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70-591: The Claflin-Norrish House is a historic octagonal house located in Hastings, Minnesota , United States; a contributing property to the West Second Street Residential Historic District . The two-story home was built of limestone covered with stucco . Special features include a windowed cupola and wrap-around porch. It still stands at Spring and West 2nd Streets. It is one of scores of eight-sided homes built in

140-467: A blockhouse . The walls needed to be thick and strong and not have gaps in-between; (2) Round logs are left spaced apart, often with the gaps filled with a material called chinking; (3) Planked log buildings have the wall timbers shaped into rectangular thus called planks and plank houses . The C. A. Nothnagle Log House , located in Gibbstown, New Jersey , was constructed in 1638 and is believed to be

210-399: A laminated floor . The name slow burning construction was coined in 1870 by Factory Mutual insurance company because large, smooth timbers with chamfered edges ignite slower and last longer in a fire allowing fire suppression crews more time to extinguish a fire. These beams are designed to be self-releasing in case of fire, that is if they burn through and collapse the connection with

280-600: A building can be extended an indefinite length by adding more bays, typically measuring ten feet. Similar methods of construction are found in most if not all Viking settled regions and was common in Scandinavia. It is one of the earliest building types of French-Canada used extensively by the Hudson's Bay Company for trading posts across Canada. It became a common, widespread building method in Canada. Other French names reflect

350-514: A carpenter historically did the heavier, rougher work of framing a building including installing the sheathing and sub-flooring and installing pre-made doors and windows. Joiners did the finer work of installing trim and paneling. Plank and board are not consistently defined in history. Sometimes these terms are used synonymously. Board means a piece of lumber (timber) 1 ⁄ 2 inch (1.3 cm) to 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) thick and more than 4 inches (10 cm) wide. Plank generally means

420-438: A deck-only structure or a deck with a roof. Wooden bridges were often a single span, but could be of multiple spans. A trestle bridge is a bridge composed of a number of short spans. Each supporting frame is a bent. Timber and iron trestles (i.e. bridges) were extensively used in the 19th century. A covered bridge is a timber-truss bridge with a roof, decking, and siding, which creates a nearly complete enclosure. The purpose of

490-481: A double floor there may be two sets of joists, one for the floor above and one for the ceiling below. Plank and beam construction or framing is a type of framing with no joists but widely spaced beams spanned by heavy planks. This method developed in the early 19th century for industrial mill floors but may also be found in timber framed roofs. Also known as Slow burning construction , mill construction , and heavy timber construction originated in industrial mills in

560-456: A fence or barrier. Palisade construction is a palisade or the similar use of timbers set on a sill ; an example in England being the original portion of the ancient Greensted Church and the early type of stave church known as a palisade church . It was common for Native Americans and Europeans to build a palisade as part of a fort or to protect a village. Palisade construction is alluded to as

630-562: A general type of timber framing called a box frame. A variation on boxed construction is used on the Wesleyan Grove cottage: cottages around Oak Bluffs (Cottage City), Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, are built of vertical, tongue and groove planks without battens usually in a gothic style. This method was “inspired by the tent frame construction” of the original "board tents" used for Methodist Camp Meetings beginning in 1835. An A-frame building has framing with little or no walls,

700-522: A groove is a widespread type of carpentry that blurs the lines between log, plankwall and framing techniques, thus is classified as any of the above. "The support of horizontal timbers by corner posts is an old form of construction in Europe. It was apparently carried across much of the continent from Silesia by the Lausitz urnfield culture in the late Bronze Age." Examples also persist in southern Sweden, in

770-412: A hay fork (horse fork) on a track system (hay carrier) for pitching hay which became popular c. 1877. The gambrel roof shape lends itself to plank truss construction and became the most popular roof type. Plank frame barns were available by mail-order by 1910 from Chicago. Syn joist-frame, Shawver plank-frame and Wing plank-frame. “In large construction, such as barn framing, there are two general systems,

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840-640: A legacy of Fowler's influence, an unwillingness to sacrifice spaciousness in the rooms to sensible circulation arrangements. Fowler's own house had external staircases and the verandas were used for circulation and access to the rooms. Below are drawings of the Watertown Octagon House dated March 28, 1935, prepared by the Historic American Buildings Survey . At that time the verandas were missing, removed when they became dangerously rotten. The survey drawings are

