{"nrhp_refnum":"66000606","name":"Beginning Point of the U.S. Public Land Survey","other_names":["Beginning Point"],"category":"site","location":{"address":"On the OH/PA Border, E of East Liverpool","address_restricted":false,"city":"East Liverpool","county":"Columbiana County","state":"OH","lat":40.64245513700007,"lon":-80.51916682399997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1966-10-15","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1965-06-23","areas_of_significance":["Engineering","Communications"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A commemorative site on State Route 39, about 2 miles east of East Liverpool, Ohio, near the Ohio-Pennsylvania line. A granite marker with a six-foot square area represents the starting point of the first U.S. public land survey, begun in 1785.","why_significant":"The nomination argues this is where the rectangular land survey system used for public lands was inaugurated. The system was used to survey the public domain that became 31 states, and it shaped the American landscape through its angular fields and section-line roads. It is also described as the first mathematically designed national cadastral survey system in any modern country.","narrative":"Near the Ohio-Pennsylvania line, 2 miles east of East Liverpool, a small granite marker commemorates the starting point of the first U.S. public land survey. The exact original location is unknown and lies under water behind a dam, so the marker stands in for it. Its inscription says the point of beginning was 1,112 feet south. The survey followed the Land Ordinance of May 20, 1785, which called for townships six miles square divided into 36 sections. Geographer Thomas Hutchins began the work on September 30, 1785, using a stake set by Virginia-Pennsylvania boundary commissioners. Work stopped in October because of threatened Indian hostility and resumed in 1786. By 1788 the first seven ranges had been surveyed. The rectangular system was later applied to the public domain that formed 31 states, and its imprint remains visible in field patterns and section-line roads. The East Liverpool Historical Society owns and maintains the site.","period_of_significance":"18th Century; specific date August 9, 1786","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Maintained in very good condition by the East Liverpool Historical Society; the marker was moved about fifty feet in 1960 and the original survey location is covered by water from a dam.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:09.325375-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/66000606_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000606/2530f62f01-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000606/2530f62f01-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"User:Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beginning_Point_of_the_U.S._Public_Land_Survey_front.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">User:Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beginning_Point_of_the_U.S._Public_Land_Survey_front.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71986455","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beginning_Point_of_the_U.S._Public_Land_Survey","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4880494"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/columbiana-county/beginning-point-of-the-u-s-public-land-survey-66000606/"}