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NR Nomination

LOCATION AND PROPERTY NAME
address:1656 Clearwater Lane historic name:Clearwater, Jacob, Farmhouse
Springfield, Lane County current/other names:
assoc addresses:
block/lot/tax lot:
location descr: twnshp/rng/sect/qtr sect:
PROPERTY CHARACTERISTICS
resource type:building height (stories):2.0 total elig resources:2 total inelig resources:0
elig evaluation: eligible/significant NR Status: Individually Listed
prim constr date:c.1864 second date: date indiv listed:07/03/2017
primary orig use: Single Dwelling orig use comments:
second orig use:
primary style: Gothic Revival prim style comments:
secondary style: sec style comments:
primary siding: Horizontal Board siding comments:
secondary siding:
plan type: architect:Martin Clearwater
builder:Jacob Clearwater
comments/notes:
GROUPINGS / ASSOCIATIONS
Not associated with any surveys or groupings.
SHPO INFORMATION FOR THIS PROPERTY
NR date listed: 07/03/2017
ILS survey date:
RLS survey date:
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 Jacob Clearwater Farmhouse is a one- and one-and-one-half story building with a largely L-shaped footprint, a steeply pitched, cross-gable roof, and moderate eaves over a plain frieze board. The house is located at 1656 Clearwater Lane, Springfield, Lane County, Oregon. The 34-acre property is situated near the southern end of the Willamette Valley, on the north bank of the Middle Fork of the Willamette River, south of the City of Springfield. The house itself faces north, overlooking a driveway that extends south from Clearwater Lane. The box-frame house, which incorporates three layers of planks, is finished in lapped siding, and a combination of hand-hewn timber and log structural supports. These supports rest on a stone foundation. The composition roof on the house is a modern addition. The Gothic Revival house was constructed ca 1874. An early addition dates to the 1950s and a rear porch that was screened-in earlier has since been renovated. The front porch has been rebuilt, based on the original design, and a few windows have been altered. Despite these changes, the house retains very good integrity and conveys the reasons for its significance. A second contributing structure within the nominated area is a 30’ water tank, dating from the mid-1930s. Non-contributing resources, outside the nominated area, include a ca 1950 barn and a mobile home.
HISTORY
(Chronological, descriptive history of the property from its construction through at least the historic period - preferably to the present)
The 1874 Jacob and Missouri Benner Clearwater House is locally significant under National Register Criterion C, in the area of architecture. The Clearwater family, including sons Jacob and James, participated in the western migration of the mid-to-late 1800s to Oregon, traveling the Oregon Trail, like so many before them. The family settled on 320 acres outside of Springfield, Oregon, along the Middle Fork of the Willamette River in the Willamette Valley, in 1865. They proceeded to clear the land and begin farming the land on which the Jacob Clearwater Farmhouse is still located. Jacob married Missouri Benner in 1888 and the couple and their family resided at this location, engaging in row crop cultivation, dairy and beef cattle ranching, and hop farming. Prior to his marriage, Jacob and his father constructed the house known as the Jacob and Missouri Benner Clearwater Farmhouse today. The house is an excellent, rural example of the Gothic Revival style in Lane County. It is one of only four previously identified, remaining single-family residences built before 1874 in Springfield. And although the style and type were once relatively common, the Clearwater Farmhouse is the only example of the centered gable subtype of the Gothic Revival style extant in Springfield today. The house retains good integrity, and clearly conveys its historic significance, evident in its appearance and style, including its massing, materials, and overall design.
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:Lane County Historical Society Other Respository:
Bibliography:
Brooke, Bob. “Oregon Trail: Wagon Tracks West”. Wild West Magazine, April, 2000. Carter, Liz. “Pioneer Houses and Homesteads of the Willamette Valley 1841-1865.” Prepared for the Preservation League of Oregon, 2014. Clark, Robert C. History of the Willamette Valley Oregon, Volume II. S.J. Clark Publishing Company, 1927. Dennis, Michelle L.” Springfield, Oregon 1848-1955 Historic Context Statement” (Revised Edition), 1999. Dielman, Gary. “1866 Oregon Trail Diary of Delila Waite,” The Record-Courier. October, 1982. “Facts Concerning Transactions in Hops”. Eugene City Guard, 11/6/1880. “Family Reunion Sunday Honors Centenarian,” Eugene Register Guard, October 1948. Hartmans, Donna. “Settlement Patterns.” University of Oregon School of Architecture, 1991. Historynet.com/Oregon-trail “Jacob Allen Clearwater Death,” Eugene Register Guard, December 5, 1949. Kopp, Peter A. “The Oregon Encyclopedia: A Project of the Oregon Historical Society.” PSU and OHS, 2016. Krafft, Katheryn H. “Of Small Means: Vertical Plank Dwellings Around Puget Sound and King County.” May 23, 2015. Lane County Pioneer; Historical Society; Vol X-No. 2. August 1965 Oregon History Sites Database, heritagedata.prd.state.or.us/historic McAlaester, Virginia Savage: A Field Guide to American Houses Pacific Rural Press “Portland History”. PDXHistory.com. October 18, 2016. Poppeliers, John/Chambers, S. Allen What Style Is It? Chichester: Wiley.2003. Rogers, Clara. “The Clearwater Mules.” Excerpted from the diary of Madora Arabelle Malone, 1864. Sekora,Lynda. “Springfield, Oregon Historic Context Statement.” Koler/Morrison Planning Consultants. March 1991 State of Oregon. Property Deed, January 6, 1877, from Jacob and Elizabeth Clearwater to Jacob Clearwater. Tombien, Maren . “Walking Tour Guide, Washburne Historic Districtt.” Neighborhood Association. Springfield Historic Commission. “Trail Pioneer Fetes Centenarian,” Register Guard. US Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management. National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. “Basic Facts About the Oregon Trail.” Velasco, Dorothy and Sweet, Mara Velasco. “Springfield Celebrates 125 Years.” “Walking Tour of Historic Coburg Homes.” Oregon State Historic Preservation Office and the National Park Service. Whiffen, Marcus. American Architecture, Vol. 2, 1860-1976. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1983. Anecdotal References: Interviews Clearwater, Leonard. Personal interview February 2016, (grandson of Jacob Clearwater) Hamlin (Clearwater), Darlene. Personal interview May 2016, (great granddaughter of Jacob Clearwater) Hollis, Orlando. Personal interview February 19, 1993, (nephew of Missouri Clearwater) Keever, Joe. Personal interview March 2016, (grandson of Jacob Clearwater) Keever, Jed. Personal interview, April 2016, (great grandson of Jacob Clearwater) Moon (Clearwater) Cinda L. personal interviews 2016, (great granddaughter of Jacob Clearwater)