910-582: A master carpenter to an apprentice verbally, through demonstration, and through work experience. Designs, engineering details, floor plans, methods were time tested and communicated through rules of thumb rather than scientific study and documents. Each region of the world has variations on traditions, tools and materials. The carpenters who found themselves in the New World based their work on their traditions but adapted to new materials, climate, and mix of cultures. Immigrants to America were from all parts of

980-538: A method of building of early dwellings. The nature of planting one end of a timber in the ground is called earthfast or post in ground construction which was a common way to build worldwide. A benefit of earthfast construction is the ground holds the posts from swaying which eliminates the need for bracing and anchors the structure to the ground. The French settlers called this carpentry en pieux or poteaux en terre and log on end . This type of carpentry may not considered framing . The French method of poteaux en terre

1050-489: A piece of lumber (timber) rectangular in shape and thicker than a board. Timber framing, historically called a braced frame , was the most common method of building wooden buildings in America from the 17th-century European settlements until the early 20th century when timber framing was replaced by balloon framing and then platform framing in houses and what was called plank or "joist" framing in barns. The framing in barns

1120-593: A plank-framed house. Plank framed barns developed in the American Mid-West, such as the patente in 1876 (#185,690) by William Morris and Joseph Slanser of La Rue, Ohio, shows (several other patents followed). Sometimes they were also called a joist frame , rib frame and trussed frame barns. Built of a “Construction in which none of the material used is larger than 2 inches thick.” rather than solid timbers. The reduction in availability of timber for barn building and experience with scantling framing resulted in

1190-878: A reconstruction of the house as it was originally built. Stacked board construction American historic carpentry is the historic methods with which wooden buildings were built in what is now the United States since European settlement. A number of methods were used to form the wooden walls and the types of structural carpentry are often defined by the wall, floor, and roof construction such as log, timber framed, balloon framed, or stacked plank. Some types of historic houses are called plank houses but plank house has several meanings which are discussed below. Roofs were almost always framed with wood, sometimes with timber roof trusses . Stone and brick buildings also have some wood framing for floors, interior walls and roofs. Historically building methods were passed down from

1260-534: A small house designed by 'Messrs. Morgan and Brothers, architects' which is similar to the Norrish House illustrated below. There follows A description of the author's own residence , now known as Fowler's Folly , at Fishkill, of which more below. Finally, A superior plan for a good sized house , which is a development of the Fishkill plans, apparently proposed by his engraver. The main feature of his plans

1330-491: Is Rived feather-edeged , of five foot and a half long, that well Drawn, [smoothed] lyes close and smooth: The Lodging Room may be lined with the same, and filled up between, which is very Warm. These houses usually endure ten years without repair.... The lower flour [floor] is the Ground , the upper Clabbord : This may seem a mean way of Building, but 'tis sufficient and safest among ordinary beginners... Earthfast construction

1400-513: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Octagon house Early examples, before Fowler: Both houses are large brick buildings in the classical tradition. They may be seen as precursors, but are somewhat different from the Victorian octagon houses which are essentially domestic structures. The leading proponent of octagonal houses was Orson Squire Fowler . Fowler was America's foremost lecturer and writer on phrenology ,

1470-510: Is a desire to eliminate unnecessary circulation space, sometimes to the point that the main staircase is inconvenient, and the external veranda is the best way to get around the house. Other design proposals include: Built examples vary greatly in how much of this influence is apparent. Although built in brick, the Watertown house featured in this article is an almost perfect embodiment of many of Fowler's ideas. Stacked board construction

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1540-443: Is an earthfast, hewn frame "filled in" (half-timbered) with riven clapboards for the siding , roofing and loft flooring . The author called this a "first house" distinguishing that it is suitable until such time a better house can be built and then this building can be used as an outbuilding: To build then, an House of thirty foot long and eighteen foot broad, with a partition near the middle, and an other to divide one end of

1610-500: Is relatively plain for the period. Openings are simply framed by moldings. The covered verandas lack excess detail, having modest turned balustrade spindles and supporting posts. The decorative effect of the house comes from the basic design features: the octagonal shape and the external verandas. There are four generously sized rooms on each floor, nearly 18 foot square, with connecting doors all round. The subsidiary rooms are less satisfactory, being triangular. The arrangement of rooms

