{"nrhp_refnum":"80003408","name":"St. Stephen's Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"PA 68","address_restricted":false,"city":"Bradys Bend","county":"Armstrong County","state":"PA","lat":40.994588004000036,"lon":-79.63064082499994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-06-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story Gothic Revival Protestant Episcopal church of native sandstone near the remains of the Bradys Bend Iron Company furnaces in Bradys Bend, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, built in 1867-1868.","why_significant":"The church is one of six congregations to receive land from the Bradys Bend Iron Company in 1867 and is the only one of those original grantees built of stone that survives from the iron-industry period. It is considered a fine, somewhat altered example of rural Gothic style, with buttresses, lancet windows and brick trim. The nomination also ties it to the town's iron-making history and its immigrant congregation.","narrative":"Built of native sandstone near the remains of the Bradys Bend Iron Company furnaces in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, St. Stephen's Protestant Episcopal Church is a one-story Gothic church with a steeply pitched slate gable roof, buttresses, twin-lancet side windows and red brick window surrounds and courses. The Bradys Bend Iron Company granted the land in 1867 to each of six religious groups for a payment of one dollar, and the Episcopal congregation, largely made up of Welsh, Cornish and English immigrant workers, completed the stone building in 1868. Of the six original grantees, St. Stephen's was the only one to build in stone, and it is the only surviving stone church from the iron boom era in the town. The congregation declined after the furnace closed in the 1873 financial panic. Later alterations for community use included dormers and the removal of the steeple. The building is significant for its architecture and its link to the company town's religious and industrial past.","period_of_significance":"1867-1868","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Gothic","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Not in use at the time of the nomination; a movement was underway to convert it to a community center or restore it as a historic site.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:32.61587-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/80003408.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80003408/716af7771e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80003408/716af7771e-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Generic1139","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._Stephen%27s_Church_Brady%27s_Bend.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Generic1139</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:St._Stephen%27s_Church_Brady%27s_Bend.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71994743","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Stephen%27s_Church_(Bradys_Bend,_Pennsylvania)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16899627"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/armstrong-county/st-stephens-church-80003408/"}