{"nrhp_refnum":"79002348","name":"Heiss, William A., House and Buggy Shop","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"523 Green St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Mifflinburg","county":"Union County","state":"PA","lat":40.91462775200006,"lon":-77.048461356261,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-08-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A group of three frame buildings in Mifflinburg, Union County, Pennsylvania, associated with the Heiss family and the Heiss Buggy Works: the family house at 523 Green Street, the buggy shop, and a display-storage center on Quarry Road. The house was built in 1870 and sold to Mrs. Catherine Heiss in 1872; the buggy shop was built by William A. Heiss in 1889.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the buildings are valuable to Mifflinburg, known as the buggy town, because the shop retains its buggy-making tools, equipment and partly finished buggies. It states that the shop is a well preserved example of buggy making, with an almost untouched appearance since it closed. The town's buggy industry, which began in 1841 and declined after 1890 as cars appeared, provides the context.","narrative":"Three frame buildings in Mifflinburg, Union County, make up the Heiss family complex tied to the Heiss Buggy Works. The house at 523 Green Street was built in 1870 and sold to Mrs. Catherine Heiss in 1872. Her son William Heiss, a coachmaker, moved into the present shop in 1889, and built the two-section buggy shop that year, with a blacksmith shop at the front containing its original double forge and bellows. A display-storage center on Quarry Road followed in 1895. Mifflinburg was known as the buggy town of Pennsylvania, with more than 25 buggy shops producing vehicles from 1841, until the car brought decline after 1890. The complex is valued because the shop still holds its buggy-making tools, equipment and partly finished buggies, and because its interior has changed little since production ended. The property is significant for its industrial and commercial connection to that local trade.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"William A. Heiss (builder of the buggy shop and display-storage center)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"The buggy shop is described as unpainted with a corrugated iron roof in poor condition; the house has fire damage to its rear and needs foundation restoration; the display-storage center retains its original tan paint with red trim.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:28.797921-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/79002348.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002348/b2e63893a2-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002348/b2e63893a2-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Ruhrfisch (talk)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_A._Heiss_House_and_Buggy_Shop_1.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Ruhrfisch (talk)</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_A._Heiss_House_and_Buggy_Shop_1.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71996539","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_A._Heiss_House_and_Buggy_Shop","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8003972"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/union-county/heiss-william-a-house-and-buggy-shop-79002348/"}