{"nrhp_refnum":"81000538","name":"Farmers' High School","other_names":["Pennsylvania State College","Pennsylvania State University"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"College Ave. and Atherton St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"State College","county":"Centre County","state":"PA","lat":41.06756913450005,"lon":-77.88068189930418,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1981-09-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Landscape Architecture","Art","Education","Architecture","Social History","Agriculture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"The Old Campus area of The Pennsylvania State University at University Park, Centre County, Pennsylvania, a historic district of campus buildings and landscaped grounds arranged around the Mall, Old Main Lawn and West Halls.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the district documents the establishment and growth of Pennsylvania's land grant institution, from the Farmers' High School through the Pennsylvania State College to the modern university. Its buildings and landscape follow a planned campus layout by Day and Klauder and record successive architectural styles. Some buildings are individually notable, while others gain importance from their place in the overall campus design.","narrative":"Centered on the Mall and Old Main Lawn at the University Park campus, the Old Campus district gathers buildings from the 1880s through the 1950s in arrangements that follow a planned layout. The Mall runs about 533 yards between Allen Street and the Egyptian Revival portals of Pattee Library. Old Main, rebuilt in 1929 from the original stones, is the campus symbol, with its limestone portico and bell tower. Carnegie Hall and McAllister Hall were completed in 1903 and 1905. West Halls, built between 1922 and 1937 by Charles Klauder, forms a Beaux-Arts quadrangle of three courtyards. The district is significant as a physical record of the school's growth from the Farmers' High School, founded through the Pennsylvania Agriculture Society, into the Pennsylvania State University. Its planned quadrangles and matched styles are also considered important in campus design.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Georgian Revival, Neoclassic, Romanesque Revival, Dutch Colonial, Beaux-Arts influence, Art Deco, Egyptian Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"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 17:11:32.995444-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/81000538.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/81000538/e32b2a79b2-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/81000538/e32b2a79b2-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Penn State iGEM 2008","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Main_-_Penn_State.png\" rel=\"noopener\">Penn State iGEM 2008</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Main_-_Penn_State.png"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71995172","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farmers%27_High_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5435756"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/centre-county/farmers-high-school-81000538/"}