{"nrhp_refnum":"08000161","name":"Historic Associate Reformed Church and Cemetery","other_names":["Historic Hopewell Church Inc.","Pre-10-01","Pre-282-01"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"6471 Camden-College Corner Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Morning Sun","county":"Preble County","state":"OH","lat":39.603143330500046,"lon":-84.76018698057693,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2008-03-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A rural church and cemetery district in Israel Township near Morning Sun, Preble County, Ohio, centered on the brick Hopewell Church built in 1825 and including a cemetery, a limestone fence, and a historic spring site.","why_significant":"The property is significant for its role in forming the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church in Preble County and as parent church to four daughter congregations in Preble and Butler Counties. It is also significant as an early example of rural Federal vernacular meeting house architecture in southwestern Ohio, with notable cemetery monuments and a limestone fence.","narrative":"Hopewell Church is a single-story brick meeting house built in 1825 on rolling land above the East Fork of Four Mile Creek, about a mile northwest of Morning Sun in Preble County, Ohio. It sits with an 8.7-acre cemetery, a dry-laid limestone fence, a spring enclosure and a 1930s privy. The congregation began in 1808 with Scots-Irish settlers from Kentucky and South Carolina who left in opposition to slavery, and it grew into one of the largest congregations west of Pittsburgh. It later sponsored daughter churches in Fairhaven, Oxford, College Corner and Morning Sun. The building shows the plain, symmetrical style of early meeting houses, with twelve-over-twelve windows, Flemish bond brick on the east wall, twin entrances in the south gable end and a hewn timber roof truss. The cemetery holds early carved monuments, many by stonecutter Oscar M. Pay. The church still holds monthly services.","period_of_significance":"1825-1915","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Federal vernacular","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The church is still used for monthly religious services and the cemetery remains in use; the church interior was renovated in 1998-1999 and the metal roof was installed in 2000.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:07.501582-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/08000161.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08000161/501b486f37-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08000161/501b486f37-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hopewell_Associate_Reformed_Presbyterian_Church_from_northeast_with_wall.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hopewell_Associate_Reformed_Presbyterian_Church_from_northeast_with_wall.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71991047","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hopewell_Associate_Reformed_Presbyterian_Church","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5900313"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/preble-county/historic-associate-reformed-church-and-cemetery-08000161/"}