{"nrhp_refnum":"80000432","name":"Hill School","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"4 Middle St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"South Dartmouth","county":"Bristol County","state":"MA","lat":41.587119968000025,"lon":-70.93985428999997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-04-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A former two-story timber-frame schoolhouse at 4 Middle Street in the Padanaram village of Dartmouth (South Dartmouth), Massachusetts, built around 1805 and now used as a private house.","why_significant":"It is an early subscription-built village school from before public schools in Dartmouth. Its two-story, two-classroom plan is unusual for a Federal-period schoolhouse. It also reflects the growth of Padanaram around the shipping trades and retains simple Federal-style details.","narrative":"Built around 1805 in the village of Padanaram, in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, this two-story timber-frame building began as a schoolhouse and now serves as a private home. David Thacher gave the original site to the village householders, and shares in the school were sold in 1814, showing it was built by subscription before Dartmouth had public schools. Its two-story, two-classroom plan was unusual for the period, when one-room schools were more common. Town management began in 1827, and the school later became District 18. In the late 1860s Abram Eldridge bought it, converted it to a house, and joined it to a rear ell. It was moved twice, most recently in 1911 by Captain Thomas Jenkins, yet it remains about 420 feet from its first site. Shingled walls, 12/12 windows and a fanlighted entry preserve its Federal character, and nearby buildings are of similar scale and age.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Federal","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in use as a private residence; the form lists its condition as excellent, altered and moved.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.10689-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/0/7945/63794500/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/80000432.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000432/b2322525c7-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000432/b2322525c7-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DartmouthMA_HillSchool.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">User:Magicpiano</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:DartmouthMA_HillSchool.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"85002010","name":"Padanaram Village Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/massachusetts/padanaram-village-historic-district-85002010/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794500","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hill_School_(South_Dartmouth,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5762289"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/bristol-county/hill-school-80000432/"}