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NR Nomination

LOCATION AND PROPERTY NAME
address:92134 Front Rd historic name:Astoria Marine Construction Company Historic District
Astoria, Clatsop County current/other names:Astoria Shipbuilding Company
assoc addresses:
block/lot/tax lot:
location descr: twnshp/rng/sect/qtr sect:
PROPERTY CHARACTERISTICS
resource type:district height (stories): total elig resources:15 total inelig resources:
elig evaluation: eligible/significant NR Status: Individually Listed
prim constr date:c. second date: date indiv listed:01/08/2014
primary orig use: Manufacturing Facility orig use comments:Shipbuilding
second orig use:
primary style: Utilitarian prim style comments:
secondary style: sec style comments:
primary siding: Metal Sheet siding comments:
secondary siding: Wood:Other/Undefined
plan type: architect:Unknown
builder:Unknown
comments/notes:
GROUPINGS / ASSOCIATIONS
Not associated with any surveys or groupings.
SHPO INFORMATION FOR THIS PROPERTY
NR date listed: 01/08/2014
ILS survey date:
RLS survey date:
Gen file date: 03/11/2013
106 Project(s): None
Special Assess Project(s): None
Federal Tax Project(s): None
ARCHITECTURAL / PROPERTY DESCRIPTION
(Includes expanded description of the building/property, setting, significant landscape features, outbuildings and alterations)
The Astoria Marine Construction Company Historic District is located at 92134 Front Road, Astoria, Oregon where the Lewis & Clark River meets Jeffers Slough. The property is situated in a relatively rural area called Jeffers Gardens, separated from the city of Astoria by Youngs Bay. Astoria is a city of approximately 9,500 persons, located about seven miles west of the mouth of the Columbia River. Astoria Marine Construction Company Historic District encompasses 7.2 acres and is roughly bounded by a property line fence to the north, Front Road to the east, Jeffers Slough to the south, and the Lewis and Clark River to the west. The district has a relatively level grade and is approximately seven feet above sea level. Astoria Marine Construction Company Historic District contains a few narrow paved roads, gravel roads, wood docks, and dirt paths connecting the buildings of the shipyard. Above-ground transmission lines run north-south along Front Road and the edge of the district. The surrounding area has a rural feel, characterized by agricultural fields, woods, and a low-to-medium density residential neighborhood. Joseph Dyer, Acme Mansker, and Clair Mansker established Astoria Marine Construction Company (AMCCO), originally called Astoria Shipbuilding, in 1922. The company initially built fishing boats and luxury sailing vessels. During World War II and the Korean War, AMCCO was awarded multiple military contracts. In order to build these larger ships for the United States Navy, the shipyard expanded dramatically. The majority of the district’s extant buildings were constructed in 1941 and 1942. Astoria Marine Construction Company is predominately made up of commercial industrial buildings and structures, each built to serve a specific function in the operation of a shipyard. These include a large boat shop complex, a machine shop complex, an office, four marine ways, a dock complex, and an assortment of ancillary support buildings. Surviving resources in the district include nine contributing buildings and six contributing structures. The majority of the buildings are of an industrial, utilitarian design. All of the buildings are wood-framed. Common foundation materials include wood piers and concrete. Siding treatments are predominately wood, corrugated metal, corrugated plastic, and concrete. Most of the larger buildings have corrugated metal roofs and many of the moderately sized and small buildings are roofed with composition asphalt shingles. Common alterations include replacement windows, replacement siding, and building additions. The company continues to operate, mainly repairing fishing vessels. Likely due to its continued use, the district maintains a high level of integrity, especially in the aspects of location, design, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. The setting of the district has been altered somewhat by the loss of a few shipyard buildings.
