- vicinity of. Status. Present Use. occupied agriculture A!- museum t -L structure - both - work in progress - educational private residence

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1 Unitad States Department of the Interior - National Park Service - ational Register of Historic Places -- - inventory-nomination Form See instructions in How to Complete National Register Forms Type all entries-complete applicable sections historic. Location and/or common Cooper, Henry, House The Ddughtcrs of American Pioneers Museum; Cooper Cabin street & number Park Avenue - Parkersburg City Park city, town - Parkersburg - vicinity of - not for publication state West Vi rgi ni a code 5 4 countv Wood code 107 Category Ownership Status Present Use - district - public occupied agriculture A!- museum -- building(=) -8- private - unoccupied commercial park t -L structure - both - work in progress - educational private residence -- site Public Acquisition Accessible - entertainment - religious -- object N/A in process y e s : restricted - government - scientific being considered -8.- yes: unrestricted - industrial - transportation - no - military - other: name -- - Daughers of Arneri can Pioneers - Park Avenue - - s?mt % number r i~,,!own Parkersburg - vicinity of state West V i rgi ni a.a. cuwr;house, regis:ry of deeds, etc. Wood County Courthouse r:rs :t & number #2 Government Square city, town Parkersburg,tate blest Virginia. ij City Park Reconnaissance Survey -- has this property been determined eligible? -- yes 2 no -!{inter federal -K state - county -- local -- -.,itor\/ for survey records His tori c Preservation Uni t, The Cul tural Center *,! Charles ton - - state Wes t V i rgi ni a -- -

7. Description Condition Check one Check one - excellent - deteriorated - unaltered - original site - good - ruins -x- altered moved date 910 -L, fair - unexposed Dsscribm the present and original

2 7. Description Condition Check one Check one - excellent - deteriorated - unaltered - original site - good - ruins -x- altered moved date 910 -L, fair - unexposed Dsscribm the present and original (if known) physical appearance The Henry Cooper Log House, or the Daughters of American Pioneers Museum, is located at the center of Parkersburg's City Park. Originally, the cabin was located in Slate District, Wood County on Elizabeth Pike about nine miles from Parkersburg. Henry Cooper, the man who built the cabin, came from eastern Virginia in He took out a government loan of several hundred acres of ground and in 1804 erected the log cabin. This structure is be1 ieved to be the first two-story log cabin in Wood County. In August 1910, the City of Parkersburg purchased the structure from a Cooper decendent named F.L. Barnett and his brother-in-law M.L. Lemasters for $400, and sought to preserve it as a fine example of the early architecture of the first white settlers in the Parkersburg area. After being dismantled, the house was rebuilt in the Park in September, 1910 and in 1911 was granted by the City Council to the Centennial Chapter - Daughters of American Pioneers. This chapter is now operating the cabin as a museum. The original cabin consisted of a large living room on the first floor, a large bedroom on the second floor and an attic. In addition, there were two porches and a kitchen which was built on the outside of the front porch. Central to the house was an immense fireplace with a chimney which was made up of stone and was built from the inside. A staircase at the right side of the fireplace served as an access to the second floor. For ventilation, the log cabin was equipped with eight windows: four on the first floor and four on the second floor. Two short doors served as entrances to the lower floor. Structurally, the Cooper log cabin was a conventional rectangular structure measuring 20 feet in width, 24 feet in length and approximately 20 feet high. Another typical character is ti^ was its gable-type roof which was conprised of wood shingles. The logs that were used were hewed and tapered at the end. These hewed logs were pegged or secured with dowels at the tapered end for firmer and more stable matching. The spaces left in between logs wre packed with clay and chopped straw. With regard to the type of wood itself, Henry Cooper used oak. As it stands today, the Cooper house retains its original appearance, except for the two porches; every part of the house has been preserved. It still has a large lower room, a pantry for the kitchen, one large room on the second floor and an L-shaped stairway. A large L-shape covered porch has been added to replace the old porch. The chimney is now placed on the outside instead of the inside. However, the mantle-piece and the open fireplace are still in their original location. Several structural changes have been made such as the installation of steel I-beams to provide more support to the building. Also the spaces in between the logs are now patched with concrete instead of the traditional clay and straw material. Instead of wood shingles, the roof is now made of asphalt shingles. Gas pipes have a1 so been added for additional heat and plumbing for running water. The oak wood now appears darker due to a regular creasote treatment.

3 United States Department of the interior National Park Sewice National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form OM6 No Exp Cooper Cabin, Wood County, West Virginia Cont~nuat~on sheet item number 7 Page 2 The Cooper log dwelling stands in the Parkersburg City Park on a 55- acre tract bounded by Park Avenue on the west, 23rd Street on the north, Ray Street on the east, and 17th Street on the south. Because of changes to the Park's landscaping and additions, over the years, of buildings and other facilities to,the Park's plan, the Cooper log dwelling does not stand within a potential historic district. As the building has achieved recognition on its present site since 1910, it is impcrtant to note that boundary lines reflecting the building's immediate environment have been described in the verbal boundary description.

