National Historic Landmark

The origins of the first National Historic Landmark was a simple cedar post, placed by the Lewis and Clark Expedition on their 1804 outbound trek to the Pacific Ocean in commemoration of the death from natural causes of Sergeant Charles Floyd. The cedar plank was later replaced by a {{Convert|100|ft|m|abbr=on}} marble obelisk.Lewis and Clark Expedition Journals, The Sergeant Floyd Monument in Sioux City, Iowa, was officially designated on June 30, 1960.

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, and to designate properties as having "national historical significance", and gave the National Park Service authority to administer historically significant federally owned properties.Robinson, Nicholas. Environmental Regulation of Real Property, Volume 1. New York: Law Journal Press, 1982. pp. 6:22–23. 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.Lee, Antoinette Josephine. The American Mosaic: Preserving a Nation's Heritage. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1997. {{ISBN|978-0-8143-2719-7}}. p. 7

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 (then known as the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial) in St. Louis, Missouri. The first National Historic Site designation was made for the Salem Maritime National Historic Site on March 17, 1938.McDonnell, Janet; Mackintosh, Barry. [https://books.google.com/books?id=swX7ZuDQT4YC&pg=PA52 The National Parks: Shaping the System]. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 2005. {{ISBN|978-0-912627-73-1}}. p. 52File:Tucson05 TitanICBM.jpg in Tucson, Arizona, a National Historic Landmark]]In 1960, the National Park Service took on the administration of the survey data gathered under this legislation, and the National Historic Landmark program began to take more formal shape.Frank, Karolin; Petersen, Patricia. [https://books.google.com/books?id=oyW1oDseKAIC&pg=PA66 Historic Preservation in the USA]. Berlin: Springer, 2002. {{ISBN|978-3-540-41735-4}}. p. 66 When the National Register of Historic Places was established in 1966, the National Historic Landmark program was encompassed within it, and rules and procedures for inclusion and designation were formalized. Because listings (either on the National Register, or as an NHL) often triggered local preservation laws, legislation in 1980 amended the listing procedures to require owner agreement to the designations.Robinson, p. 6:24

On October 9, 1960, 92 places, properties, or districts were announced as eligible to be designated NHLs by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton. Agreements of owners or responsible parties were subsequently obtained, but all 92 have since been considered listed on that 1960 date.The October 9, 1960, document is included in correspondence with the City of Charleston, South Carolina, whose Charleston Historic District was included in the list, as one of five historic districts named amongst the 92.

The National Archives and Records Administration currently provides at "Charleston Historic District" is very different from a regular National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) or NHL submission; it includes no NRHP or NHL forms at all. It includes correspondence relating to the designation of the Charleston Historic District as an NHL, and correspondence on later threats, further detail on some properties in the district, a nationwide study detailing the places eligible for NHL designation in 1960, a list of these locations, which was conveyed in an October 9, 1960, release from U.S. Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton and includes a nationwide list of sites eligible for inclusion. An outline of themes identified in the National Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings, which the U.S. Department of the Interior was authorized to undertake in 1935 legislation. (Charleston Mayor J. Palmer Gaillard Jr. formally accepted the designation in 1961; three NHL candidate places were named as not having indicated interest to accept the designation. Two letters, in 1966 and 1970, refer to the Charleston Historic District having been designated an NHL in October 1963. However, later NPS documents including this archived 2007 list of NHLs treats the Charleston Historic District and others as having been listed as NHLs on October 9, 1960. Includes correspondence, photos, plans, more. {{cite report |url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/118996840 |title=NARA collection of documents associated with Charleston Historic District |date= |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=September 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220529022628/https://catalog.archives.gov/id/118996840 |archive-date=May 29, 2022 |url-status=live |type=none}} 347 pages.

File:Global_Citizen_Festival_Central_Park_New_York_City_from_NYonAir_(15351915006).jpg in New York City, a prominent National Historic Landmark; New York City has 116 NHLs, more than any other city in the U.S.]]

NHLs are designated by the United States secretary of the interior because they are:{{Cite web |title=National Historic Landmarks Program |url=https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1582/index.htm |date=July 12, 2024 |access-date=2024-08-19 |website=U.S. National Park Service |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Eligibility - National Historic Landmarks |url=https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalhistoriclandmarks/eligibility.htm |access-date=2024-08-19 |website=U.S. National Park Service |language=en}}

• Sites where events of national historical significance occurred;
• Places where prominent persons lived or worked;
• Icons of ideals that shaped the nation;
• Outstanding examples of design or construction;
• Places characterizing a way of life; or
• Archeological sites able to yield information.

