{"nrhp_refnum":"74002205","name":"U.S. Customshouse","other_names":["Parish Store"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"127 N. Water St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Ogdensburg","county":"St. Lawrence County","state":"NY","lat":44.69728367700003,"lon":-75.49745154899995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-10-09","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Military","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story, gable-roofed limestone store and warehouse at 127 North Water Street in Ogdensburg, St. Lawrence County, New York, built in 1809-1810 for David Parish and remodeled in 1937-1938 as a U.S. Customs House.","why_significant":"The building was central to the early 19th century shipping trade at Ogdensburg, reaching from the St. Lawrence River into the Great Lakes system, and it helped lead to the 1811 creation of the Customs District of Oswegatchie. It is also an excellent surviving example of the utilitarian stone buildings once common along the St. Lawrence. Fighting in the War of 1812 took place around it and damaged it.","narrative":"Built in 1809-1810 on the Ogdensburg waterfront, this three-story limestone building began as a store and warehouse for David Parish, a Philadelphia financier who wanted a commercial shipping base where the Oswegatchie meets the St. Lawrence. Its walls are about two feet thick and made of quarry-faced ashlar, and much of the original masonry survives. Parish also had a wharf and two schooners built, and the trade he fostered led to the creation of the Customs District of Oswegatchie in 1811. From about 1830 to 1870 the customs house operated in the building. British forces captured Ogdensburg in 1813, and fighting around the store damaged it. A shipping company used it for nearly fifty years before the federal government bought it in 1936 and remodeled it in 1937-1938 as a Customs House, adding dormers, a portico, and steel framing. It remains a rare surviving example of the region's early stone commercial buildings.","period_of_significance":"1809-1810 (remodeled 1937-1938)","architect_builder":"Master carpenter Daniel W. Church directed construction of the original Parish Store (1809-1810); remodeled 1937-1938 (designer not named in the text).","architectural_style":"Utilitarian, gable-roofed, stone bearing wall structure","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed in excellent condition, altered, on its original site; in use as a U.S. Customs House by the federal government.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:39.970127-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/74002205.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74002205/a188b0a313-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74002205/a188b0a313-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"General Services Administration","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robert_C._McEwan_U.S._Custom_House,_Ogdensburg,_NY.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">General Services Administration</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robert_C._McEwan_U.S._Custom_House,_Ogdensburg,_NY.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75321935","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_C._McEwen_United_States_Custom_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7342632"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/st-lawrence-county/u-s-customshouse-74002205/"}