{"nrhp_refnum":"98000041","name":"Camden Public School","other_names":["old Camden Elementary","Pre-319-2"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"110 W. Central Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Camden","county":"Preble County","state":"OH","lat":39.630125055000065,"lon":-84.64232638799996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1998-01-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Education"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-and-a-half-story brick public school at 110 West Central Avenue in Camden, Preble County, Ohio, completed in 1904 and designed by Stephen O. Yates.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it represents a time when one central building housed all of a small town's public school grades. It is a representative example of the early 20th-century centralized school, with high integrity. It is described as the only essentially unaltered early consolidated school left in Preble County.","narrative":"Camden Public School is a brick schoolhouse at 110 West Central Avenue in Camden, Ohio, finished in 1904 to replace an earlier school condemned by a state inspector. Stephen O. Yates designed it, and the firm of Sanders, Sprinkle and Detamore built it. The hip-roofed building has arched entrances with radiating brick arches, wood windows, and a foundation of concrete block molded to resemble rough-cut limestone. Inside, an octagonal central hall is surrounded by four classrooms on each floor, with cloakrooms beside them. It was listed for its role as a centralized school housing every grade in one location, a common small-town practice of the era, and for its design as a representative example of that building type. The nomination calls it the only largely unaltered early consolidated school left in Preble County. Classes ended in 1983, and the building has since been mostly empty.","period_of_significance":"1904 - 1947","architect_builder":"Architect: Mr. Stephen O. Yates; Builder: Sanders, Sprinkle and Detamore","architectural_style":"Late Victorian / Romanesque; 20th Century Revival / Colonial Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Last used as a school in June 1983. Later attempts at reuse as an antique and craft shop and a flower shop were unsuccessful, and the building has mostly been empty. The roof needs replacement; the brick is in good condition.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:07.665784-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/98000041.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/98000041/b87db2d41b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/98000041/b87db2d41b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Christopher L. Riley","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Camden_Public_School_%E2%80%94_Camden,_Ohio.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Christopher L. Riley</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Camden_Public_School_%E2%80%94_Camden,_Ohio.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71991045","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138656752"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/preble-county/camden-public-school-98000041/"}