File:Museo del Antiguo Legado Estadounidense, Tánger, Marruecos, 2015-12-11, DD 44-46 HDR.JPG in Morocco, the first National Historic Landmark on foreign soil]]

More than 2,500 NHLs have been designated. Most, but not all, are in the United States. There are NHLs in all 50 states and the national capital of Washington, D.C. Three states (Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New York) account for nearly 25 percent of the nation's NHLs. Three cities within these states, Philadelphia, Boston, and New York City, respectively, all separately have more NHLs than 40 of the 50 states. New York City alone has more NHLs than all but five states: Virginia, California, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New York, the latter of which has the most NHLs of all 50 states. There are 74 NHLs in the District of Columbia.

Some NHLs are in U.S. commonwealths and territories, associated states, and foreign states. There are 15 in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and other U.S. commonwealths and territories; five in U.S.-associated states such as Micronesia; and one in Morocco.{{Cite web | last = National Park Service | author-link = National Park Service | date = November 2007 | title = National Historic Landmarks Survey: List of National Historic Landmarks by State | url = http://www.cr.nps.gov/nhl/designations/Lists/LIST07.pdf | access-date = July 1, 2008 | archive-date = November 30, 2007 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071130222952/http://www.cr.nps.gov/nhl/designations/Lists/LIST07.pdf | url-status = dead }}The counts and locations of NHLs are described most accurately in List of National Historic Landmarks by state. This extends, and corrects errors from, the National Park Service's "National Historic Landmarks Survey List of National Historic Landmarks by State", also referenced.

Over 100 ships or shipwrecks have been designated as NHLs.

Approximately half of the National Historic Landmarks are privately owned.[http://www.nps.gov/history/nhl/Downloads/UpdateonNHLs2004.pdf National Historic Landmarks Update] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080910003104/http://www.nps.gov/history/nhl/Downloads/UpdateonNHLs2004.pdf |date=September 10, 2008 }}, National Park Service, October 2004 The National Historic Landmarks Program relies on suggestions for new designations from the National Park Service, which also assists in maintaining the landmarks. A friends' group of owners and managers, the National Historic Landmark Stewards Association, works to preserve, protect and promote National Historic Landmarks.

If not already 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. Washington, D.C. is home to three specifically legislated exceptions to this rule: the White House, the United States Capitol, and the United States Supreme Court Building. All are designated as NHLs, but are not on the National Register.{{cite web

| url = http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_98/36cfr65_98.html

| title = Title 36 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 65

| publisher = US Government Printing Office

| access-date = April 5, 2008

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120217203324/http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_98/36cfr65_98.html

| archive-date = February 17, 2012

| url-status = dead

}}

• American Water Landmark
• Listed building, a similar designation in the UK
• List of churches that are National Historic Landmarks in the United States
• List of U.S. National Historic Landmark ships, shipwrecks, and shipyards
• List of U.S. National Historic Landmarks by state
• National Historic Sites, Events, and Persons, similar designations in Canada
• National Natural Landmark
• United States memorials
• United States National Register of Historic Places listings

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• Mackintosh, Barry (1985) [https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalhistoriclandmarks/upload/NHLHistoricSitesSurvey_508.pdf "The Historic Sites Survey and National Historic Landmarks Program: A History"], published by the National Park Service, provides a much more complete accounting of the history leading to creation of the National Historic Landmarks program, and of its first decades of operation.
• [https://catalog.archives.gov/id/118996840 This collection of correspondence and documents associated with the NHL designation of Charleston Historic District], 347 pages, published by the National Archives and Records Administration, includes, in PDF pages 36–55, the October 9, 1960, press release issued by Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton announcing designation of the first 92 NHLs in five major historic theme areas. Correspondence between Charleston's mayor and the National Park Service provides additional perspective.

{{Commons category|National Historic Landmarks of the United States}}

• [https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1582/index.htm Official National Historic Landmarks Program website]

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{{National Register of Historic Places}}

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Category:1960 establishments in the United States

Category:Historic preservation in the United States

Category:Landmarks in the United States

Category:National Park Service areas

Category:National Register of Historic Places