{"nrhp_refnum":"79001929","name":"First Congregational Church And Lexington School","other_names":["New School Presbyterian Church","Old Congregational Church","Ric"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"47 Delaware St. and 51 W. Church St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lexington","county":"Richland County","state":"OH","lat":40.67751120500003,"lon":-82.58566445299994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-02-23","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Two adjacent mid-19th-century wooden buildings in Lexington, Richland County, Ohio: the First Congregational Church at 47 Delaware St. (built 1846, enlarged 1873) and the Lexington School at 51 W. Church St. (built about 1850), now the Richland County Museum.","why_significant":"The church and school are the two remaining 19th-century institutional buildings along Church Street, which developed as Lexington's institutional street. The church is the earliest remaining church in town and shows local builders' interpretations of Greek Revival and later Gothic Revival. The school is an example of a mid-19th-century village school, built as a functional building and little altered outside.","narrative":"Two wooden buildings stand side by side on Church Street in Lexington, Ohio, one block from the main commercial street. The First Congregational Church began in 1846 as the New School Presbyterian Church, built by a congregation that split from the town's Presbyterians over slavery. In 1873 it was extended by one bay and given a four-stage corner tower with an octagonal spire. Its design mixes Greek Revival massing and entablature with Gothic Revival details such as lancet and triangular-headed windows. Next door, the Lexington School dates from about 1850 and served as a school until 1895, when a grange bought it for a meeting hall. A genealogical society acquired it in 1965 and converted it to a museum in 1967. Its exterior is plain apart from lightweight curved eave brackets. Both buildings are the last surviving 19th-century institutional structures on the street, and they are valued as the earliest remaining church and a typical village school in Lexington.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Greek Revival and Gothic Revival, as interpreted by local carpenters or builders","criteria":[],"status_note":"Church exterior well maintained but interior greatly altered; school adapted in 1967 as a museum. Overall condition marked good.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:12.253939-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/79001929.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001929/042b3c92d2-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001929/042b3c92d2-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"User:OHWiki","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Richland_County_Museum_Ohio.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">User:OHWiki</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:Richland_County_Museum_Ohio.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71991128","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Congregational_Church_and_Lexington_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5452830"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/richland-county/first-congregational-church-and-lexington-school-79001929/"}