{"nrhp_refnum":"80002944","name":"Parker, John P., House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"300 Front St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Ripley","county":"Brown County","state":"OH","lat":38.75013862700007,"lon":-83.84922291199996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-01-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Social History","Invention"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story, L-shaped brick house at 300 Front Street in Ripley, Brown County, Ohio, overlooking the Ohio River, dating to about 1850 and used as the home of John P. Parker from about 1865 to 1900.","why_significant":"The house is tied to John P. Parker, a Black abolitionist, inventor and industrialist in Ripley. Parker is credited with helping about 900 slaves escape and ran the Phoenix Foundry and Machine Shop. He was one of the few Black inventors to obtain patents before 1900.","narrative":"Overlooking the Ohio River at 300 Front Street in Ripley, this two-story brick house was built around 1850 in an L shape, with a wooden addition from the later nineteenth century filling the corner. It has a three-bay front, a cast-iron stoop, a Victorian door with sidelights and transom, and an interior walnut stairway with turned banisters. It was the home of John P. Parker from about 1865 until his death in 1900. Parker, a freedman from Mobile, Alabama, arrived in Ripley in 1850 and scouted both sides of the Ohio River to guide runaway slaves, and is credited with aiding about 900 escapes. He opened a small foundry in 1854 and founded the Phoenix Foundry and Machine Shop in 1866, producing his own agricultural inventions, including the Parker Pulverizer. He held patents at a time when few Black inventors did. The house has deteriorated and is used for storage.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as deteriorated and unoccupied; used for storage by the coal company owner, not maintained and not heated in winter. A marble mantel has fallen through the floor.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:12.709628-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/80002944.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80002944/9fb50f5de1-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80002944/9fb50f5de1-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_P._Parker_House_from_northwest.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_P._Parker_House_from_northwest.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"85000552","name":"Ripley Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/ohio/ripley-historic-district-85000552/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71986873","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_P._Parker_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6251677"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/brown-county/parker-john-p-house-80002944/"}