East Hancock is a primarily residential neighbourhood in
Hancock, Michigan
Hancock is a city in Houghton County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is across the Keweenaw Waterway from the city of Houghton on the Keweenaw Peninsula. The population was 4,634 at the 2010 census. The Weather Channel has consistently rank ...
, though it also includes the easternmost block of Quincy Street, the main street of Hancock's downtown.
East Hancock Neighborhood Historic District
The East Hancock Neighborhood Historic District is a nationally recognized historic district which is a substantial subsection of the East Hancock neighborhood. The District is bounded by Front Street, Dunston Street, Vivian Street, Mason Avenue, and Cooper Avenue, and was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in 1980.
There are 88 residences in the East Hancock Neighborhood Historic District, along with a synagogue called Temple Jacob, a gas station, and a WPA project.East Hancock Neighborhood Historic District form the state of Michigan, retrieved 9/10/09 The majority of the residences were built between 1890 and 1920.
History
The East Hancock neighborhood was formerly characterized by a number of deep
ravine
A ravine is a landform that is narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streambank erosion. originally covered with wooden sidewalks that were filled in by the Dakota Heights Land Company; the neighbourhood was then "subdivided into residential lots". Development in the neighborhood began in the 1890s and surged in the early 1900s, when a rush of prosperity increased the number of relatively wealthy people in Hancock. The neighborhood brought together Hancock citizens involved in the business and mining sectors of the economy. Notable early residents of the area were primarily mine employees and managers. As mining declined in importance, more Hancock businessmen moved into the neighborhood.
Description
Many of the residences in East Hancock were designed by prominent local architects. Styles represented in the neighborhood include Queen Anne, Stick, Shingle, Neo-Classical,
Renaissance Revival
Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range o ...
, and Bungaloid.
A principal feature is a WPA-project stone staircase " escendingfrom "Cooper Avenue to Front Street".
Historically, East Hancock was important as the station from which the trolley departed to the
Electric Park
Electric Park was a name shared by dozens of amusement parks in the United States that were constructed as trolley parks and owned by electric companies and streetcar companies. After 1903, the success of Coney Island inspired a proliferation of ...
resort.
The East Hancock Neighborhood Association was formed in 1981. It is noted for many large houses in the Queen Anne,
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history
The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...
and shingle style
The construction of the Canal Crossings Condominium by Moyle Inc. has obstructed some of the view of the neighbourhood from the
Portage Lake Lift Bridge
The Portage Lake Lift Bridge (officially the Houghton–Hancock Bridge) connects the cities of Hancock and Houghton, in the US state of Michigan. It crosses Portage Lake, a portion of the waterway which cuts across the Keweenaw Peninsula with a ...
, one of the things for which the project has been criticise
Sources
* ''East Hancock Revisited: History of a Neighborhood, Circa 1880 - 1920'' (Eleanor A. Alexander, Hancock, Michigan: 1984)