{"nrhp_refnum":"70000493","name":"Hanby, Benjamin, House","other_names":["Benjamin Hanby House State Memorial"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"160 W. Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Westerville","county":"Franklin County","state":"OH","lat":40.12672792700005,"lon":-82.93851605299994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1970-11-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Religion","Performing Arts"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small two-story frame house built about 1850 at 160 W. Main Street, Westerville, Franklin County, Ohio, now a state memorial museum owned by the Ohio Historical Society. It was the home of composer Benjamin Hanby and his family.","why_significant":"The house is tied to Benjamin Hanby, who wrote \"Darling Nelly Gray,\" a song popular before the Civil War that carried strong antislavery sentiment. He also wrote the Christmas tune \"Up on the House Top\" and sixty-eight songs in all. The form marks the property for its association with music, and it holds furniture, music and personal items belonging to the Hanby family.","narrative":"Built about 1850, this small two-story frame house in Westerville, Ohio, is a museum devoted to Benjamin Hanby, a composer born in 1833 whose family settled in the town in 1853. The house has a low kitchen wing at the rear and a small porch at the center of its three-part front. Inside, a parlor, bedroom and kitchen occupy the first floor, with bedrooms above. Hanby wrote \"Darling Nelly Gray,\" first performed for friends in the family parlor. It was widely popular before the Civil War and was likened to the Uncle Tom's Cabin of song because of its antislavery feeling. His father, the Rev. William Hanby, helped found Otterbein College, and the family ran Underground Railroad stations. Hanby wrote sixty-eight songs, including the Christmas tune \"Up on the House Top,\" and died in 1867 at age 34. The restored house displays his walnut desk, his piano, original plates for the first edition of his best-known song, and sheet music. The Ohio Historical Society received it in 1936.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition is marked good. The house has been reinforced and restored and is used as a museum, owned by the Ohio Historical Society. It was moved to its present site opposite the Otterbein campus.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:09.187325-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/70000493.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000493/97f206714d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000493/97f206714d-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"John G. Weinhardt","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hanby_House.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John G. Weinhardt</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hanby_House.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71988617","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q112676049"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/franklin-county/hanby-benjamin-house-70000493/"}