1680-404: Is rigidly the same on all floors because the partition walls are of 9-inch (230 mm) brickwork, so they must stack one above the other. The central spiral stair is compact, but leaves one side of the house without direct access to the landings, so there are bedrooms only accessible through another bedroom - in the worst case, through two other bedrooms. The drawbacks of this arrangement are again

1750-595: Is similar to the American counterpart except in America these buildings may be two stories. Some plank-wall houses or creole cottages in the New Orleans area are called bargeboard or flatboat board houses because the vertical planks used to build the walls were reused planks from barges ( flatboats ) floated down the Mississippi River loaded with cargo and then broken up and the lumber sold. (Note

1820-480: Is similar to the English close studding . These are examples of half timbering where the framing is infilled with another material such as a mud mixture, stones, or bricks. Half timbering in America is found in limited areas, mostly of German settlement, including Old Salem , North Carolina, parts of Missouri, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania. Much more common was to build a framed building and add brick nogging between

1890-408: Is sometimes incorrectly referred to as a pattern book but the popularity of the book lies in the way Fowler suggested some general principles, and encouraged readers to invent the details for themselves. Only a few examples are offered, and apart from plans, the book has only two illustrations. Fowler first shows some methods of subdividing an octagonal floor plan. Next is Howland's octagonal plan ,

1960-415: Is still used for buildings and structures such as in pole building framing and stilt houses . Log building is the second most common type of carpentry in American history. In some regions and periods it was more common than timber framing. There are many different styles of log carpentry: (1) where the logs are made into squared beams and fitted tightly. This style is typical of defensive structures called

2030-447: Is usually visible, but in houses is usually covered with the siding material on the outside and plaster or drywall on the inside. Variations of timber framing are described based on their nature at the foundation , sill plate , wall , wall plate , and roof . Posts which were dug into the ground are called earthfast or post in ground construction. This technique eliminated the need for bracing. Some buildings were framed with

2100-595: The antebellum United States. Originally built for the Clafflin family, John F. Norris purchased the house in the late 19th century. After the mid-1940s, the house was remodeled into 5 unit apartments. It was bought by John and Lorena Phelps and has been going through renovation to make it a single family house. This article about a property in Minnesota on the National Register of Historic Places

2170-403: The pseudoscience of defining an individual's characteristics by the contours of the skull. In the middle of the 19th century, Fowler made his mark on American architecture when he touted the advantages of octagonal homes over rectangular and square structures in his widely publicized book, The Octagon House: A Home For All, or A New, Cheap, Convenient, and Superior Mode of Building , printed in

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2240-510: The 19th and early 20th centuries. The joists are eliminated by the use of heavy planks saving time and strength of the timbers because the joists notches were eliminated. The beams are spaced 4 feet (1.2 m) to 18 feet (5.5 m) apart and the planks are 2 inches (5.1 cm) or more thick possibly with another layer of 1 inch (2.5 cm) on the top as the finished flooring could span these distances. The planks may be laid flat and tongue and grooved or splined together or laid on edge called

2310-538: The Alps, Hungry, Poland, Denmark, and Canada. Usually the origin of corner post construction is credited to the immigrants of the far-Eastern French in Canada and Alpine-Alemannic Germans or Swiss in the U. S. This technique is best known in German as standerbohlenbau or bohlenstanderbau. Horizontal wood pieces (poles, beams, planks) tenoned into grooves in posts. This type of construction allows shorter timbers to be used and

2380-542: The House into two small rooms, there must be eight Trees about sixteen Inches square, and cut off, to Posts of about fifteen foot long, which the House must stand upon, and four pieces, two of thirty foot long, and two of eighteen foot long, for Plates , which must lie upon the top of those Posts, the whole length and breadth of the House for the Gists [joists] to rest upon. There must be ten Gists of twenty foot long, to bear

2450-622: The Loft, and two false Plates of thirty foot long to lie upon the ends of the Gists for the Rafters to be fixed upon, twelve pair of Rafters of about twenty foot, to bear the Roof of the House, with several other small pieces; as Wind-beams , Braces , Studs , &c. which are made out of the Waste Timber. For Covering the House, Ends, and Sides, and for the Loft, we use Clabboard , which

