{"nrhp_refnum":"87000485","name":"Eddy Tree Breeding Station","other_names":["Institute of Forest Genetics"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"2480 and 2500 Carson Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Placerville","county":"El Dorado County","state":"CA","lat":38.738387362000054,"lon":-120.74022931130813,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1987-03-31","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Science","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A tree breeding research station and arboretum, now called the Institute of Forest Genetics, on Carson Road in Placerville, California, in the Sierra Nevada foothills. It was founded in 1925 by James G. Eddy, and most of its present buildings date from 1936 to 1938.","why_significant":"It was the first institution in the world devoted solely to forest genetics and tree breeding research, and it still does that work. It is also a well-preserved example of Depression-era Forest Service architecture, built largely by the Civilian Conservation Corps with Works Progress Administration support.","narrative":"Sixty-five miles east of Sacramento, in the Sierra Nevada foothills, the Institute of Forest Genetics occupies a research campus of sixteen buildings, a nursery and an arboretum. Seattle lumberman James G. Eddy founded it in 1925 as the Eddy Tree Breeding Station, funding it personally for ten years before giving it to the United States in 1935. It is described as the first institution in the world devoted solely to forest genetics and tree breeding. The arboretum holds about 70 percent of the world's pine species and some of the oldest man-made pine hybrids. Between 1935 and 1938, Civilian Conservation Corps crews working with Works Progress Administration support built most of the present facilities, including the brown-sided, cedar-shingled administration building, staff house, superintendent's house and rubble-stone pumphouse. Stone curbs, circular drives and a formal landscape plan tie the buildings together. The station still carries out the research for which it was founded, and its buildings retain their original appearance despite repairs made around 1975.","period_of_significance":"1925 to 1938","architect_builder":"F. Schumacher - landscape architect; buildings constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps","architectural_style":"Vernacular frame and rubble-stone buildings with neo-Colonial detailing; Depression-era Forest Service architecture","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in excellent, largely unaltered condition; still operating as a tree breeding research station under the U.S. Forest Service.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:27.475869-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/87000485.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123858607","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddy_Tree_Breeding_Station","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q126616554"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/el-dorado-county/eddy-tree-breeding-station-87000485/"}