{"nrhp_refnum":"03000080","name":"Tyler, John J., Arboretum","other_names":["Painter, Minshall and Jacob, Farm"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"515 Painter Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lima","county":"Delaware County","state":"PA","lat":39.935002183500075,"lon":-75.43076407689497,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2003-02-27","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Conservation","Architecture","Science"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 657-acre irregularly shaped district in Lima, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, comprising the John J. Tyler Arboretum, a mix of farmstead buildings, tenant farms, ruins, plantings and landscape features. The core is Home Farm, an eighteenth- and nineteenth-century farmstead in which the Painter family planted a collection of trees.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the arboretum is significant for its role in conservation of horticultural specimens and historic landscapes, for its association with brothers Minshall and Jacob Painter and their scientific interests, and for buildings and structures that reflect architectural patterns of their periods. It describes Home Farm as a largely intact eighteenth- and nineteenth-century farmstead fitting a plan closely associated with the region.","narrative":"Home Farm, in Lima, Delaware County, is a farmstead whose buildings date from 1738 onward and whose surrounding grounds hold the John J. Tyler Arboretum. Thomas Minshall built the first section of Lachford Hall in 1738, and the Painter family, beginning with Enos Painter and his sons Minshall and Jacob, expanded the farm through the nineteenth century. Minshall and Jacob Painter planted a collection that at one time numbered over 1,100 trees between 1830 and 1860, including exotic species that did not survive the climate. Twenty-two Painter trees survive, including a giant sequoia and a Cedar of Lebanon believed to be the largest of their kind in the state. The district is regarded as significant for conservation of horticultural specimens, for its link to the Painters' scientific pursuits, and for its largely intact eighteenth- and nineteenth-century farm buildings, which include stone barns, springhouses, a root cellar and the Painter Library of 1863.","period_of_significance":"circa 1710 - 1952","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Georgian; Georgian Revival; Gothic Revival; Colonial Revival","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"The arboretum is a public arboretum; ruins survive at remote locations and the district retains a high level of integrity overall.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:36.388021-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/03000080.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03000080/c516460f05-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03000080/c516460f05-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Daderot","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tyler_Arboretum_-_DSC01780.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Daderot</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tyler_Arboretum_-_DSC01780.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"76001637","name":"Ridley Creek State Park","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/ridley-creek-state-park-76001637/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71996274","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_J._Tyler_Arboretum","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6241319"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/delaware-county/tyler-john-j-arboretum-03000080/"}