{"nrhp_refnum":"95000884","name":"Greensburg Downtown Historic District","other_names":["See Also:Westmoreland County Courthouse","Greensburg Railroad"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by Tunnel St., Main St., Third St. and Harrison Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Greensburg","county":"Westmoreland County","state":"PA","lat":40.301760038000054,"lon":-79.54417236468257,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1995-07-21","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A downtown historic district in Greensburg, the county seat of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, roughly 23 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, centered on Main Street and the grid of adjoining avenues and streets. Most of its buildings date from 1872 to 1930.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the district is significant in commerce, politics and government, and architecture for the period 1870 to 1945. Its commercial role came from coal company offices, retail trade and rail transport, and its government role from the county seat function. Its architecture is represented by a large number of largely intact buildings, including the Westmoreland County Courthouse, designed by William Kauffman and completed in 1906, and the Pennsylvania Railroad station of 1912.","narrative":"Greensburg's downtown grid, laid out by Christopher Truby and William Jack around the county courthouse site, forms a district of commercial, governmental, social and religious buildings. Most were built between 1872 and 1930 in brick and stone, often with carved stone, terra-cotta and cement ornament. The Westmoreland County Courthouse, completed in 1906 at a cost of about $1,250,000, anchors the district and is the fourth courthouse on the site. Coal money drove its growth: companies such as Jamison Coal and Coke and Westmoreland-Fayette Coal and Coke kept offices on Main Street, and the Pennsylvania Railroad's Main Line made the town a coal shipping center. Banks, hotels, theaters such as the Palace Theatre of 1926-27, and churches including the 1919 First Presbyterian Church by Ralph Adams Cram were built in the same boom. The district holds 79 contributing buildings, and the nomination treats its streetscapes and architecture as the main reasons for listing.","period_of_significance":"1870-1945","architect_builder":"William Kauffman (architect, Westmoreland County Courthouse); William H. Cookman (designer, Greensburg Railroad Station); Ralph Adams Cram (designer, First Presbyterian Church)","architectural_style":"Italianate, Romanesque Revival, Classic Revival, Georgian Revival, Moderne, Gothic Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Most ground floors are professional offices and retail businesses, with apartments or offices above; the railroad station is being rehabilitated for adaptive reuse.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:36.588136-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/95000884.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/95000884/f0978f500d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/95000884/f0978f500d-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Canadian2006","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Greensburg-pennsylvania-south-penna-avenue-buildings.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Canadian2006</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:Greensburg-pennsylvania-south-penna-avenue-buildings.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71995711","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greensburg_Downtown_Historic_District_(Greensburg,_Pennsylvania)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5604497"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/westmoreland-county/greensburg-downtown-historic-district-95000884/"}