Cornerstone Preservation documents and evaluates historic structures and sites in order to facilitate their sensitive care and restoration. Also, since dissemination of information represents a "cornerstone" of our work philosophy, this blog was established as a venue through which to share work in progress, work completed and general observations on related topics.Buildings do not need to be large to be important. This exterior detail is from a small utilitarian shack that provided shelter to the lock tenders on the Fox River in Appleton, WI since about 1917. The system is one of only a couple in the nation that continues to use hand operated valves to flood the chambers and a tripod with spar to open and close the gates. These navigational features had been "mothballed" by the Army Corps of Engineers in the 1980s; they recently were acquired by the State of Wisconsin and currently are being restored and returned to operation.
