Fires, storms, forgotten buildings rising from the ashes: Here's what made—and destroyed—history this year.

Story by Preservation editors / Dec. 12, 2003

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Bloomingdale's opened in Chicago's restored Medinah Temple (Courtesy Daniel P. Coffey & Associates)

Preservation magazine's editors pondered the year's events and selected 10 wins and losses that made news in 2003.

Bloomingdale's Sets up Shop in Chicago

'Tis the season to mourn extinct department stores like Wannamaker's, Woodward & Lothrop, the Higbee Co., and Hutzler's, with their holiday window displays, marble lobbies, and first-class service. Some defunct stores, like Woodie's in Washington, D.C., have been turned into condominiums. But in a refreshing twist, Bloomingdale's moved into a 1912 building in Chicago, transforming the Shriners Medinah Temple into a thriving store.

Fenway's Green Monster Seats

Boston fans are as loyal to the Red Sox as they are to 90-year-old Fenway Park. To avoid abandoning the downtown ballpark for a new one in the suburbs, Fenway officials added 522 seats above the 37-foot-tall wall known as the Green Monster. It was a smart play: Those seats have become more sought-after than a World Series win (well, almost).

Historic Schools Close in Colorado

Residents of Boulder, Colo., were disappointed in April when the school board voted to close nine schools, four of which are historic, and build a new one. Citing economic reasons, the school board warned that more historic schools could close. "These are the wrong moves to make," said Gretchen Lang, a member of Save Our Schools Boulder Valley, a group that has organized several rallies in front of city hall. "The historic blow this will cause our town is big—losing the heart and structures of our neighborhoods, losing our historic walking downtown."

Outrageous Collisions

Talk about road rage. Gettysburg National Military Park was besieged by two reckless drivers this year. One smashed a 100-year-old cannon carriage and 80 feet of a historic fence, leaving his license plate in the rubble. Another took out an 1888 monument. And in Maryland, a driver who said he "heard the voice of the devil" deliberately crashed his truck into a c. 1730 brick mansion that previously had been gutted by fire.

Hotel Rebounds

Shuttered for more than two decades and almost demolished, the grand Wentworth-by-the-Sea Hotel in Newcastle, N.H., reopened in May. The 1874 wood structure had battled demolition threats for years and in 1996 was placed on the National Trust's list of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. After a string of failed redevelopment proposals, Ocean Properties Ltd. bought the property and, using the historic tax credits, restored the Wentworth as a Marriott hotel.

Development Nixed at Chancellorsville—For Now

Part of the Civil War battlefield at Chancellorsville, Va., was spared from development in March when the Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors killed a proposal to rezone the land for houses and stores. However, the owner of the tract in the fast-growing county south of Washington, D.C., could still develop at a lower density, so the Coalition to Save Chancellorsville Battlefield continued to negotiate purchasing the land from him. The National Park Service owns only 9,000 of the battlefield's 21,000 acres.

And more good news on the Civil War battlefield front: Virginia's Brandy Station Battlefield Park, which narrowly avoided becoming a racetrack, opened in June as a state park.

Briarcliff Lodge Burns

A resort in upstate New York burned in September in what officials called a suspicious fire. Briarcliff Lodge, a Tudor-style hotel built in 1902 and empty for nine years, burned just a few days before an expensive asbestos-removal process was scheduled to begin. A developer will construct a housing community on the site. Briarcliff's fate was sealed already, however: Demolition was to begin on Dec. 31.

It's History in Chicago: The Merc Bites the Dust

Despite opposition from the preservation and architectural communities, the Mercantile Exchange Building, a prominent downtown Chicago landmark, was demolished in May. Its owners razed the 1927 neoclassical structure as part of a high-rise office development. Loss of the Merc, as it was affectionately known, came soon after a Chicago Tribune article reported that 700 potential landmarks had been torn down in the city over the prior decade, most of them replaced with vacant lots.

Kinzua Viaduct Falls

In the middle of a renovation, Pennsylvania's 1882 Kinzua Viaduct, a dramatic but fragile 300-foot-high bridge, was destroyed in July by a tornado. Some have hopes of rebuilding what was once the longest, highest railroad bridge.

New Access to San Francisco's Ferry Building

Isolated by highway construction in 1957, the renovated 1898 building once again serves as a ferry terminal—with new offices and a bustling farmers' market. It opened in March after a five-year, $85 million project that restored its 235-foot clock tower and other historic architectural details. (In October, the National Trust recognized the renovation with a National Honor Award.)

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