{"nrhp_refnum":"88002378","name":"Bedford County Alms House","other_names":["Bedford County Home"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Cumberland Rd., .4 mi. S of Bedford","address_restricted":false,"city":"Bedford","county":"Bedford County","state":"PA","lat":39.98710537200003,"lon":-78.54210012399994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1988-11-03","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A four-story brick almshouse (poor house) on the Old Cumberland Road in a rural area of southern Bedford Township, Bedford County, Pennsylvania, built in 1872-73 with an Italianate main building and a cluster of outbuildings.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the property is primarily significant as an example of county initiatives for caring for the poor and infirm from the later nineteenth to early twentieth century, representative of the regional system of care. Its architecture is considered secondarily significant, representing remote rural siting, functional interior plans, and separation of functions into additional buildings as funds allowed.","narrative":"Built in 1872-73 on a rural tract of about 175 acres in Bedford Township, the almshouse is a four-story brick building with an extended cross plan, a central tower, and two access towers. Its Italianate features include paired ornamental brackets under the roof edges, brick quoins, arched-top six-over-six windows, and wood porches on the east and west towers. The county chose the site for its clay and stone, and brick made on the property was used for much of the building. The almshouse housed the county's poor and indigent from 1873 until it closed in 1978. The nomination regards it as an important example of how Pennsylvania counties provided for the poor, and it is valued for its rural location, its interior plan with central corridors and dormitory wings, and its cluster of outbuildings added as funds permitted, including an infirmary of 1899 and a laundry and boiler plant of 1900.","period_of_significance":"1872-1938","architect_builder":"L.M. Simon (architect, Harrisburg, prepared plans and specifications); John Weidlich (contractor, won bid at $46,000)","architectural_style":"Italianate","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Transferred from county ownership to Bedford Rehab Associates in 1986; the form describes the building's later use as a home for the elderly after the poor house closed in 1978.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:36.69765-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/88002378.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71994590","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedford_County_Alms_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4879132"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/bedford-county/bedford-county-alms-house-88002378/"}