{"nrhp_refnum":"95000594","name":"Moriah Town Office Building","other_names":["Witherbee,Sherman &amp","Company Office Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Cedar St., Town of Moriah","address_restricted":false,"city":"Port Henry","county":"Essex County","state":"NY","lat":44.04901407800003,"lon":-73.46176197199998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1995-05-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story brick Second Empire office building built in 1875 on Cedar Street in Port Henry, Moriah, Essex County, New York, originally for the mining firm Witherbee, Sherman and Company. It now serves as the town office, with a carriage house, a frame ancillary building and an open park area.","why_significant":"The building is cited as a highly intact, distinctive example of Second Empire architecture. It is also significant for its link to Witherbee, Sherman and Company and the central role of iron mining in Moriah's development. The surrounding park and ancillary buildings add to that history.","narrative":"Overlooking Lake Champlain in Port Henry, this three-story brick building was constructed in 1875 for Witherbee, Sherman and Company at a cost of $20,000. It has a concave mansard roof of hexagonal slate, wrought iron cresting, a wooden cupola, dormers, molded cornices with brackets and hooded windows. Inside, mahogany doors, trim and paneling, pressed-tin ceilings and an oval staircase survive. The company chose the site to oversee ore shipments from its wharves and railroad lines. Ore from the Mineville mines arrived by rail and was loaded onto barges bound for markets across the country. Republic Steel later used the building as its local office, and the Town of Moriah bought it in 1959 for one dollar. A brick carriage house, a frame building now used as a court house and an open public park complete the property. Because it has long been used as an office, it retains a high degree of integrity and reflects the iron mining economy of the town.","period_of_significance":"1875","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Late Victorian: Second Empire","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Used as the Moriah town office; the carriage house is described as vacant and undergoing interior renovation for a visitor center, and the western frame building is used as a court house.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:50.832387-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/95000594.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/95000594/14f7852921-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/95000594/14f7852921-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Enesse Bhé","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Moriah_Town_Hall,_Port_Henry,_New_York.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Enesse Bhé</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Moriah_Town_Hall,_Port_Henry,_New_York.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75312952","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moriah_Town_Office_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6912144"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/essex-county/moriah-town-office-building-95000594/"}