{"nrhp_refnum":"96000218","name":"Diamond Match Historic District","other_names":["Diamond Match Engineering Department"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"3, 21 and 27 Fourth St., NW. and 8 Second St., NW.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Barberton","county":"Summit County","state":"OH","lat":41.01083210500005,"lon":-81.60872565385216,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1996-02-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-acre industrial district in Barberton, Summit County, Ohio, made up of four brick buildings from the Engineering Department of the Diamond Match Company, built between 1894 and 1903 beside the Akron & Barberton Belt Railroad.","why_significant":"The buildings made the match-making machinery used in the Barberton factory and Diamond Match plants worldwide. They are the last remaining brick buildings of the company's Barberton plant and are tied to town founder and match industry leader Ohio Columbus Barber. They are also an intact example of turn-of-the-century industrial architecture.","narrative":"Four brick industrial buildings in Barberton, Ohio, survive from the Engineering Department of the Diamond Match Company. They are the north Machine Shop (1894 and 1896), the Foundry (1894), the Pattern Shop (about 1898) and the larger south Machine Shop (1903). The two-story buildings share gabled roofs, raised piers between bays, corbelled brick cornices and segmental arched windows. The earlier buildings rest on sandstone foundations and use wood post-and-beam framing. The 1903 shop has a concrete foundation and steel framing that allows a wide clear span inside. These shops built the match-making machinery used in Barberton and in Diamond Match plants around the world. They also reflect Ohio Columbus Barber, who founded Barberton and led the company. Most of the main factory was torn down in the 1960s, and this group is the only surviving set of its brick buildings. The complex remains largely as built and keeps a high degree of integrity as an early industrial group.","period_of_significance":"1894-1945","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Late Victorian/Italianate","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"The four buildings remain in manufacturing use. The 1905 Power House has been demolished, and the rest of the Diamond Match plant was demolished in the 1960s.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:07.083505-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/96000218.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71991637","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":null},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/summit-county/diamond-match-historic-district-96000218/"}