HISTORY
(Chronological, descriptive history of the property from its construction through at least the historic period - preferably to the present)
The Astoria Marine Construction Company Historic District is located at the confluence of the Lewis and Clark River and Jeffers Slough, about seven miles east of the mouth of the Columbia River. The address of the property is 92134 Front Road, Astoria, Oregon. The district has two periods of significance: 1941-1945, and 1950-1955. The district is significant on a statewide level for its first period of significance and on a national level for its second period of significance. The Astoria Marine Construction Company Historic District is significant on the statewide level under National Register Criterion A in the areas of Military and Industry due to its association with the period of American history dominated by the expansion of production for World War II. During its first period of significance, 1941-1945, AMCCO built, outfitted and repaired over 200 vessels, including attack transports, minesweepers, harbor tugs, and escort aircraft carriers, on behalf of the United States for World War II. The Astoria Marine Construction Company Historic District is significant on the national level under National Register Criterion A in the areas of Military and Industry due to its association with the period of American history related to the Korean War. The historic district’s second period of significance begins in 1950 when AMCCO was awarded a contract to build MSO minesweepers for the Korean War. This period of significance ends in 1955, the year this contract was fulfilled. In 1952 AMCCO was named the nation’s lead shipyard for the MSO minesweeper. Thanks to its continued original use, AMCCO is one of the most intact small shipyards that produced minesweepers for World War II and the Korean War in Oregon. Construction of the company’s earliest buildings initiated in 1922, but the bulk of AMCCO’s buildings were constructed in 1941 and 1942, in response to contracts to build wartime vessels. The shipyard contains 15 contributing resources: nine buildings and six structures. Astoria Marine Construction Company Historic District retains a high level of integrity in design, location, workmanship, setting, feeling, association, and materials. The design of the shipyard has been altered somewhat by the loss of a few buildings due to fires. The resources form a cohesive grouping that conveys the significance of the district as an important small shipyard during World War II and the first shipyard in the nation to build MSO minesweepers during the Korean War. Astoria Marine Construction Company Historic District is an excellent extant example of the many small shipyards once employed to build and repair the Pacific Navy fleet during World War II. Originally built in 1922 as a small boatyard to produce fishing vessels and yachts, the yard was transformed during 1941-1942 for the wartime production expansion of World War II. The yard was designed and built according to the assembly-line philosophy associated with this period of American industry when efficiency in production was the main priority. While constructing vessels for the U.S. Navy, this shipyard pioneered new techniques in minesweeper manufacturing. For their efforts, AMCCO was awarded the Army-Navy “E” flag for outstanding production in 1944. Astoria Marine Construction Company followed the pattern of many shipyards in the country during World War II. They increased production by training multitudes of unskilled recruits, introducing female workers into the shipyard, and increasing work shifts until the shipyard was operating almost around the clock. This shipyard was a part of the huge wartime industrial expansion in production that supported the Allies victory in World War II. Astoria Marine Construction Company was again producing ships for a wartime effort from 1950-1955, during the Korean War. With the completion of AM-428 in 1952 AMCCO became the first shipyard in the country to build a Type I minesweeper. As lead yard, AMCCO shared its engineering, knowledge, and patterns with shipyards following them in Type I minesweeper manufacture. At the time, this minesweeper was the most expensive ship to build per square foot due to all of the costly equipment she carried. Due to its continued use as a boat construction and repair facility, the shipyard retains a high degree of integrity. It is one of the few small shipyards that built Navy vessels during World War II and the Korean War that is still in operation in Oregon. Its functional vitality speaks to its integrity as a wartime shipyard.
RESEARCH INFORMATION
Title Records Census Records Property Tax Records Local Histories
Sanborn Maps Biographical Sources SHPO Files Interviews
Obituaries Newspapers State Archives Historic Photographs
City Directories Building Permits State Library
Local Library: University Library:
Historical Society: Other Respository:
Bibliography:
Astoria Evening Budget. "Articles of Incorporation of Astoria Shipbuilding Company filed in clerk's office." April 24, 1924: 5. Astoria Marine Construction Company. AMCCO Log, Volumes published 1942-1944 and 1952-1953. Don Fastabend’s personal collection, located at Astoria Marine Construction Company. Davidson, Joel R. The Unsinkable Fleet. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1996. Dyer, Joseph and Don Fastabend. "Astoria Marine Construction Company Haulout Ways." 2005, 2. Unpublished report in Don Fastabend’s personal collection, located at Astoria Marine Construction Company. Eyre, David W. The Journal, Portland, Oregon. 1943. Joseph Dyer Collection 1982.17.589, Columbia River Maritime Museum, Astoria, Oregon. Fastabend, Don, interview by Serena Orwick. President and Owner of Astoria Marine Construction Company, Astoria, OR, (August 3, 2012). Field Jr., James A. History of United States Naval Operations: Korea. Annapolis: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1962. Finch, John. "New Fishing Boat Built, 'High Speed'." Oregon Journal, April 15, 1951: B5. Folly, Martin. The United States and World War II: The Awakening Giant. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2002. Gohs, Robert and Carl Chapel. "Boat Builder of Astoria." Northwest Magazine, August 1975: 22. Harman, Chuck. "Community Involvement Plan, Draft." Draft, State of Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, 2012. James Field, Jr. History of United States Naval Operations Korea. Washington, D.C., 1962. Kurtz, Claudia Bradley and Michael. "List of Logbooks of U.S. Navy SHips, Stations and Miscellaneous Units." General Services Administration, National Archives and Records Service, 1978. Lenton, H.T. American Gunboats and Minesweepers. New York City: Arco Publishing Company, 1974. Lott, A.S. Most Dangerous Sea: A History of Mine Warfare. U.S. Naval Institute, 1959. Makovich, Lee. "The Age of Wooden Boat Building." Oregon Coast Magazine, January 1998: 28-32. Marsh, Peter. "The Katie Ford." NW Yachting, September 2008: 50-59. Morrison, Samuel Elliot. United States Naval Operations in World War II. Vol. 14. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1960. Office of Shipbuilding and Marine Technology. Report on Survey of U.S. Shipbuilding and Repair Facilities. U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration, 2003. Opalski, Daniel. "Deferral Criteria for final NPL listing of Astoria Marine Construction Company." 2011. The Daily Astorian. "Services Friday for Joseph Dyer." December 24, 1974: 9. Union Diesel Engines. "U.S. Navy Patrol Vessels." Bulletin No. 79, Oakland. "Wartime Vessels Constructed by Astoria Marine Construction Company." Joseph Dyer Collection 1982.17.603, Columbia River Maritime Museum, Astoria, Oregon.