4 8. Significance Period - prehistoric & Areas of SignificanceCheck and justify below - archeology-prehistoric - community planning. landscape architecture religion - archeology-historic - conservation -- law -- science - agriculture - economics - literature - sculpture 1 architecture - education - military - social1 - art engineering - music humanitarian - commerce 7(- explorationlsettlement - philosophy - theater - communications - industry - politicslgovernment - transportation - invention - other (specify) Specific dates 1804 ; 1910 BuilderiArchitect Henry Cooper - or i gi nal owner Statement of Significance (in one paragraph) The Cooper Cabin is a classic American logwork which combines hand hewing with chinking between log courses. Its rectangular shape and gabled roof typifies the basic American loghouse design. The significance of hewn log construction coupled with the visible chinking in between logs is in the fact that this technique is illustrative of American frontier architecture, and an especially notable example of this primitive architectural idiam in West Virginia's Ohio Valley. The Cooper log house was designed and built as a two-story structure. This mil tiple floor design combined economy in the use of logs and ground area, efficiency in heating and better lighting. The Cooper log cabin is the first two-story log cabin in the Wood County area and one of the more efficiently designed houses. The transfer and subsequent re-construction of the Cooper Log House from its original location to the City Park is one of the first conscious efforts by the Parkersburg City Council and the Centennial Chapter of the Daughters of Pioneers at preserving the American heritage occuring much before preservation became a national movement. The Cooper house serves a dual function as a specimen of American Architecture and a Museum for a vast collection of re1 ics and materials from America's early days. The building is recogni zed throughout the Parkersburg area as one of the most visible and impressive rerimtits of the community's settlement period. Little is known of Henry Cooper, but it is written that he settled in the Slate District of Wood County in 1800 on land with extensive stands of white and black oak, poplar, walnut, pine and gum trees.

5 Blizzard, Willcam; "Parkersburg's Pioneer Cabin", Charleston 'Gazette - Mail, June 14, 1970; pp, 4m - 5m. (see continuation- sheet - #9, p. 2) Acreage of nominated property acre Quadrangle name Parkersbur~ WV LMT References Quadrangle scale 1 : Zone Easting Northing Verbail twnmdw deac+ipti.on a d justification Beginning at the southeastern corner of Park Avenue and Washington Avenue (at the entrance to City Park and its intersection with Washington Avenue) the boundary runs List all states and counties for properties overlapping state or county boundaries state pj/a code county code - sbte code county code --- name/title Nimfa H. Sinpson, Senior Planner srsanfmation -7- PI street 8 nurnber -- anni ng Divi sion/development Dept. date January 13, 1984 One Government Square telephone 304/ cily ~r tow3 Parkersburg state West Virginia gate Historic Preservation Officer Certification -- The evaluated significance of this property within the state is: - national - state A- local As tkt? desiqnated State Historic Przservation Officer for the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Pubiic Law 89- SJ34! hereby rrominate this property for inclusion in the Natiqnal Register and certify that it has been nvaluated accofdlng to the criteria and procedures set forth by the 7 7 Ps-:ii --- Wi5tork Preservation Officer signature - / / / - I, State Historic Preservation offid /

6 NPS Form a 0.82) OMB Exp NO. 1M United States Department of the interior National Park Service ational Register of istorig: Places Inventory-Nomination Form Cooper Cabin, Wood County, West Virginia Continuat~on sheet Item number 9 Page 2 Major Bi bl iographical References Longsner, Dew; A Log Builders Handbook, Pennsylvania : Rodal e Press, Emmaus, Tavener, Elizabeth (Mrs. Ray Tevener), "The Log Cabin in the City Park", West Virginia Review, June 1912, pp Tiano, Toni; History of City Park, (Unpublished Report), May 1980, DD West Virginia Heritage Encyclopedia, vol. 8, Richwood, West Virginia, 1974, p. 65.

7 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Ilnventory-Nomination Form Cooper Cabin, Wood County, - - West Virginia Continuation sheet Item number 10 Page feet along the south edge of the park drive and thence 275 feet due south in a straight line to a point intersecting with the 640' contour line; thence along the contour line westward to its intersection with Park Avenue, thence northward along the eastern edge of Park Avenue 350 feet to the point of origin at Washington Avenue and the Park entrance (see sketch map).

8 MIGERAL WELLS 5 MI. 4 ROAD CLASSIFICATION F % v Pricary hjgs,vay, a!l weather, Light-duty road, all weathar, %2--& hard SL~~Z,:C improved surface ;. 3 Sem-da~j highway, all weather. Unimproved road, fair or'dy - I, '2 PARKERSBURG, W. VA.-OHIO SE/r?4?KE9S3Ui'G IS' ULIAIJDANCLE N3315-W8130/ AMS 4662 I SE-SERIES V852

NPS Form OMB No Exp Status occupied X unoccupied work in progress Accessible yes: restricted yes: unrestricted _5Lno

NPS Form OMB No Exp Status occupied X unoccupied work in progress Accessible yes: restricted yes: unrestricted _5Lno NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Exp. 10-31-84 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form See instructions in How to