{"nrhp_refnum":"91000524","name":"Davis, Phineas, Farmstead","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"5422 North Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Mexico","county":"Oswego County","state":"NY","lat":43.46447950250007,"lon":-76.22639470534573,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1991-06-20","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Agriculture","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 64-acre farmstead on North Road in the village of Mexico, Oswego County, New York, centered on a two-story brick Italianate farmhouse built between 1870 and 1873, with a hen house and three stone hitching posts that contribute.","why_significant":"The farmstead represents agricultural development and settlement in the Town of Mexico, with continuous farming since 1799 and ownership by the Davis family until 1908. Its brick farmhouse with cast-iron lintels is a distinctive and unusually costly example of the Italianate style for a local farm. It also retains much of its original acreage and agricultural character.","narrative":"Phineas Davis Farmstead is a 64-acre working farm on North Road in the village of Mexico, Oswego County. Davis arrived from Connecticut in 1799 and settled beside the Little Salmon River, first building a log cabin, then a frame house in 1813. His son, Phineas Davis Jr., built the present two-story brick Italianate house between 1870 and 1873, using builder John Aldrich and no architect. The house has a bracketed hip roof, cast-iron lintels, long narrow windows, bay windows and a columned porch, and its interior keeps the original plan, woodwork and hardware. Brick and cast iron were rarely used in Mexico farmhouses because of their cost. A nineteenth-century hen house and three stone hitching posts also survive. The Davis family farmed here until 1908, and the land has stayed in agricultural use rather than being subdivided. It was listed for its link to the town's farming history and for its architecture.","period_of_significance":"1799-1908 as nominated; amended by the Keeper to 1870-1908","architect_builder":"Aldrich, John (builder); no architect involved","architectural_style":"Italianate","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still operated as a dairy farm and used as a single dwelling, with a 1961 dairy barn and silos and a 1981 metal building that are non-contributing.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:45.296653-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/91000524.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75314313","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Davis_Farmstead","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7186347"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/oswego-county/davis-phineas-farmstead-91000524/"}