{"nrhp_refnum":"98000163","name":"West Newark School House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Jct. of W. Creek Rd. and W. Newark Cross Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Newark Valley","county":"Tioga County","state":"NY","lat":42.24186568400006,"lon":-76.23628712899995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1998-03-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Education"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A Greek Revival frame building at the northwest corner of West Creek Road and West Newark Cross Road in Newark Valley, Tioga County, New York. It was built in 1823-1824 as a combined church and school and moved a short distance around 1848.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is significant under Criterion A as an early rural school house, a property type poorly represented in the township. It is also significant under Criterion C for its largely unaltered Greek Revival architecture. It retains a higher degree of period integrity than other surviving rural school houses in the township.","narrative":"This small frame building in the valley of the West Branch of Owego Creek began as a combined school and church. Members of the West Newark Congregational Church built it in the winter of 1823-1824 on land given by William Richardson, originally on the cemetery site across the road. It was moved to its present corner around 1848, when the congregation built a new church. Its Greek Revival character shows in a simplified temple front, corner pilasters, a frieze band and full gable pediments. It has clapboard siding, a fieldstone foundation and a metal roof, with a woodshed and a mid-twentieth-century kitchen added. Mortise-and-tenon framing survives inside. An 1855 school census valued it above every other school building in the township. Rural schools were abandoned after a central school opened in 1931. It was listed for its architecture and as an unusually intact early rural school house. It is now used for community events and suppers.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1823-1931","architect_builder":"unknown (built by members of the West Newark Congregational Church)","architectural_style":"Mid-Nineteenth Century / Greek Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Owned by the West Newark Missionary Society; in recent years rented for community use and church suppers.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:50.020159-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/98000163.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/98000163/5feed13829-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/98000163/5feed13829-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Maddmonkey","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WNewark_School1.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Maddmonkey</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:WNewark_School1.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75315128","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Newark_School_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7986064"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/tioga-county/west-newark-school-house-98000163/"}