{"nrhp_refnum":"84000909","name":"Merced County High School","other_names":["County Library Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"2125 M St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Merced","county":"Merced County","state":"CA","lat":37.306674859000054,"lon":-120.48277841899994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-05-31","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick institutional building at 2125 M Street in Merced, California, built in 1897 as Merced County High School on the east side of Courthouse Square. Louis Stanwood Stone designed it and John Miller built it.","why_significant":"It was the first building designed and built specifically as a high school in Merced County, and it later served as the County Library and housed county offices. It was an early civic and cultural center and remains a major visual landmark in the city's courthouse square. It was also a rare local example of Richardsonian Romanesque design, though altered.","narrative":"Completed in 1897, this two-story brick building on Merced's courthouse square was the first structure in Merced County designed and built as a high school. Architect Louis S. Stone of San Francisco planned it in the Richardsonian Romanesque manner, with a hipped roof, cross gables, ribbon windows, a round-arched entry and a wooden central tower. The school opened in January 1897, and before it existed students seeking education beyond the eighth grade had to attend private academies. The high school used the building until 1920. The County Library moved in during 1921 and stayed until 1976, and the building also held court chambers, veterans' and highway patrol offices, welfare offices and the parks department. Alterations changed its look: the upper tower was removed around 1903, stucco covered the brick in 1956, and interiors were remodeled in 1921 and 1953. Even so, it remains a landmark among the surviving public buildings around Court House Park, alongside the 1875 courthouse.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Architect: Louis Stanwood Stone; Builder: John Miller","architectural_style":"Richardsonian Romanesque","criteria":[],"status_note":"Owned by Merced County; the boundary section says the building is not presently occupied. It is altered, in fair condition, and used for storage and a workshop.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:27.627756-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/84000909.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84000909/3196f13b4c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84000909/3196f13b4c-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Saeidb","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Merced_County_High_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:Merced_County_High_School.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123859853","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merced_County_High_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14683332"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/merced-county/merced-county-high-school-84000909/"}