{"nrhp_refnum":"73001521","name":"Harris, Dr. John, Dental School","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Bainbridge","county":"Ross County","state":"OH","lat":39.22742786300006,"lon":-83.27236557499998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-07-23","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small one-story brick cottage with an attached ell on the western edge of Bainbridge, Ross County, Ohio, where Dr. John Harris ran a dental school and lived. It dates to about 1825 and now serves as a dental museum.","why_significant":"Harris taught medical and dental students here from 1825 to 1830, and several of them became pioneers in making dentistry an independent profession. Students included founders of the first dental college in the nation and the second known dental college. A 1963 article credited Harris students as the origin of 57 of the first 104 dental colleges in North America. The American Dental Association confirmed the school's priority in a 1939 resolution.","narrative":"A small brick cottage on the western edge of Bainbridge, Ohio, beside heavily traveled U.S. Route 50, was both the home and the school of Dr. John Harris. In 1825 he advertised that he would instruct medical students, giving special attention to dentistry. The school closed in 1830, yet its graduates shaped the field. Among them were Chapin A. Harris, who co-founded the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, the first dental college in the nation; James Taylor, who founded the Ohio College of Dental Surgery in Cincinnati; and John Allen, who perfected porcelain dental work. One article counted 57 of the first 104 North American dental colleges as tracing their roots to Harris students. The one-story building has a central door with a rectangular transom, painted brick walls and a high gable roof. Its three rooms now hold exhibits on the history of dentistry, and the museum is open free of charge.","period_of_significance":"19th Century; specific date 1825","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"In good condition and essentially original in basic configuration; used as a dental museum open to the public without charge. The interior is somewhat altered for museum use, and asphalt shingles replace the original wood shakes.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:09.029758-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/73001521.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73001521/4e7098dd0a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73001521/4e7098dd0a-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harris_Dental_Museum.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harris_Dental_Museum.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71991215","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harris_Dental_Museum","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5664869"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/ross-county/harris-dr-john-dental-school-73001521/"}