{"nrhp_refnum":"95000518","name":"Williamsburg Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Approximately 30 square blocks centered around Second and High Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Williamsburg","county":"Blair County","state":"PA","lat":40.45842702050007,"lon":-78.20097875268354,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1995-05-12","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic district covering much of the Borough of Williamsburg, a former canal port and paper mill town on the Frankstown Branch of the Juniata River in east-central Blair County, Pennsylvania. It contains 436 properties, about 85 percent of them contributing, and includes a commercial area along High Street, residential neighborhoods, eight churches, the Big Spring, a public schools area, and a former canal and railroad right-of-way.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that the district conveys the town's commercial and architectural development across three periods: the canal era, the railroad era, and the paper mill era. Its collection of houses, commercial buildings and vernacular construction methods, including log buildings under later siding, is presented as representative of central Pennsylvania town building from about 1800 to 1944. The Big Spring, which powered mills and later supplied water to a paper mill, is described as the reason the town was founded at this location.","narrative":"Williamsburg is a borough in east-central Blair County, Pennsylvania, laid out around 1795 by Jacob Ake on a grid with a central diamond-shaped square at High and First Streets. Its historic district holds 436 properties, most of them houses, with a commercial core along High Street. The town grew in three phases: during the canal era after 1832, when the Pennsylvania Main Line Canal carried iron, farm goods and limestone; during the railroad era after 1873; and during the paper mill era after 1905, when Charles M. Schwab helped establish a mill that became the town's main employer. The district is listed for its range of central Pennsylvania house types, from log-built I-houses and Georgian types to late nineteenth-century Queen Anne and early twentieth-century bungalows, and for its commercial buildings. The Big Spring, a limestone spring that powered mills for much of the town's history, remains part of the district.","period_of_significance":"C. 1800-1944","architect_builder":"Rhule, David S.","architectural_style":"Federal; Queen Anne; Gothic Revival; Bungalow; Georgian types; I-house; four square; gable front","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The paper mill complex closed in 1974 and its buildings were demolished in 1979-80; the former Schwab Hotel now contains apartments.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:36.049674-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/95000518.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/95000518/a9dd213ca7-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/95000518/a9dd213ca7-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Generic1139","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Williamsburg_Historic_District_(Williamsburg,_Pennsylvania)_Reformed_Church.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Generic1139</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:Williamsburg_Historic_District_(Williamsburg,_Pennsylvania)_Reformed_Church.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71998756","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williamsburg_Historic_District_(Williamsburg,_Pennsylvania)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8021168"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/blair-county/williamsburg-historic-district-95000518/"}