2520-601: The Seven Gables in Mayo, Florida has gables on seven sides while the eighth side is extended to the rear. The Richard Peacon House in Key West, Florida , appears to be a full octagon from the street but the rear portion is squared off. Fowler advocated the use of "gravel wall" construction for the walls. This was an experimental technique at the time, and although some were built that way, most octagon houses were built

2590-515: The United States predominantly in early French forts and settlements along the Mississippi River, though examples also occur in other states including Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Ohio, Wyoming, Maryland, and Michigan where it is the construction method of oldest house in the state ( Navarre-Anderson Trading Post , 1789). A particularly interesting example is the Golden Plough Tavern (c. 1741), York, York County, PA, which has

2660-403: The basement entrance. There are verandas all round the house at first-, second- and third-floor levels, linked by two outside stairs. The financial panic of 1857 led Fowler to rent out the house, which subsequently went through a series of owners . Fowler's Folly fell into disrepair, and finally - condemned as a public hazard - it was dynamited in 1897 by Fred C. Haight, demolition engineer for

2730-454: The braced, pin-joint frame, made of heavy timbers, and the plank frame, made up of two-inch planking, either in the form of the ‘plank truss’ or the ‘balloon frame.’” (Architectural Drawing and Design of Farm Structures, 1915) Plank framed truss was the name for roof trusses made with planks rather than timber roof trusses . In the 20th century, it was typical for carpenters to make their own trusses by nailing planks together with wood plates at

2800-423: The centuries-long method of timber framing to the common types of wood framing now in use. Corner post construction is known by many names listed below, but particularly as pièce sur pièce and it blurs the line between timber framing and log building. This type of carpentry has a frame with horizontal beams or logs tenoned into slots or mortises in the posts. Pièce sur pièce en coulisse: Literally piece on piece in

2870-587: The city of Fishkill. Estimates vary but hundreds of these Victorian-era homes are still standing across the United States and Canada. One estimate puts the number at 2,077. Even in their heyday, octagon houses were never mainstream. The largest remaining octagon homes in the United States are Longwood in Natchez, Mississippi and the Octagon House in Watertown, Wisconsin . Both homes are open to

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2940-561: The corners and widely spaced in the exterior walls, but like the vertical plank wall houses, the vertical boards are structural. The origins of boxed construction is unknown. The term box-frame was used in a reconstruction manual in 1868 after the American Civil War. Box house may also be a nickname for Classic Box or American Foursquare architectural styles in North America, and is also not to be confused with

3010-419: The covering is to protect the wooden structural members from the weather. Uncovered wooden bridges typically have a lifespan of only 20 years because of the effects of rain and sun, but a covered bridge could last 100 years. Other wooden structures do not necessarily have names for types of carpentry, but deserve mention. Carpenters were needed to build a variety of durable or temporary wooden structures such as

3080-552: The development of this lightweight barn framing using planks (“joists”) rather than timbers. Some stated advantages: cheaper, faster, no interior posts needed, use any length lumber, less skill, less lumber (either purchased or self-produced), “stronger”, lighter, all lumber can be purchased from a lumber yard, less labor, heavy timber getting scarce. Also, they were often similar to the Jennings barn design of 1879 (patent #218,031) with no tie beam so there were no beams to interfere with

3150-614: The doors but mostly the vertical planks replace the studs. Both wood shingle or clapboard exterior siding and interior lath and plaster attach directly to the planks. Some examples of plank frame houses are the oldest house in New Hampshire, the Richard Jackson House , Thomas and Esther Smith House in Massachusetts. A palisade is a series of vertical pales (stakes) driven or set into the ground to form

3220-544: The framing which may not be considered half timbering. Half timbering is an architectural element in Tudor and Tudor Revival architecture . One of the earliest descriptions of how to build timber-framed buildings in America was in a publication titled Information and Direction to Such Persons as are Inclined to America, more Especially Those Related to the Province of Pennsylvania attributed to William Penn in 1684. Described

3290-630: The ground level of corner-post construction, the second floor of fachwerk (half timbered) and was built for a German with other Germanic features "This sophisticated system, which uses carefully constructed mortise-and-tenon joints, was common from the 1820s to the 1860s and represents some 5 percent of the log houses built in western Maryland.” Occasionally these buildings have earthfast posts. James Hébert incorrectly presented it as “an entirely Canadian style". Also known other parts of central Europe, Medieval British Isles, including (Switzerland, Austria and S. Germany),. The Norman French were credited with

