{"nrhp_refnum":"75001604","name":"Conewago Chapel","other_names":["Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"3 mi. NW of Hanover, Conewago Township","address_restricted":false,"city":"Hanover","county":"Adams County","state":"PA","lat":39.81895619900007,"lon":-77.03778374699993,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-01-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A brownstone Catholic chapel with an attached rectory and related church complex in Hanover, Adams County, Pennsylvania. The chapel was constructed in 1785-1787 on the site of an earlier chapel.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the chapel is architecturally notable for its cut stone construction and elaborate window treatment, which it describes as unusual for rural eighteenth-century Pennsylvania. Its interior murals by Franz Stecher and its role as a missionary center for a wide area are also cited as reasons for significance.","narrative":"Built of cut brownstone with walls about three feet thick, the Conewago Chapel in Hanover, Adams County, Pennsylvania, was constructed between 1785 and 1787 on the site of an earlier chapel, with a rectory built alongside at about the same time. The chapel is three bays wide and five bays deep, with semi-circular arched windows, radiating voussoirs and keystones, and a Federal-style entrance that may have been added in the early nineteenth century. A transept and apse were added in 1850, and a spire of roughly eighty feet, holding a 3000-pound bell placed in 1891, replaced an earlier cupola. The interior holds murals painted in 1851 by Franz Stecher, who had emigrated in 1848. The rectory served priests on missionary journeys to surrounding areas. The nomination regards the chapel as unusual for rural eighteenth-century Pennsylvania and as the oldest Catholic church of stone construction in the United States.","period_of_significance":"c. 1787, c. 1850","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Federal (entrance)","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Original site retained; altered with a later transept, apse, and spire; 1950s repainting of interior decoration.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:29.103909-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/75001604.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75001604/70396fbfef-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75001604/70396fbfef-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Conewago_Chapel_RC_AdamsCo_PA.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Conewago_Chapel_RC_AdamsCo_PA.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71995756","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_the_Sacred_Heart_of_Jesus,_Conewago","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4867413"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/adams-county/conewago-chapel-75001604/"}