{"nrhp_refnum":"80003450","name":"Cambria County Jail","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"N. Center and Sample Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Ebensburg","county":"Cambria County","state":"PA","lat":40.48649216100006,"lon":-78.72594102099998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-06-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A county jail building in Ebensburg, Cambria County, Pennsylvania, of cut sandstone with an attached 1910 brick annex. It was completed in 1872 and is surrounded by a stone wall.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the jail is significant for its historic and governmental association with the growth and development of Ebensburg and Cambria County. Its Gothic Revival design and early county cellblock arrangement are also cited. The building was the site of public hangings until 1909, and the document presents its design as an expression of the period's attitudes toward strength and mystery.","narrative":"Completed in 1872 in Ebensburg, the Cambria County Jail is a cut sandstone building in the Gothic Revival style, designed by Edward Haviland and built by contractor William Callan of Ebensburg. Its pointed drop-arch windows, steel-barred grates, battlements and corner buttresses give it a heavy, fortress-like appearance, and a tower on the central pavilion originally served as a water reservoir. A 1910 brick annex to the rear added 206 cells, and its cellblock, supplied by Van Dorn Iron Works of Cleveland, Ohio, let guards view every cell from the perimeter. The jail is significant for its long role in county government and for its early county-level cellblock design. Public hangings were held in its yard until 1909, the last one being the most sparsely attended, and the building's history reflects the county's growth and its changing approach to incarceration and reform.","period_of_significance":"1872","architect_builder":"Edward Haviland (architect); William Callan (contractor)","architectural_style":"Gothic Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":null,"vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:34.323854-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/80003450.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80003450/773fa1585d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80003450/773fa1585d-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Cromdog","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cambria_County_Jail_original_and_1910_extension.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Cromdog</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:Cambria_County_Jail_original_and_1910_extension.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"100004163","name":"Ebensburg Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/ebensburg-historic-district-100004163/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71995409","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambria_County_Jail","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5025254"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/cambria-county/cambria-county-jail-80003450/"}