Teardowns top the latest list of most endangered significant places published by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Also making the annual listing of "irreplaceable treasures" are Native American lands in two states, Southern schools built with funds contributed by Chicago philanthropist Julius Rosenwald and the famous St. Elizabeth Hospital in Southeast Washington D.C.

The list of 10 properties "reminds us that not every community has an Independence Hall or Mount Vernon, but every community has a landmark that makes it unique and special," said National Trust President Richard Moe.

"These places tell America's story; losing them would be unthinkable and saving them isn't someone else's job," he said.

Since 1988, the Trust has identified more than 135 one-of-a-kind properties as endangered, a designation that has been a powerful tool for raising awareness and rallying resources to save them.

While a listing does not guarantee funding or ensure protection, the program has scored some notably successes. Since New Hampshire's grand 1874 Wentworth By the Sea Hotel was listed in 1996, for example, the property has undergone a complete restoration and is scheduled to reopen as a luxury resort sometime next year.

And thanks to the public outcry resulting from making the list in 1999, Baltimore's downtown West Side has new life. The city canned its plan to redevelop the historic 24-block historic commercial and entertainment district, parts of which dates back to the mid-18th Century, and adopted a new one that will save a majority of the historic structures. Two major landmarks already have been saved and turned into apartment buildings.

Now, the Trust hopes to save even more places, including historic neighborhoods it believes are "falling prey" to the teardown phenomenon. The organization says the trend of buying houses in older communities, demolishing them and replacing them with larger homes that are way out of scale with the surrounding properties has reached "epidemic" proportions.

The process is "irreparably damaging historic neighborhoods as fine historic homes are reduced to rubble" to make way for "oversized structures that disrupt the architectural and historic character of the existing neighborhood, diminishing livability and destroying the amenities that originally made the neighborhood an attractive place to live," the Trust maintains.

Also on the latest list are Southern California's Indian Pass and the 1,515 miles that comprise the upper Missouri River basin. Other than both being lands of great beauty and spiritual significance, they would appear to have little in common. But they are both being threatened, one by a mining project and the other through sheer neglect.

Kw'st'an Sacred cites at Indian Pass in Imperial County, Calif., is filled with panoramic vistas, ancient trails, extensive archaeological sites and petroglyphs. Yet, the landscape could soon be defiled by a massive cyanide heap-leach gold mine that is planned. The massive, open-pit mine will leave a gaping hole in the ground and a skycraper-sized mound of toxic waste on an isolated and rocky section of desert where members of the Quechen Tribe have come for spiritual pilgrimages.

And in the Missouri River Valley, cultural and sacred sites in Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota, archaeological remains and Native American burial sites have been greatly damaged by the federal government's reservoir and dam projects which, in some cases, have exposed the remains on tribal ancestors.

Other sites on this year's list include:

Published: September 11, 2002

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