{"nrhp_refnum":"83001206","name":"Buhach Grammar School","other_names":["Buhach Preschool"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"2606 N. Buhach Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Merced","county":"Merced County","state":"CA","lat":37.32426671700006,"lon":-120.57861666099996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-04-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","European","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story, wood-frame Mission Revival schoolhouse at 2606 N. Buhach Road, near Merced, Merced County, California, built in 1907 to a plan drawn by county surveyor William Bedesen. It has been converted into a preschool.","why_significant":"The school served Buhach, an agricultural colony settled largely by Portuguese immigrants and promoted by the Merced Land and Fruit Company. It is a notable example of early 20th-century rural school design in the Mission Revival style, with its curvilinear espadana parapet. It is practically the only surviving structure of one of Merced County's largest ethnic enclaves.","narrative":"Built in 1907 near Merced, this small one-story schoolhouse served the farming community of Buhach, a colony settled largely by Portuguese immigrants who came directly from Portugal, the Azores and the East Coast. The colony grew out of the Buhach Plantation, begun in 1871 to grow pyrethrum and wine grapes, and out of land sales by the Merced Land and Fruit Company. The school is wood frame with clapboard siding on a concrete foundation, which is unusual for Mission Revival, a style more often stuccoed. A hip roof, a curvilinear espadana front, a quatrefoil with spindle work and an arched entry define its look. Inside, stained pine wainscoting, plaster walls and some original slate blackboards remain. The school closed after the Buhach district merged with the McSwain district in 1950, was later used to store sweet potatoes, and was restored as a preschool in 1981. It is nearly the last remaining structure of the former colony.","period_of_significance":"1900-","architect_builder":"William Bedesen, Surveyor - County of Merced","architectural_style":"Mission Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in good condition. It was purchased in 1981 and restored for use as a preschool after earlier use for sweet potato storage.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:27.550234-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/83001206.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83001206/a84689f108-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83001206/a84689f108-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Saeidb","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Buhach_Grammar_School.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Saeidb</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:Buhach_Grammar_School.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123859839","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buhach_Grammar_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14681659"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/merced-county/buhach-grammar-school-83001206/"}