National Woodenware Company Superintendent's Residence
SW Elm St. and Ione Ave., Hill City, MNThe National Woodenware Company Superintendent's Residence is significant for its association with Hill City's principal industry in the early twentieth century. The National Woodenware Company, a subsidiary of the large Chicago packing concern Armour & Co., moved its operation in 1910 from Ithaca, Michigan to Hill City, a small community platted in 1906. The Company erected a large mill complex for the manufacturing of woodenware (barrels and tubs used in the packing industry) from the area's second growth hardwood fore officials also purchased nearly 1/3 of Hill City's lots and constructed residences for their employees and administrative personnel. As a result of the Company's establishment, Hill City's population more than tripled to over 1000 inhabitants. The mill closed in 1928 due to the depletion of the hardwood forests in the region and increased use of cheaper substitute containers in the packing industry. Since the mill's closing, Hill City's population has steadily declined to its present level of 357. The Superintendent's Residence, the most distinctive residence in town, housed the Company's chief local administrator from 1910 to 1928. It is one of the few remaining structures associated with this locally significant industry.
Local significance of the building:Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.