{"nrhp_refnum":"82003356","name":"Eshelman, J., and Company Store","other_names":["The Square Deal Store"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"6000 Goodrich Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Clarence Center","county":"Erie County","state":"NY","lat":43.01070157000004,"lon":-78.63736773099998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-05-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story red brick Italianate commercial building with a cast-iron ground floor, at 6000 Goodrich Road in the hamlet of Clarence Center, Erie County, New York, built in 1872 by the Eshelman family.","why_significant":"In the late nineteenth century it was perhaps the most important retail commercial building in Erie County outside Buffalo. It remains remarkably well preserved as an example of the brick and cast-iron commercial buildings common to western New York from the 1850s to the 1880s. It also served as store, auditorium and courtroom, and so became a centre of community life.","narrative":"Standing at the corner of Goodrich Road and Clarence Center Road, this three-story red brick store was built in 1872 by John and Andrew Eshelman, members of a large German community that had migrated from Pennsylvania. The Italianate building has round-arched windows with limestone keystones, a projecting wooden cornice on modillions, and a ground floor of slender cast-iron Corinthian piers. Inside, a long retail room still holds much of its original cabinetry and a brick vault with a nineteenth-century safe. The third floor contains an auditorium with a stage and a working hoist, and a ground-floor room was used as a courtroom. The store served as a place for cultural, political and judicial events as well as commerce, and it appeared in atlases as the chief landmark of its village. Few buildings of this type survive so untouched, especially in a village setting, which accounts for its recognition. Restoration to its original appearance was under way.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Italianate","criteria":[],"status_note":"Unoccupied, with restoration work in progress; the second-floor apartment was being modernized. The retail room was damaged by fire in 1978. The store was in constant use until the 1960s.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:43.446162-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/82003356.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82003356/b486acb408-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82003356/b486acb408-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Pubdog (talk)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:J._Eshelman_and_Company_Store_Aug_10.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Pubdog (talk)</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:J._Eshelman_and_Company_Store_Aug_10.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75317613","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Eshelman_and_Company_Store","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6105622"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/erie-county/eshelman-j-and-company-store-82003356/"}