Eleven buildings, bridges and other properties across the state have made this year’s “endangered” list from the Iowa Historic Preservation Alliance. Executive director Michael Kramme says the primary goal in putting out the annual list is to focus public attention on the various pieces of history that are at risk of being lost forever. Kramme says often the public awareness generated by the list translates into action to save the property. That’s not so with one of the endangered properties — the site of the original Fort Des Moines at the fork of the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers is being readied for construction of the new Science Center of Iowa. Kramme admits that fort isn’t endangered, it’s extinct. Fortunately, he says, there are also victories. The Heritage Trust plans to take over St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Burlington, thus, saving that endangered property. Kramme says a pair of schools in the northeast Iowa town of Decorah are also on the endangered list — the East Side School and the Decorah Middle School. He says the schools should be preserved for the community’s cultural heritage. Other properties on the list are: the Adel Bridge in Adel, American Legion building in Atlantic, the Clinton Machine Company administration building in Maquoketa, the Franklin County Courthouse clocktower in Hampton, Cedar Falls Lincoln School, Mormon House in Bentonsport, Old German Bank in Dubuque and the Woodworth Building in Millville.
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