{"nrhp_refnum":"80003096","name":"Bell's First Home","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"222 Beech St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Hillsboro","county":"Highland County","state":"OH","lat":39.20340515450005,"lon":-83.61504572322593,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-11-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Invention"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Bell's First Home is a small frame house at 222 Beech Street in Hillsboro, Highland County, Ohio, built about 1854-58 and later enlarged. It is one of four buildings in the C.S. Bell Thematic Group.","why_significant":"The house is tied to C.S. Bell, described as a prominent local inventor and manufacturer, as his first home. It is also one of the oldest structures in its mixed neighborhood and keeps its original character despite some reversible changes.","narrative":"Bell's First Home is a modest frame house at 222 Beech Street in Hillsboro, Ohio, built around 1854-58 as the first residence of C.S. Bell, a prominent local inventor and manufacturer. It is a 3-bay house with a gently pitched gable roof of standing seam metal. The plan is irregular: a front section two rooms deep, a two-story box-like middle section with a shed roof, and a one-story rear addition with a gable roof added after 1944. In the 1940s the original clapboard was covered with asbestos shingles and squat brick pillars were built around the wrought-iron porch posts, but no original material was destroyed. Inside, the central hall keeps its original stairway with turned balusters, along with wide plank floors and marbleized Victorian fireplaces. A board-and-batten privy, a frame shed and a cistern remain on the lot. The house is among the oldest structures in its neighborhood and is part of a group of Bell-related buildings in Hillsboro.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as in good condition, with its integrity retained. Asbestos shingles from the 1940s cover the original clapboard, and brick pillars cover the lower porch posts. These changes are described as reversible.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:12.247965-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/80003096.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80003096/fca2d021e0-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80003096/fca2d021e0-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bell%27s_First_Home_from_the_southwest.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bell%27s_First_Home_from_the_southwest.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71985496","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138359623"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/highland-county/bells-first-home-80003096/"}