Talk:National Historic Landmark

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Should this article be moved to National Historic Landmark (with capital letters)? The National Historic Landmarks Program website uses capital letters when talking about National Historic Landmarks, and indeed, so do most third-party websites and most links in Wikipedia itself. 青い(Aoi) 08:17, 4 August 2005 (UTC)

I think you're correct. It was actually moved to National historic landmark about a month ago. The reason given in the edit is rather dubious. Mike Dillon 05:35, August 11, 2005 (UTC)

Ok, thanks for the response. I'll be moving this article back, since National Historic Landmark is in this case used as a title, which according to the Wikipedia:Naming conventions, should be capitalized. 青い(Aoi)

At best, you can say that "National Historic Landmark" is a proper noun because it is the official name of a class of things. However, I see no difference between "national historic landmark" and "nuclear submarine," "customer service representative," or "claw hammer." IMO, this article should be moved back. --Tysto 01:53, 2005 August 14 (UTC)

Since the article has to do with an official designation, the capitalization is correct. The general term "historic landmark" would not be capitalized. Examples of official designations would be "Defender of the Faith," "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval," or "Department of Health and Human Services" Dystopos 05:34, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

I'm not sure how many people regularly read this talk page, but I think there ought to be a unified listing scheme, whether to use commas or hyphens, how to list location, whether or not to list date added to register, etc. Before I engage in wholesale changes to the entire page to attempt to unify it, I'd like to see if anyone has any preferences. I suggest that since it appears to be the dominant format on the page we use "Name of landmark - city '(no state)'" and omit the date added to registry. Sertrel 07:06, 20 November 2005 (UTC)

I think this page needs to be more specific that this is a US-only thing, as the word "national" only applies to the US if you indeed live there. Apathetic 01:48, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Largest National Historic Landmark District?

I was wondering if anybody knew what the largest district in the country is. A number of city and neighborhood wikipedia articles make this claim, and a quick google search finds a bunch more, with Butte claiming to have the most here [1], and this page [2]making a pretty believable claim that Lancaster's Historic District has the most contributing buildings (13,411) and that King Ranch in Texas has the largest area at 1.2 million acres. Anybody have any comments on this? Passdoubt | Talk 21:01, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Hello - according to the official National Park Service list here (it's a PDF) there is no Lancaster Historic District in Pennsylvania. There are plenty of specific NHL's in Lancaster County, and undoubtedly plenty of other historic properties, but it is not a National Historic Landmark District. So I stand by my claim (that's my site you referred to about Butte) that Butte has the largest number of contributing properties. I did quite a bit of research to come to that conclusion; it looks to me as if Savannah is definitely the second by contributing properties. However, there is some subjectivity to all this, which is why on the comparison page you cited I tried to make it clear that it isn't much more than bragging rights. Nice to be able to brag, though! FYI I'm trying to determine whether or not Butte may also be the FIRST NHLD - with a 1961 designation as a district, the competition for district designation seems to be with Montana's Bannack and Virginia City districts, designated the same day, despite the claims of Annapolis (1965) and Jacksonville Oregon (1966) that they are the first NHL Districts in the US. Cheers Geologyguy 21:38, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Note added later - apparently the earliest NHLD's designated were three listed on October 9, 1960: Charleston Historic District (SC); Williamsburg (VA); and Ste. Genevieve (MO). Cheers Geologyguy 15:58, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Further research reveals this: Lancaster is a National Register District, not a National Historic Landmark District. There are over 80,000 National Register properties [3] , and a proportionate number of National Register Districts. National Historic Landmarks (NHL), on the other hand, are rather more prestigious, with fewer than 2,500 designated, and there are about 132 NHL Districts. This PDF helps describe the difference between National Register places and National Historic Landmarks - it is not trivial. So, as reported here, Lancaster PA is very likely the largest National Register District. But I still stand by my claim that Butte is the largest National Historic Landmark District, and that that designation is quite a bit more significant than National Register status. Cheers - Geologyguy 15:47, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Also, regarding King Ranch - it is not a NHLD, but one single designated NHL, albeit a very large one. I don't know how many historic structures there may be on the ranch, but it is not likely to be hundreds, much less thousands. I do not know for sure which NHLD is the largest by acreage, though I suspect (and I'm TRYING to be unbiased) that again Butte's expanded district is the one. Cheers Geologyguy 16:49, 22 January 2007 (UTC)