{"nrhp_refnum":"100000879","name":"May 4, 1970, Kent State Shootings Site","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":".5 mi. SE of the intersection of E. Main St. and S. Lincoln St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Kent","county":"Portage County","state":"OH","lat":41.150092,"lon":-81.343353,"geom_source":"wikidata"},"listed_date":null,"is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"2016-12-23","areas_of_significance":["Social History","Politics/Government","Law"],"significance_levels":[],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 17.24-acre site near the center of the Kent State University campus in Kent, Portage County, Ohio, where Ohio National Guard members shot thirteen students on May 4, 1970. It includes the Commons, Blanket Hill and the Southern Terrace, with six contributing and nine noncontributing resources.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that the site is nationally significant as the place where a confrontation between the Ohio National Guard and students protesting the Vietnam War and the Guard's presence on campus ended in four deaths and nine wounded. The surviving landscape features and buildings, such as Taylor Hall, the Pagoda, the Victory Bell and the Solar Totem, retain the 1970 setting. The text also covers the later Gym Annex controversy over the site's boundaries.","narrative":"Near the center of the Kent State University campus in Ohio, this 17.24-acre site marks where Ohio National Guard members fired on student protesters on May 4, 1970. Thirteen students were shot and four died. The protest opposed the Vietnam War and the Guard's presence on campus. The area has three parts: the Commons, where the noon rally was held; Blanket Hill, topped by Taylor Hall, a 1967 New Formalism building; and the Southern Terrace, which holds the Prentice Hall parking lot and former practice field. Six resources contribute to the site, including Taylor Hall, the Victory Bell, Lilac Lane, the Pagoda, the Solar Totem sculpture with its bullet hole, and the parking lot. Much of the landscape looks as it did in 1970, and students still use it daily. The site was listed for its role in the shootings and for the national debate that followed, including a later fight over building a gym annex on part of the ground.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Taylor Hall designed by Ward and Schneider; Gym Annex (noncontributing) by Richard Fleischman Architects, Inc.; Victory Bell housing designed by architecture student Arvid Johnson; Solar Totem by Don Drumm","architectural_style":"New Formalism (Taylor Hall); no overall architectural classification (N/A)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Still part of the active Kent State University campus, used by students and faculty for classes and recreation, with uses continuous with the 1960s and 1970s.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:10.355755-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/10000046.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/100000879/a9bbb77fb3-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/100000879/a9bbb77fb3-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Mws77 at en.wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kent_State,_Site_of_Jeffrey_Miller_Memorial.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Mws77 at en.wikipedia</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kent_State,_Site_of_Jeffrey_Miller_Memorial.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":null,"wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q29858211"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/portage-county/may-4-1970-kent-state-shootings-site-100000879/"}