{"nrhp_refnum":"05000016","name":"First Baptist Church and Cook Memorial Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"511 State St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Carthage","county":"Jefferson County","state":"NY","lat":43.98209324900006,"lon":-75.60776150299995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2005-02-09","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A brick Gothic/Romanesque Revival church built in 1885 at 511 State Street in Carthage, Jefferson County, New York, together with the adjacent Cook Memorial Building, an 1860s-70s brick house now owned by the church.","why_significant":"The church is argued to be an outstanding example of late nineteenth century religious architecture in Carthage, with a remarkably intact interior including extensive woodwork and an early 1900s pipe organ. With the Cook Memorial Building, it remains a prominent landmark in the village's historic civic and religious core.","narrative":"Located on State Street at the east end of Carthage's central business district, this property pairs a brick church built in 1885 with the neighboring Cook Memorial Building, a two-story brick house from the 1860s or 1870s. The church combines Gothic and Romanesque elements, including asymmetrical massing, a multi-story corner bell tower, corbelled cornices, stone-capped buttresses and tall stained-glass windows. Inside, the sanctuary keeps curved oak pews in an Akron plan, sliding oak doors, a raised dais with an organ installed between 1905 and 1911, and a full-immersion baptistery. The Cook Memorial has Italianate and late Victorian features, though little original interior fabric survives. The Baptist congregation dates to 1833, and earlier churches burned in 1861 and 1884. The present building was erected after the 1884 fire that destroyed much of downtown. It was recognized for its architecture, intact interior and role as a local landmark within the village's civic and religious core.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1860s/70s - 1885","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Late-19th Century: Gothic/Romanesque Revival","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"The church remains in religious use; the Cook Memorial Building, owned by the church since the 1950s, is rented out to generate income. The church interior survives with a high degree of integrity.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:53.535056-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/05000016.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05000016/fc7ebea1d8-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05000016/fc7ebea1d8-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Doug Kerr from Upstate New York","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:First_Baptist_Church_and_Cook_Memorial_Building_Jul_10.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Doug Kerr from Upstate New York</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:First_Baptist_Church_and_Cook_Memorial_Building_Jul_10.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75318232","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Baptist_Church_and_Cook_Memorial_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5452447"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/jefferson-county/first-baptist-church-and-cook-memorial-building-05000016/"}