{"nrhp_refnum":"85003434","name":"Camptown Historic District","other_names":["LaMott Historic District"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by Penrose Ave., Graham Ln., Dennis St., and Cheltenham Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"LaMott","county":"Montgomery County","state":"PA","lat":40.06734992700004,"lon":-75.14366480892281,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-10-31","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Black","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"The Village of LaMott is a small residential district in Cheltenham Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, made up of modest vernacular and Victorian-era houses, a stone schoolhouse, a firehouse and an AME church. Its development ran from the 1850s into the early twentieth century.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that LaMott was one of the early communities in the country to allow integrated residential settlement of black and white owners after the Civil War, which it presents as a turning point in the social history of residential enclaves. It also cites its link to the training camp for U.S. Colored Troops, the role of Quaker landowner Edward M. Davis, and the leadership of black residents such as William Ritchie and William Watson in the village's growth.","narrative":"Laid out in the 1850s and 1860s on land in Cheltenham Township, LaMott is a residential village of modest houses, a stone schoolhouse, a firehouse and a brick and stone AME church. Edward M. Davis, a Quaker real estate developer and son-in-law of abolitionist Lucretia Mott, cut its streets and sold small lots to both black and white buyers, and the village grew steadily through the late nineteenth century. Early residents included William Butcher, who bought his rented house in 1879, and brickmaker William Watson, who supplied bricks for nearby homes. In the early twentieth century William A. Ritchie organized a cemetery company and a building and loan association that helped more than twenty black families buy homes. The district is valued for its integrated settlement at a time when such living arrangements were uncommon in the North, and for the link between the village and the nation's first training camp for black troops, which stood on part of the site.","period_of_significance":"1850-1935","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Vernacular with Carpenter Gothic, Gothic Revival and Italianate elements","criteria":[],"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 17:11:33.073123-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/85003434.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85003434/46ac2fa023-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85003434/46ac2fa023-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Shuvaev","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Camptown_Historic_District,_Cheltenham_PA_01.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Shuvaev</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:Camptown_Historic_District,_Cheltenham_PA_01.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71995015","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camptown_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5028606"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/montgomery-county/camptown-historic-district-85003434/"}