{"nrhp_refnum":"80003229","name":"Tiffin Waterworks","other_names":["Tiffin Waterworks Company Pumping Station"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"170 Ella St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Tiffin","county":"Seneca County","state":"OH","lat":41.10454603300008,"lon":-83.18715327999996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-01-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 1½-story brick pumping station at 170 Ella Street in Tiffin, Seneca County, Ohio, built 1878-1879 on the site of an old flouring mill along the Sandusky River, with later additions from 1911, 1915 and 1917.","why_significant":"It is Tiffin's only pumping station and the city's main surviving public utility building from the industrial era. It used the Holly Direct Pressure System, and in 1978 the American Water Works Association listed it as a National Historic Water Landmark during the company's centennial.","narrative":"Located on Ella Street southwest of Tiffin, this waterworks began as a city project in 1878, when Tiffin bought the dam and mill stream beside the Sandusky River, where a flouring mill had once operated. The pump house was started that year and tested in 1879. It used the Holly Direct Pressure System, driven by water power. The main building is a 1½-story brick structure with an ashlar stone foundation, segmental-arched windows, brick dentil work under the eaves and arcaded gables. Additions followed in 1911, 1915 and 1917, including a three-story tower and a 100-foot smokestack removed in 1968. The original pumps are gone, and the windows and door of the 1878 building are not original. Since 1928 it has been run for the city by the Ohio Cities Water Company, and it remains Tiffin's only pumping station. The American Water Works Association named it a National Historic Water Landmark in 1978.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Still the only pumping station for the City of Tiffin, privately operated for the city by the Ohio Cities Water Company; original pumps are no longer in the building.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:11.961654-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/80003229.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80003229/e602eb4c77-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80003229/e602eb4c77-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tiffin_Waterworks.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tiffin_Waterworks.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71986172","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138678756"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/seneca-county/tiffin-waterworks-80003229/"}