{"nrhp_refnum":"10000191","name":"Mount Airy Forest","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"5083 Colerain Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cincinnati","county":"Hamilton County","state":"OH","lat":39.17380079000006,"lon":-84.56605116074988,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2010-04-13","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Landscape Architecture","Social History","Entertainment/Recreation"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Mount Airy Forest is a 1,471-acre municipal park and historic district about four miles northwest of downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, established by the Cincinnati Park Board in 1911. It contains rustic stone and heavy timber shelters, comfort stations, lodges, an arboretum and a former CCC camp.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the forest as the nation's first municipal reforestation project, which turned eroded farmland into woodland. Nearly all of its facilities were built between 1931 and 1956, largely with Depression-era federal programs such as the CCC, WPA and CWA. Its buildings reflect a unified rustic park style, many designed by Park Board architect R. Carl Freund. It also includes a CCC camp staffed entirely by African-American workers.","narrative":"Mount Airy Forest is a 1,471-acre park roughly four miles northwest of downtown Cincinnati. The Cincinnati Park Board began buying worn-out farmland there in 1911 and started what is described as the first municipal reforestation project in the nation. Hardwoods, evergreens, meadows and an arboretum now cover land once scarred by erosion and grazing. Most construction took place between 1931 and 1959, much of it during the Depression with federal relief programs and Civilian Conservation Corps labor. The park holds eight open shelters, eight comfort stations, three lodges, a concession building, service buildings and a CCC camp that housed 200 African-American workers. Built of native stone and heavy timber, the structures follow a rustic style, and a dozen were designed by park architect R. Carl Freund. Interstate 74 divides the park and is counted as noncontributing, along with one recent shelter. The district includes 35 contributing resources.","period_of_significance":"1911-1956","architect_builder":"R. Carl Freund; E. L. Gill; H. Brunke; Felsberg & Gillespie; Joseph Stith; Civilian Conservation Corps labor","architectural_style":"Other - Rustic park style","criteria":[],"status_note":"Still in use as a public park; the arboretum gardens were recently restored, and the former CCC camp has been used by the County Welfare Department since 1947.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:07.57966-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/10000191.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/10000191/a04fe0df25-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/10000191/a04fe0df25-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Greg Hume","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MtAiryTreeHouse02.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Greg Hume</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:MtAiryTreeHouse02.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71985464","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Airy_Forest","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6919310"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/hamilton-county/mount-airy-forest-10000191/"}