind glass, heating ducts and electrical conduits have been hidden, and the second floor is now opened up to allow tourists “more room to browse, shop and feel at ease with making a purchase,” in the words of a feasibility study. It is a restoration superbly executed—in every respect except one: By Mary Colter’s standards, the building looks too new.
We know that Colter imagined a past for the buildings she designed. When Hopi House opened in 1905, it already had a dusty look, as if it had been inhabited for generations. The building, as it was restored in 1995, has considerable presence, but visually it communicates little history. If she could see it today, we can be sure the outspoken Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter would have something to say about that.
American Heritage is proud to host the
National Portal to
Historic Collections
Recently added:
- American Revolution Center
- National Museum of Civil War Medicine
- National Museum of the U.S. Navy
- Manassas National Battlefield
- Maryland State House
In association with the
American Association for State and Local History
Why do we need a national nonprofit membership society for American history?
-
“Save America’s Treasures” has been totally eliminated—the largest Federal program supporting preservation of such treasures as the original Star Spangled Banner and George Washington’s tent.
-
65% of Americans don’t know what happened at the Constitutional Convention, according to a recent survey by Newsweek.
-
The “Teaching American History” grants—the largest Federal program supporting history education—have been completely eliminated.
-
Visits to the Top 20 Civil War battlefields have dropped in half from 1970 to 2009 according to official National Park Service statistics.
-
40% of Americans can’t identify whom we fought in World War II, according to a recent survey by Newsweek.
-
A quarter of Americans believe Congress shares power over U.S. foreign policy with the United Nations, according to a recent Annenberg survey.
-
“There is little that is more important for an American citizen to know than the history and traditions of his country,” John F. Kennedy wrote in American Heritage.
-
The “We the People Program,” which touched some 30 million students and 90,000 teachers over 25 years, has been completely eliminated.
-
Two-thirds of Americans could not correctly name Yorktown as the last major military action of the American Revolution, according to a recent national Gallup survey.
-
The National Heritage Areas and Scenic Byways program, the only major Federal program encouraging visits to historic places, has been completely eliminated in Congressional committee.
