NPS Form 10-900 United States Department of the Interior · National Park Service
The Case File
Every place on the National Register of Historic Places got there by a written argument . Somebody researched it, typed it up, and made the case that it mattered. There are more than 97,000 of these, they are public, and they are filed under an eight-digit number almost nobody knows to look up. Stand somewhere. Read the arguments nearest you.
Or stand anywhere in the country:
Nearest cases Turn with me
Nearby listed places by direction and distance
Distances are straight-line. Points are where the nomination placed the property, which for a big district is its middle. The Park Service withholds sensitive archaeological sites, so some places are not shown.
Where this comes from. Places and locations come live from the National Park Service's National Register map service. Each “Read the case” link opens the original nomination form on NPGallery, the Park Service's own archive. The list is the register as it stands today.
Where a folder of case files exists. For an area that has been run through this project's pipeline, each card also shows the opening of Section 8, the threads that tie it to other nominations, and what the Library of Congress holds. Every connection is shown with the sentence from each form that makes it, and a page number to check it against.
Reading a reference number. The first two digits are usually the year the property was entered: 03000589 went in in 2003. Numbers beginning 64 are thematic and multiple-property filings, which group many places under one argument.
Older forms are typewritten scans and can run to dozens of pages. The part that answers “why this place?” is Section 8, Statement of Significance .