{"nrhp_refnum":"03001019","name":"Jones, John W., House","other_names":["John W. Jones Museum"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1250 Davis St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Elmira","county":"Chemung County","state":"NY","lat":42.107636193000076,"lon":-76.82368543699994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2003-10-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Social History","Black"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small wood-frame house at 1250 Davis Street in Elmira, Chemung County, New York, built circa 1870 and later moved to its present site. It is now the John W. Jones Museum.","why_significant":"The house is tied to John W. Jones, a formerly enslaved man who aided the Underground Railroad in Elmira and supervised the burial of nearly 3,000 Confederate prisoners as cemetery superintendent. Evidence suggests it was built from pieces of buildings from the Elmira prison camp. It is also significant for information it yields about the camp and a late nineteenth-century African American family.","narrative":"Built around 1870, this modest wood-frame house at 1250 Davis Street in Elmira was the home of John W. Jones, who escaped slavery in Virginia and reached Elmira in 1844. Jones worked with the Underground Railroad, sending an estimated 800 people toward freedom. He later served as superintendent of Woodlawn Cemetery and supervised the burial of nearly 3,000 Confederate soldiers who died at the Elmira prison camp. Evidence indicates the house was assembled from parts of camp buildings that were sold at auction after the camp closed. The structure has a gable-roofed main block, a rear shed-roofed addition, clapboard siding and a Greek Revival style entrance. It was moved several times on the original Jones farm property, most recently in 2000 when it was saved from demolition. It now serves as a museum, and its exposed framing continues to provide information about its construction and origins.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1868-1900","architect_builder":"possibly John W. Jones","architectural_style":"no style; mid-nineteenth century","criteria":["B","D"],"status_note":"Now in use as the John W. Jones Museum; moved in December 2000 to avoid demolition and being restored.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:52.588412-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/03001019.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03001019/6b1dfa30dd-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03001019/6b1dfa30dd-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Lvklock","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_W_Jones_House_1.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Lvklock</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_W_Jones_House_1.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75316828","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_W._Jones_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6262350"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/chemung-county/jones-john-w-house-03001019/"}