{"nrhp_refnum":"06001003","name":"Italian Community Bake Oven","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"NY 167","address_restricted":false,"city":"Little Falls","county":"Herkimer County","state":"NY","lat":43.039214309000045,"lon":-74.83343741599998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2006-11-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Social History","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A stone masonry bake oven lined with firebrick, built circa 1891 at the eastern edge of Little Falls, Herkimer County, New York, beside a former stone quarry and off present NY 167.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is a rare and largely intact example of a large, utilitarian community oven. It was built to supply bread to a camp of Italian immigrant laborers building the Little Falls & Dolgeville Railroad. After the camp closed, neighboring families used it for communal baking. It reflects a little-documented part of local history.","narrative":"Set against a rock outcropping at the edge of a former quarry on the eastern side of Little Falls, this stone bake oven measures roughly 16 by 20 feet and stands about 6 feet high. Its walls are built of salvaged quarry stone and fieldstone, with red brick arches marking the hearth and ash cleanout. Inside, a flat firebrick dome carries the stamps of the Ostrander company of Raritan. The oven dates to about 1891, when Italian immigrant laborers were excavating the Little Falls & Dolgeville Railroad, a line backed by industrialist Alfred Dolge. A labor camp near the quarry housed the workers, and the oven produced the large quantities of bread needed to feed them. After the railroad opened in 1892 and the camp was abandoned, local families used it for baking. Now overgrown and unused, it is valued as a rare, largely intact community oven and as evidence of Italian immigrant labor in the area.","period_of_significance":"1891","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"No style","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Abandoned and not in use, surrounded by second-growth trees and scrub; the original firebrick floor has been removed. Local efforts to preserve and interpret it are noted.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:53.287768-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/06001003.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06001003/75eca46501-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06001003/75eca46501-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Apocheir","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Italian_Community_Bake_Oven_-_Exterior_angle.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Apocheir</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Italian_Community_Bake_Oven_-_Exterior_angle.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75318152","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Community_Bake_Oven","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15228913"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/herkimer-county/italian-community-bake-oven-06001003/"}