{"nrhp_refnum":"91001968","name":"Johnson, C. Fred, Park Carousel","other_names":[],"category":"object","location":{"address":"C. Fred Johnson Park","address_restricted":false,"city":"Johnson City","county":"Broome County","state":"NY","lat":42.11743592600004,"lon":-75.94994998299995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1992-01-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art","Entertainment/Recreation","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 1923 hand-carved wooden Allan Herschell carousel with seventy-two figures, set in its original two-story, eighteen-sided wooden pavilion in C. Fred Johnson Park, Johnson City, Broome County, New York.","why_significant":"The carousel is significant under Criterion A as a tangible example of welfare capitalism, donated to the community by Endicott Johnson and its president George F. Johnson to shape employees' recreation. Under Criterion C it is a rare surviving hand-carved all-wooden Allan Herschell carousel and the largest of its kind still in existence. Its original pavilion also survives.","narrative":"Seventy-two hand-carved wooden figures, seventy-one horses and one zebra, circle in four rows on a carousel in C. Fred Johnson Park, Johnson City, New York. Built by the Allan Herschell Company of North Tonawanda and purchased in 1923, it sits in its original eighteen-sided wooden pavilion topped by a six-sided cupola. It was one of six carousels given to Broome County communities between 1919 and 1934 by George F. Johnson, president of Endicott Johnson, and his family, with the stipulation that rides stay free. The nomination presents the gift as an example of welfare capitalism, in which an employer guided workers' leisure time. It also ranks the machine as the largest surviving all-wooden Herschell carousel, one of only nineteen known, with all original figures intact though repainted. The park lies among workers' housing near company factories. The carousel still operates, and its figures are being restored.","period_of_significance":"1923","architect_builder":"Allan Herschell Company","architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The carousel is described as operating and free to ride, with its figures undergoing restoration; the original organ is missing.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:46.130263-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/91001968.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91001968/40d29567c3-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91001968/40d29567c3-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Tkeator","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:C_Fred_Johnson_Park_Carousel.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Tkeator</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:C_Fred_Johnson_Park_Carousel.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75312158","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._Fred_Johnson_Park_Carousel","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5006459"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/broome-county/johnson-c-fred-park-carousel-91001968/"}