{"nrhp_refnum":"72001045","name":"Spring Hill","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Wales Rd., NE.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Massillon","county":"Stark County","state":"OH","lat":40.81214208800003,"lon":-81.50609994299998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1972-04-14","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Social History","Agriculture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Spring Hill is a farm homestead on Wales Road NE in Perry Township, Massillon, Stark County, Ohio, built 1821-1824 for Thomas and Charity Rotch, with a west wing added in 1831 by Arvine Wales. It is now a museum-use property.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it the earliest home of significance remaining in Massillon. It is tied to Thomas Rotch, who laid out the town of Kendal and introduced Spanish merino sheep to Stark County, and to Charity Rotch, whose bequest founded the Charity School of Kendal. The Rotch-Wales papers found there document early Kendal and Massillon history.","narrative":"Spring Hill is a farm homestead on Wales Road NE in Massillon, Ohio, built between 1821 and 1824 for Quaker settlers Thomas and Charity Rotch. Designed by Jehial Fox, the house is about 80 feet long, with stone foundations cut on the farm and a hand-framed oak structure joined with pegs and covered in tulip poplar siding. Arvine Wales added the west wing in 1831 and bought the home and 60 acres that year; his family lived there for most of the following decades. Thomas Rotch laid out the town of Kendal, now part of northeast Massillon, and brought Spanish merino sheep to Stark County. Charity Rotch left about $20,000 to found a school for indigent children. The nomination describes the house as the earliest home of significance remaining in Massillon. Papers found in its wool house, along with a smoke house and stone spring house, helped record local history.","period_of_significance":"19th Century; specific dates 1821 & 1831","architect_builder":"Designer Jehial Fox; west wing built 1831 by Arvine Wales","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed in good condition, altered, on its original site; occupied and used as a museum and private residence. The property was later opened to the public by the museum foundation.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:10.257052-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/72001045.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72001045/d77d27a299-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72001045/d77d27a299-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Sanfranman59","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spring_Hill_(Massillon,_OH).JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Sanfranman59</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:Spring_Hill_(Massillon,_OH).JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71991335","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_Hill_Historic_Home","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q115813517"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/stark-county/spring-hill-72001045/"}