{"nrhp_refnum":"75001330","name":"Harding-Jones Paper Company District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Both sides of S. Main St. at jct. with railroad tracks","address_restricted":false,"city":"Excello","county":"Butler County","state":"OH","lat":39.476581186500056,"lon":-84.41908007577932,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-05-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"An industrial and residential district in Excello, Butler County, Ohio, made up of a paper mill, two A. E. Harding houses, a carriage house and Miami-Erie Canal Lock No. 1. The mill dates to 1865 and was rebuilt in brick in 1871.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the district as an early and still-operating example of an Ohio industry. The mill was the first west of the Allegheny Mountains to make fine writing paper, and the lock was the first completed in the Miami-Erie Canal system. Together the elements illustrate Ohio's industrial and architectural history.","narrative":"Along South Main Street in Excello, Ohio, a paper mill, two houses, a carriage house and a canal lock make up a small industrial district. A. E. Harding, an English-born papermaker, founded the mill in 1865 near the first lock completed on the Miami-Erie Canal. The original wood building was replaced by a three-story brick mill in 1871, which still forms the center of the complex alongside later additions. The mill was the first west of the Allegheny Mountains to make fine writing paper, and it was later reorganized as the Harding-Jones Paper Company. Harding's second house, built in 1875, has a hip roof, bracketed cornice and elliptical fanlight, while a frame carriage house with a three-story tower stands to its north. The limestone lock, now a public park, reflects the role of the canals in Ohio commerce. The mill remains in production today, with rollers installed in 1897 still in use.","period_of_significance":"19th Century (specific dates 1827 canal lock; 1871 mill; 1875 house)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition listed as excellent, altered, on original site, and occupied; the mill is still producing paper and the canal lock is in excellent preservation as a public park.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:09.235282-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/75001330.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75001330/3bbde5cb2a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75001330/3bbde5cb2a-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harding-Jones_Paper_Company_at_Excello.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harding-Jones_Paper_Company_at_Excello.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71986933","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harding-Jones_Paper_Company_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5656063"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/butler-county/harding-jones-paper-company-district-75001330/"}