Talk:Old Town Eureka

State Historic Landmark #477 Designates the ENTIRE City of Eureka, not Old Town, as a distinct historic PLACE

Please see: http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/ListedResources/Detail/477. The ENTIRE City was designated an historic landmark for multiple reasons, as detailed, herein, from the landmark website: "Eureka was founded as a town in 1850 and incorporated as a city in 1874. Located on the remote northwestern coast of California, Eureka was the region's major port of entry by water in the 19th century before the construction of good access by land, and rose to historical prominence as the major social, political, and economic center of the region. 'Eureka' is a Greek expression and a popular mining term meaning 'I have found it.'"

This designation was NOT limited to the Old Town area, but included the port, and areas beyond 2nd or 3rd Streets. It was not limited to the much later (after 1950) amazing focus on the 156 buildings in the National designation of Old Town, but included its port, and its continued prominence as THE MAJOR ECONOMIC CENTER OF THE REGION. Since the designation goes beyond Old Town, its NOT correct to apply this designation to Old Town, ONLY, after the fact.

Also, and importantly, the OFFICIAL State of California signs, which detail this designation, are LOCATED on Highway 101, on Broadway in the South, and 4th St in the North as traffic approaches the heart of the City. Also, these signs designate "City of Eureka," Not Old Town, and therefore (like the plaque, added by and placed by E Clampus Vitus, in Old Town in 1979) it is incorrect to limit this designation to Old Town, after the fact. IF, it was a designation for Old Town ONLY, the designation would state "Old Town Eureka," and signs would direct motorists to Old Town. As an example, the designation of "Town of Ferndale" in another Landmark designation does not specify a portion of the City. The City of Eureka was designated a State Landmark OVER 40 years BEFORE the National status was achieved by the Old Town.

Furthermore, it is understandable that editor's make efforts to be thorough (after all, I originally authored the article on Old Town), but revisionist application of this landmark to the Old Town District ONLY decades later, is incorrect, and limiting in its application to the historic impact to the city, its port, and its environs beyond the National District-a construct, as stated above, made decades AFTER the 1950 State of California designation. It seems that the NHRP application blatantly misuses the State Landmark status, perhaps as a way of strengthening of the case for National designation, or, simply, by mistake. Nevertheless, the State Landmark status designates MORE than Old Town, otherwise it would have been titled as "Old Town Eureka" instead of "CITY OF EUREKA!" Repeating the error, and not seeing the forest for the trees is not good Wiki editing. There are many sticky situations where JUST because an entry is found somewhere in a publication, it is determined to be correct. Editors run in to this issue frequently....and its hard to correct these mistakes. BUT, in this case, we have the glorious simplicity of the 1950 designation, etc. to clarify.

Regardless of the reduced circumstances of the City today. In 1950, it was still a significant player in the State, and the main port and primary outlet of premium Redwood lumber to the world. At that moment, it was given this distinction by Sacramento. History requires us to look at the lens of the times, not only our current perspective, and certainly NOT based on repeated errors that may be published decades after the fact.

Norcalal (talk) 19:00, 28 September 2015 (UTC)