{"nrhp_refnum":"11000037","name":"Shelly School","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"130 Richlandtown Pike (SR 212)","address_restricted":false,"city":"Richland Township","county":"Bucks County","state":"PA","lat":40.45451436900004,"lon":-75.32656929599995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2011-02-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Shelly School is a one-story red brick one-room schoolhouse on the west side of Richlandtown Pike (SR 212) between Quakertown and Richlandtown in Richland Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. It was constructed in 1885 and is now the headquarters of the Richland Historical Society.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the school is significant under Criterion A for its association with the public school movement and education in Richland Township, and under Criterion C as an example of the one-room schoolhouse type built during the Long Progressive Era. It is also regarded as locally important for the township citizens' efforts to acquire and preserve the school as a museum.","narrative":"Built in 1885 as a one-room public school, this single-storey red brick building stands on a half-acre lot along the Quakertown-Richlandtown turnpike. Sebastian Horne, a contractor from upper Bucks County, was awarded the construction contract for $926 after the lowest bid was withdrawn. The schoolhouse has a gabled slate roof, a porch added in 1895, and a schoolroom with a raised platform, slate blackboard, and period desks. It served students in the township until 1956, when consolidated schools replaced the township's one-room schools. Its significance lies in its association with the public school movement and in its representation of the one-room schoolhouse type common across rural Pennsylvania. Local residents later purchased the building in 1959 and have since operated it as a museum run by the Richland Historical Society.","period_of_significance":"1885-1959","architect_builder":"Sebastian Horne (contractor)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Now the headquarters of the Richland Historical Society and used for meetings, tours and public programs; the school was a public school until 1956.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:10:27.266541-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/11000037.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/11000037/888c7f848f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/11000037/888c7f848f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"PattiParker","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shelly_School,_Richland_Pa..JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">PattiParker</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:Shelly_School,_Richland_Pa..JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71992448","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelly_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7493914"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/bucks-county/shelly-school-11000037/"}