{"nrhp_refnum":"86003570","name":"Austin Dam","other_names":["Bayless Paper Company Dam"],"category":"site","location":{"address":"PA 872","address_restricted":false,"city":"Austin","county":"Potter County","state":"PA","lat":41.64059894400003,"lon":-78.08792505299994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1987-01-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"The ruins of the Bayless Pulp and Paper Company dam, a reinforced concrete dam on Freeman Run in the narrow valley north of Austin, Potter County, Pennsylvania. It was built in 1909 to supply water to the company's paper mill.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the dam is significant for the flood its 1911 failure caused, which killed seventy-eight people, and for the legislation that followed. The failure is described as the impetus for Pennsylvania's first state law permitting effective regulation and inspection of dam construction, passed in 1913.","narrative":"Concrete ruins of a dam on Freeman Run north of Austin, Pennsylvania, built in 1909 for the Bayless Pulp and Paper Company to supply water to its paper mill. Designed by sanitary and hydraulic engineer T. Chalkley Hatton of Wilmington, Delaware, the structure stood about forty-six feet high and 534 feet long. Cracks and a January 1910 structural failure foreshadowed disaster. On September 30, 1911, the dam broke after heavy rains, releasing a flood that destroyed mills and hundreds of homes in Austin and killed seventy-eight people. Investigations blamed the thin wall, a weak sandstone foundation and an unstepped base. The disaster prompted the Pennsylvania Water Supply Commission to press for inspection powers, which the 1913 law granted, establishing the state's first effective dam safety regulation. The remaining sections are visible from the roadway.","period_of_significance":"1900-","architect_builder":"Rommell - T. Chalkley Hatton","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Ruins; the dam is broken into sections, with five upright and two large sections toppled.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:32.824181-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/86003570.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86003570/6c8dd06101-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86003570/6c8dd06101-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"Vertov76","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Austin_Dam.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Vertov76</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Austin_Dam.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71994555","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_Dam_failure_(Pennsylvania)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q780872"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/potter-county/austin-dam-86003570/"}