BlockBefore
Photograph of General Land Office
Photograph by Joshua S. Goodrich, J.D., LL.M, CC BY-SA 4.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

US Government Land Office Building, Old

Built in 1830 (Greek Revival architecture). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

From the record

“The White Pigeon Prairie Land Office in White Pigeon, Michigan is the oldest surviving land office in Michigan and was in business 1831-1834. It is designated as a Michigan State Historic Site.”

Wikipedia article General Land Office (White Pigeon, Michigan), CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 17 National Register listings published here for St. Joseph County · listed in 1989 · category: Building · built in 1830, Greek Revival architecture.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service · the Wikipedia article

The listing

  • What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
  • Address. 113 West. Chicago Rd., White Pigeon, 49099
  • When was it listed? February 1989
  • Category. building
  • Township. White Pigeon township
  • When was it built? 1830
  • Architectural style. Greek Revival architecture
  • National Register reference number. 88003234 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

31 since 2009

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 31 fires within 5 miles of US Government Land Office Building, Old between 2009 and 2020, burning about 49 acres in total. 4 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Equipment and vehicle use13
Missing data/not specified/undetermined11
Natural4
Recreation and ceremony3

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
5 August 2020Recreation and ceremony1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesWHITE PIGEON TWP FD 108 - 2020
4 August 2020Natural1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesWHITE PIGEON TWP FD 107 - 2020
29 August 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesCONSTANTINE FD 211 - 2020
5 July 2020Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesWHITE PIGEON TWP FD 091 - 2020
19 July 2018Natural1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesWHITE PIGEON TWP FD 0000120 - 2018
12 July 2019Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesWHITE PIGEON TWP FD 0097 - 2019
20 June 2020Recreation and ceremony1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesWHITE PIGEON TWP FD 085 - 2020
20 June 2020Recreation and ceremony1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesWHITE PIGEON TWP FD 086 - 2020

Every fire recorded in St. Joseph County

Mines and quarries near this property

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of US Government Land Office Building, Old: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Api Dredge and MillSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in St. Joseph County

Storms near this property

23 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names White Pigeon, the town this property stands in, in 23 storm reports between 1993 and 2022: 17 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail, 1 tornado, 1 lightning. The reports record 1 injury. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
October 2001Tornado (F1)White Pigeon1 hurt, $322,200Tornado touched down north of the Elkhart/St Joseph Michigan county line southwest of White Pigeon and skipped northeast before lifting north of White pigeon. F1 damage near SR 131 and SR 12 to buildings and high tension wires.
June 2010LightningWhite Pigeon$20,000A trained spotter reported that a house on Dickinson Road was struck by lightning and on fire.
July 1997Thunderstorm WindWhite Pigeon$20,000St. Joseph County Central Dispatch reported downed trees and power lines across White Pigeon Township. One tree landed on a vehicle at 309 S. Washington Street in White Pigeon. Intermittent power outages occurred at the height of the storm.
April 1995Thunderstorm WindWhite Pigeon$15,000A tree was blown over, crushing a car and part of a house.
August 1997Thunderstorm WindWhite Pigeon$5,000St. Joseph County Central Dispatch reported trees downed and minor street flooding in the White Pigeon area.
August 2021Thunderstorm WindWhite Pigeon$1,200A trained spotter reported trees and powerlines down in the area.
August 2021Thunderstorm WindWhite Pigeon$200The public reported tree limbs of 1 to 2 inch diameter down. The public estimated the wind to be 55 mph.
June 2022Thunderstorm WindWhite Pigeon-A report of 70 to 75 mph wind gusts was noted near White Pigeon.
August 2021Thunderstorm WindWhite Pigeon-Trees down across the town of White Pigeon.
August 2018Thunderstorm WindWhite Pigeon-Trained spotters reported several large tree limbs were blown down.
July 2015Thunderstorm WindWhite Pigeon-Tree down onto a trailer on Fawn River Road.
July 2015Thunderstorm WindWhite Pigeon-Trees and power lines down. Time estimated by radar.
June 2014Thunderstorm WindWhite Pigeon-Amateur radio operators reported power lines down from tree limbs impacting the lines.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindWhite Pigeon-Numerous trees and power lines down.
May 2004Thunderstorm WindWhite Pigeon-Trained spotter reported numerous trees down southwest of White Pigeon.
August 2003Thunderstorm WindWhite Pigeon-Large trees were reported down, with some blocking roads.
April 1993Thunderstorm WindWhite Pigeon-Gusty thunderstorms winds blew several trees.
January 2013HailWhite Pigeon-no account filed
July 2011HailWhite Pigeon-no account filed
June 2008Thunderstorm WindWhite Pigeon-no account filed
March 2007HailWhite Pigeon-no account filed
June 1998Thunderstorm WindWhite Pigeon-no account filed
May 1996HailWhite Pigeon-no account filed

Every storm recorded in St. Joseph County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Wahbememe Burial Site and Monument1.0 miles1995
Morse-Scoville House2.9 miles1996
Nettleton-Cond House3.2 miles2021
Art Gallery Building3.3 miles1980
Constantine Historic Commercial District3.3 miles1985
Gov. John S. Barry House3.6 miles1972

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 88003234 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
St. Joseph CountyAll 17 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.