{"nrhp_refnum":"12000033","name":"South Newbury Union Chapel","other_names":["Freedom of Speech Chapel"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"15829 Ravenna Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Newbury","county":"Geauga County","state":"OH","lat":41.43792575500004,"lon":-81.20700623699997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2012-02-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Social History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small single-story Gothic Revival board-and-batten chapel at 15829 Ravenna Road in Newbury, Geauga County, Ohio, built by local citizens between 1858 and 1860 (the form gives 1858 as the most probable date).","why_significant":"The chapel was built as a free-speech meeting place after a young James A. Garfield was shut out of a local church in 1857. It hosted temperance groups, dress reform and the South Newbury Women's Suffrage Political Club, and drew speakers such as Susan B. Anthony and Harriet Taylor Upton. It is significant in the area of social history as a community center for the exchange of ideas.","narrative":"South Newbury Union Chapel is a small, single-room, board-and-batten building on Ravenna Road in Newbury, Ohio, measuring about 24 by 36 feet. Local residents built it around 1858, donating logs, carpentry and masonry labor, after a young minister, James A. Garfield, was refused a hearing at a local church in 1857. The lease record dedicated it to literary, scientific, moral and religious purposes, open to all denominations and to lectures on any useful subject. It served as a meeting hall, school and occasional church. Temperance groups, a dress reform association and the South Newbury Women's Suffrage Political Club met there, and Susan B. Anthony and Harriet Taylor Upton spoke at the chapel. The building has no private owner and was long cared for by community associations, ending the period of significance with the Ladies Aid in 1948. It retains its original six-over-six windows, a bell tower with Doric pilasters, and a stone foundation, and remains in excellent condition.","period_of_significance":"1858-1948","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Mid-Nineteenth Century (described as Gothic Revival)","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Current function listed as vacant/not in use; the form describes the building as in excellent condition and maintained by three trustees, with surrounding land owned by the Geauga Park District.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:07.086669-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/12000033.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/12000033/515d4f0bd1-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/12000033/515d4f0bd1-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:South_Newbury_Union_Chapel.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:South_Newbury_Union_Chapel.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71988691","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138340166"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/geauga-county/south-newbury-union-chapel-12000033/"}