{"nrhp_refnum":"66000619","name":"Dunbar, Paul Laurence, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"219 N. Summit St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Dayton","county":"Montgomery County","state":"OH","lat":39.75766813800004,"lon":-84.21904148499993,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1966-10-15","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1962-12-29","areas_of_significance":["Literature"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A modest two-story, nine-room red brick house at 219 North Summit Street in Dayton, Ohio, where poet Paul Laurence Dunbar lived from 1903 until his death in 1906. It is now a state memorial and museum.","why_significant":"Dunbar was the first black poet to receive national acclaim since Phillis Wheatley. His use of Negro dialect conveyed the joys and sorrows of an oppressed people during the period called \"The Nadir\". His work is credited with helping raise a new level of consciousness among black people.","narrative":"This two-story red brick house at 219 North Summit Street in Dayton, Ohio, was the last home of poet Paul Laurence Dunbar. He bought it in 1903 for his mother, and they lived there for the rest of their lives; he died in 1906 and she in 1934. The house has nine rooms, a lean-to porch on wrought iron columns, green shutters and an old barn from the original property. Inside, the parlor holds Dunbar family furnishings and the family Bible. Upstairs, his study contains manuscripts, his desk and typewriter, and a bicycle given to him by the Wright Brothers. Dunbar, son of former slaves and educated in Dayton's public schools, became the first black poet to win national acclaim since Phillis Wheatley. His dialect verse addressed the experience of an oppressed people. After his mother's death, the State of Ohio bought the property and its contents and passed them to the Ohio Historical Society as a memorial and museum.","period_of_significance":"1903-1936","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Owned by the Ohio Historical Society and operated as a state memorial and museum; condition listed as good, on its original site. Part of the first floor is used as administrative office space.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:09.21147-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/66000619_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000619/dcb08cf8d7-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000619/dcb08cf8d7-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Chris Light (talk)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dunbar_Home.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Chris Light (talk)</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:Dunbar_Home.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"80003174","name":"Dunbar Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/ohio/dunbar-historic-district-80003174/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71986534","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Laurence_Dunbar_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7151961"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/montgomery-county/dunbar-paul-laurence-house-66000619/"}