{"nrhp_refnum":"78002154","name":"Harper, William Rainey, Log House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"E. Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New Concord","county":"Muskingum County","state":"OH","lat":39.99389509800005,"lon":-81.73453406799996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-04-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Exploration/Settlement","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story, double-pen log house of square-hewn poplar logs with a slate gable roof, on East Main Street in New Concord, Muskingum County, Ohio. It was moved to its present site before 1918 and is now a house museum.","why_significant":"The house is a well-preserved example of early nineteenth-century traditional log architecture, once common in southern Ohio. Its greatest significance is as the 1856 birthplace of William Rainey Harper, an internationally known educator and first president of the University of Chicago.","narrative":"Standing on East Main Street in New Concord, Ohio, this two-story log house was built of square-hewn poplar logs in a double-pen plan, with a slate gable roof and a stone and brick foundation. It measures 28 by 50 feet and was moved to its present site at some unknown time before 1918. Clapboarding has been removed only from the front, exposing the logs, and the gaps between them were later filled with concrete in an attempt at restoration. The house is notable as a well-kept example of the traditional log building used by early settlers in southern Ohio. It is also the birthplace of William Rainey Harper, born there in 1856. Harper graduated from Muskingum College at fourteen, earned a Yale doctorate at eighteen, and became the first president of the University of Chicago in 1891. Muskingum College bought the house in 1918, restored it, and now uses it as a museum of Harper memorabilia.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Samuel Harper (?)","architectural_style":"Traditional log, double pen","criteria":[],"status_note":"Excellent condition; occupied and used as a house museum with Harper memorabilia, owned by Muskingum College.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:09.217355-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/78002154.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002154/1d91181a04-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002154/1d91181a04-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Rainey_Harper_Log_House_in_the_morning.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Rainey_Harper_Log_House_in_the_morning.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"07000025","name":"Muskingum River Navigation Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/ohio/muskingum-river-navigation-historic-district-07000025/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71990721","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Rainey_Harper_Log_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8017334"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/muskingum-county/harper-william-rainey-log-house-78002154/"}