{"nrhp_refnum":"82003798","name":"Coopersburg Historic District","other_names":["See Also:Linden Grove Pavilion"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Main St. and PA 309","address_restricted":false,"city":"Coopersburg","county":"Lehigh County","state":"PA","lat":40.510503375500065,"lon":-75.3884108557597,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-04-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Commerce","Agriculture","Transportation","Architecture","Religion","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic district in the borough of Coopersburg, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, centred on Main Street and Station Avenue and the older settled area around them. It contains 176 buildings built before 1930 along with later infill.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that Coopersburg was one of the first villages settled in Lehigh County and an early way station on the highway between Allentown, Bethlehem and Philadelphia. Its growth after the North Pennsylvania Railroad arrived in 1856, and its Jersey cattle breeding enterprise led by Tilghman S. Cooper Sr., are presented as central to its development. The district also holds a range of vernacular and high-style houses and institutional buildings that illustrate its Pennsylvania German character.","narrative":"Coopersburg is a borough whose historic district follows Main Street and Station Avenue in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. Settlement began around a hotel founded by George Bachman in the 1740s, and the village grew as a stop on the Bethlehem Pike. The North Pennsylvania Railroad reached it in 1856, creating a second commercial centre near the station. Tilghman S. Cooper Sr. began breeding pure bred Jersey cattle on his farm in 1874, and his annual sale, held in the borough from 1900 to 1931, drew national attention to the dairy industry. The district contains 176 buildings erected before 1930, including Queen Anne and Colonial Revival houses on the Cooper estate, Federal-era houses on North Main Street, and vernacular brick and frame dwellings built for working families. Its buildings show how a small Pennsylvania German farming and trading town developed across more than a century.","period_of_significance":"c. 1730-1931","architect_builder":"Genaah Jordan (architect of Coopersburg Elementary School, 1909); Henry Titlow (contractor, Coopersburg Elementary School)","architectural_style":"Mixed: Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Federal, Victorian Gothic and vernacular Pennsylvania German house forms","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Mixed use; the Cooper estate headquarters houses a private junior college, several former residences are now apartments or private homes, and the sales pavilion is unoccupied.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:33.098821-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/82003798.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82003798/fd26a41cf5-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82003798/fd26a41cf5-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"PattiParker","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coopersburg_Historic_District_1.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">PattiParker</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:Coopersburg_Historic_District_1.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71995148","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coopersburg_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5167954"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/lehigh-county/coopersburg-historic-district-82003798/"}