{"nrhp_refnum":"98000999","name":"Forest Home Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly along NY392","address_restricted":false,"city":"Forest Home","county":"Tompkins County","state":"NY","lat":42.45178075700005,"lon":-76.46902007998447,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1998-08-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Industry","Architecture","Agriculture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic district covering the core of the former mill hamlet of Forest Home (formerly Free Hollow) along Fall Creek in the town of Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York, with buildings, bridges, a dam and mill ruins from the early 19th century to the pre-World War II era.","why_significant":"The district recalls Forest Home's heyday as a water-powered mill hamlet through surviving Federal and Greek Revival dwellings, converted mill buildings and archeological remains of grist mills. It also documents the hamlet's early 20th century transformation into a residential suburb for Cornell University faculty, shown in Queen Anne, Colonial Revival and bungalow houses, a chapel, a school, three bridges and a dam.","narrative":"Forest Home is a compact hamlet on both sides of Fall Creek, just east of Ithaca and Cornell University, and its core is preserved as a historic district. Originally called Free Hollow, it grew in the second quarter of the nineteenth century around mills powered by the creek, including grist, woolen, knitting and paper mills. Workers lived in small Federal and Greek Revival cottages, and several mill buildings were later converted to homes. Remains of the Empire and Red Grist Mills survive. As the mills declined by the 1890s, the hamlet became a favored home for Cornell agricultural college professors, and dozens of Queen Anne and Colonial Revival style houses went up, many built by contractor William McElwee, Sr. The district also includes the 1915 Forest Home Chapel, a 1921 school, bridges dating from 1904 and 1909, the stone-clad Sackett Bridge, and a 1913 concrete dam. In all, 81 resources contribute to its character.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"William McElwee, Sr. (local contractor who built many early 20th century houses)","architectural_style":"Federal, Greek Revival, Queen Anne-Eastlake, Colonial Revival, Bungalow, and vernacular","criteria":[],"status_note":"Still largely a residential enclave; the Forest Home Chapel is still used as a church and the former school serves as Cornell Plantations headquarters.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:50.523623-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/98000999.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/98000999/25f6088031-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/98000999/25f6088031-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Jerrye &amp; Roy Klotz, MD","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FOREST_HOME_HISTORIC_DISTRICT,_ITHACA,_TOMPKINS_COUNTY.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jerrye &amp;amp; Roy Klotz, MD</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:FOREST_HOME_HISTORIC_DISTRICT,_ITHACA,_TOMPKINS_COUNTY.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75322499","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_Home_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5468981"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/tompkins-county/forest-home-historic-district-98000999/"}