3360-593: The introduction of this building technique to Canada, though this technique is found in northwest Europe, the Alps to Hungry. It was used in Pennsylvania and North Carolina by German immigrants. There are many names for corner post construction in many languages: An example of corner post construction is the Cray House in Stevensville, Maryland. Plank-frame house construction has a timber frame with

3430-403: The joints. Today similar trusses are manufactured to engineering standards and use truss connector plates . In timber framing a single floor is a floor framed with a single set of joists. A double floor is generally used for longer spans and joists, called bridging beams or joists, are supported by other beams called binding beams: the two layers of timbers providing the name double floor. In

3500-462: The largest, the Watertown house is midway between the grandest and most modest surviving examples. It is well documented, has been carefully restored, and is open to the public as a museum. Construction was completed 1854. The house fell into disuse and was taken over by the newly founded Watertown Historical Society , and opened to the public in 1938. It is still owned by the Society. The house

3570-548: The main difference is the universal use of steel reinforcing bars , which greatly increase the strength of the material, and make it possible to build concrete beams and floor slabs as well as walls. Fowler used large stones to reinforce corners, but he used no other reinforcement, and was therefore restricted to walls. The roof, floors and verandas are all of timber construction. To quote Fowler "...those studies which have eventuated in this work were instituted primarily in order to erect this very house". Construction began in 1848,

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3640-451: The masonry wall and joint at the post should allow the beam to fall away without pulling the wall or post down. A common way to join a beam and a masonry wall in this regard is a fire cut , an angled cut on the end of the beam. A timber bridge or wooden bridge is a bridge that uses timber or wood as its principal structural material. One of the first forms of bridge, those of timber have been used since ancient times. Wooden bridges could be

3710-470: The modest two-storey Bevis-Tucker House, to the grandiose Armour-Stiner House (both are illustrated below). A full octagon house has eight equal sides, although slight variations in length are not unusual. In some cases the basic octagon is partially obscured by additions, either all round as at the Zelotes Holmes House , or by adding a functional wing out of sight at the rear. The House of

3780-539: The oldest surviving log house in what is today the United States. The house was built by colonial settlers in what was then the Swedish colony of New Sweden . Balloon framing originated in the American Mid-west near Chicago in the 1830s. It is a rare type of American historic carpentry which was exported from America. Balloon framing is very important in history as the beginning of the transition away from

3850-761: The possibility of confusion with the different carpentry element called a bargeboard ). Another carpentry method which is sometimes called plank wall , board wall , plank-on-plank , horizontal plank frame is the stacking of horizontal planks or boards to form a wall of solid lumber. Sometimes the planks were staggered or spaced apart to form keys for a coat of plaster. This method was recommended by Orson Squire Fowler for octagon houses in his book The Octagon House: A Home for All in 1848. Fowler mentions he had seen this wall type being built in central New York state while traveling in 1842. Box houses (boxed house, box frame, box and strip, piano box, single-wall, board and batten, and many other names) have minimal framing in

3920-431: The posts landing on a foundation with interrupted sills . Most buildings were framed with the posts landing on a heavy timber sill, the sills (rarely) laid on the ground, supported by stones or, late in the 19th century, concrete. The structural carpentry of the walls are of several types and are discussed in detail below. French settlers called placing studs or posts on a sill spaced slightly apart poteaux-sur-sol which

3990-410: The prairies and saw the "gravel wall" as offering a new, cheap and durable way of building. His house at Fishkill was built using concrete. The walls were built up a few feet at a time, by pouring a mixture of gravel and lime into timber shuttering . As the concrete cured, the shuttering could be taken down and moved up to the next level. Modern concrete is made using Portland cement , not lime , but

4060-524: The public. In Eastern Washington state one still sits where it was moved to in 1993 to Bridgeport, near the Columbia River. Fowler was influential, but not the only proponent of octagonal houses and other structures. There are also octagonal barns , schoolhouses , churches, and in Canada, octagonal " dead houses ". Within the central idea of the octagonal plan, these houses show a wide variety of both construction and outward form. They range from

