{"nrhp_refnum":"73001607","name":"Springdale Farm","other_names":["Elwood Mendenhall Farm"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"NW of Mendenhall on Hillendale Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Mendenhall","county":"Chester County","state":"PA","lat":39.86093643400005,"lon":-75.62871935461152,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-03-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A farmhouse complex known as Springdale Farm, located in Mendenhall, Chester County, Pennsylvania. The eastern section dates to before 1748 and the main two-and-a-half-story house was built in 1836.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is a representative example of the comfortable, rural architecture of Chester County, with a country Federal main section. It is linked to the Mendenhall family, who were among the first settlers on the western bank of the Brandywine, and it is said to have been excellently preserved with few exterior changes. The family is also credited with establishing a school in the 1840s and with abolitionist activity in the 1850s.","narrative":"Springdale Farm in Mendenhall, Chester County, combines an eighteenth-century stone section, dated before 1748, with a main house completed in 1836. The 1836 block is a two-and-a-half-story country Federal structure with a five-bay front, a dressed stone north facade, fieldstone sides and south elevation, and a gabled roof with two chimneys. Its 6-over-6 windows keep their original shutters, paneled on the first floor and louvered on the second. The stone was quarried on the farm, and the lumber also came from the property. A long porch across the north facade was added in the 1870s. The Mendenhall family received a 600-acre grant from William Penn in 1703 and were among the first settlers on the western bank of the Brandywine. The property is regarded as a representative example of rural Chester County building, and the family is associated with a school founded in the 1840s and abolitionist activity in the 1850s. Interior partitions have been altered over time, but the original floor plan remains largely intact.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1748 and 1836","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Country Federal","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Continuously occupied since construction; exterior shutters, window frames and hardware are original.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:30.51892-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/73001607.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73001607/e1f745c8b3-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73001607/e1f745c8b3-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Choess","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Springdale_Farm.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Choess</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:Springdale_Farm.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71996478","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springdale_Farm_(Mendenhall,_Pennsylvania)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7580843"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/chester-county/springdale-farm-73001607/"}