{"nrhp_refnum":"74001291","name":"Fort Decker","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"127 W. Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Port Jervis","county":"Orange County","state":"NY","lat":41.378720971000064,"lon":-74.70147574999999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-06-13","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Military","Exploration/Settlement","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-and-a-half-story rectangular stone building at 127 West Main Street in the Germantown section of Port Jervis, Orange County, New York, built in 1793 on the site and foundation of an earlier fort or block house.","why_significant":"The nomination holds it significant as a Port Jervis landmark for its architecture and its role in local settlement patterns. It stands on the site of a pre-Revolutionary block house and later served as a hotel and as headquarters for canal engineer John B. Jervis during construction of the Delaware and Hudson Canal. It is described as probably the oldest house within the city limits.","narrative":"Fort Decker is a one-and-a-half-story stone house at 127 West Main Street in the Germantown section of Port Jervis. Built in 1793, it rises from the foundation of an earlier fort or block house that predated the American Revolution and was destroyed by fire in 1779. That first structure served a Dutch-descended family as a dwelling and trading post. After the stone rebuilding, Mortimer Decker and his family first occupied it, followed by Richard Decker in 1810. During construction of the Delaware and Hudson Canal in 1826, the building housed engineers and laborers as a hotel and from 1826 to 1828 served as headquarters for chief engineer John B. Jervis. It later functioned mainly as a residence. The house has a gable roof, stone chimneys at both ends, a center-hall plan, wide board floors and plaster-over-lath walls. Considered probably the oldest house within the city limits, it is valued as an architectural and historical symbol of the city's origins. A local historical society acquired it in 1973 and began restoration for museum use.","period_of_significance":"18th Century (specific date 1793)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition rated good and altered; undergoing restoration by the Minisink Historical Society for use as a museum and headquarters.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:40.076851-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/74001291.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001291/a04b1d0ed5-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001291/a04b1d0ed5-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Beyond My Ken","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fort_Decker_Port_Jervis_3.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Beyond My Ken</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:Fort_Decker_Port_Jervis_3.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75320651","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Decker","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5471034"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/orange-county/fort-decker-74001291/"}