4130-556: The rafters join at the ridge forming an A shape. This is the simplest type of framing but has historically been used for inexpensive cottages and farm shelters until the A-frame house was popularized in the 1950s as a style of vacation home in the United States. Inside-out framing has the sheathing boards or planks on the inside of the framing. This type of structure was used for structures intended to contain bulk materials like ore, grain or coal. Plank-framed barns are different than

4200-483: The same way as ordinary houses, of timber frame , brick or stone. A moral community headed by Henry S. Clubb tried to establish Octagon City in 1856 in Kansas. It was intended to have an octagonal square with eight roads and octagonal farmhouses and barns. Most settlers had left after the winter. The following are examples of the 'true' octagon houses and the range of design variations to be found. Although one of

4270-533: The same year his book was first published, and took five years to complete. The house was large, 42 feet (13 m) to each side of the octagon or 100 feet (30 m) across, and built on a hilltop overlooking the Hudson River , where it could be seen for miles around. Fowler removed the top of the hill to create a level site and to provide material for his "gravel walls". This grand residence had four huge reception rooms which could be interconnected depending on

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4340-612: The shape of wood (bois) used between the posts such as planche en coulisse, madriers-, or pieux-. Also recorded in French as bois en coulisse, poteaux en coulisse, madriers en coulisse, poteaux entourées de pieux, charpente entourée de madriers, poteaux entourés de madriers, en poteaux et close de pieux, en pieux sur pieux. (Lessard and Vilandré 1974:117) and “pièce-sur-pièce de charpente“ (French Canadian). Pièce sur pièce literally means piece on piece and also describes log building with notched corners or any kind of stacked construction. Used in

4410-417: The size of event, allegedly 60 rooms (counting small dressing rooms as well as proper rooms) and a glazed cupola rising to 70 feet (21 m) above ground. Fowler's favorite writing room was an internal room on the third floor, lit only from the cupola via a fanlight over the door. The house had no central staircase, so visitors entered one of the main rooms through a small lobby, while family and staff used

4480-491: The summer. These benefits all derive from the geometry of an octagon: the shape encloses space efficiently, minimizing external surface area and consequently heat loss and gain, building costs etc. A circle is the most efficient shape, but difficult to build and awkward to furnish, so an octagon is a sensible approximation. Victorian builders were used to building 135 ° corners, as in the typical bay window , and could easily adapt to an octagonal plan. Fowler's The Octagon House

4550-524: The walls made of vertical planks attached to the frame. These houses may simply be called plank houses . Some building historians prefer the term plank-on-frame. Plank-frame houses are known from the 17th century with concentrations in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations . The carpentry consists of a timber frame with vertical planks extending from sill to plate. Sometimes there are studs at

4620-415: The world so the history of American carpentry is very diverse and complex, but it is only four or five centuries old, a fraction of the history of many other regions. Notable examples of structural carpentry which were not used in America include cruck framing. Carpentry is one of the traditional trades but is not always clearly distinguished from the work of the joiner and cabinetmaker , in general,

4690-542: The year 1848. As a result of this popular and influential publication, a few thousand octagonal houses were erected in the United States, mostly in the Midwest , the East Coast and in nearby parts of Canada . Fowler was not a professional architect. According to Fowler, an octagon house was cheaper to build, allowed for additional living space, received more natural light, was easier to heat, and remained cooler in

4760-408: Was different than palisade construction in that the timbers were hewn two sides and spaced slightly apart with the gaps filled with a material called bousillage Palisade construction is similar in concept to vertical plank wall construction. Vertical plank wall buildings are sometimes also called plank houses . In Australia houses with vertical plank walls are called slab huts and the technique

4830-401: Was inspired by Fowler's book, and is a good example of his theories put into practice. Features which are directly linked to his ideas, apart from the octagonal plan, are the central spiral staircase, symmetrical arrangement of rooms with interconnecting doors, the verandas running all round the building, and the flat roof surmounted by a cupola. In accordance with Fowler's theories, the detailing

4900-489: Was recommended in the first edition of A Home for All but the third edition of Fowler's book, printed in 1853, had a new subtitle: A Home For All, or The Gravel Wall and Octagon Mode of Building , and was distinguished by Fowler's enthusiasm for concrete construction. At the time concrete construction was not widely used as Portland cement was only recently discovered by a Mr. Goodrich of Janesville, Wisconsin. Fowler knew gravel and lime were available in unlimited quantities in

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