{"nrhp_refnum":"79001924","name":"Whitmer, Soloman, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"N of Thornville at 13917 Zion Twnshp. Rd., NW","address_restricted":false,"city":"Thornville","county":"Perry County","state":"OH","lat":39.90248761300006,"lon":-82.41813841899994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-09-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Exploration/Settlement","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick farmhouse with a one-story rear ell, on less than two acres north of Thornville in rural Thorn Township, Perry County, Ohio, built around 1830 for Soloman Whitmer, with a large bank barn to the west.","why_significant":"The house is nominated as an intact survival of early Perry County history and for its link to a leading pioneer family, the Whitmers. Its architecture combines Federal and Greek Revival features, showing the stylistic transition in Ohio between 1830 and 1850. It is also unusual among the largely folk and vernacular rural dwellings of the county.","narrative":"Set on less than two acres just north of Thornville, this ell-shaped, two-story brick house was built around 1830 for Soloman Whitmer, said to be the first white child born in newly settled Perry County. The front wall is laid in Flemish bond on a tooled sandstone foundation, and the offset entrance has attenuated fluted columns with the base and capital areas carved away. A sunburst in wood fills one gable, while wide entablature boards and cornice returns point to the Greek Revival. A one-story rear ell may have been built first. Nearby stands a large bank barn of hand-hewn beech timbers. Whitmer farmed and worked as a tanner, and the property stayed in his family for more than 140 years. Its combination of Federal and Greek Revival details marks the stylistic change in Ohio between 1830 and 1850, and it is atypical of the mostly vernacular rural architecture of Perry County.","period_of_significance":"c. 1830","architect_builder":"Built for (and perhaps by) Soloman Whitmer","architectural_style":"Federal and Greek Revival transitional","criteria":[],"status_note":"Form lists the property as a private residence, occupied, with an altered condition. A later owner letter says it was being restored and would be ready for occupancy by September 1979.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:12.183404-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/79001924.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001924/4e10634b98-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001924/4e10634b98-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Christopher L. Riley","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Solomon_Whitmer_House_%E2%80%94_Perry_County,_Ohio.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Christopher L. Riley</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:Solomon_Whitmer_House_%E2%80%94_Perry_County,_Ohio.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71990870","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138647995"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/perry-county/whitmer-soloman-house-79001924/"}