{"nrhp_refnum":"99000511","name":"Cary, Freeman Grant, Pleasant Hill Academy","other_names":["Ham-1868-34"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"5651 Hamilton Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cincinnati","county":"Hamilton County","state":"OH","lat":39.19359316800006,"lon":-84.55213496999994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1999-04-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story wood-frame house with an attached barn on Hamilton Avenue in the College Hill neighborhood of Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio. The original house was built ca. 1830 and is also known as Pleasant Hill Academy.","why_significant":"The house is argued to be significant for its role in the development of higher education in College Hill (Criterion A). It is also tied to Freeman G. Cary (1810-1888), educator and founder of Pleasant Hill Academy and Farmers' College (Criterion B). It is described as the oldest and most intact surviving building in College Hill closely identified with higher education.","narrative":"This house on Hamilton Avenue in Cincinnati's College Hill neighborhood began as a two-story, center-passage frame dwelling built about 1830 by John Strong. In 1833 Freeman G. Cary and his young bride moved in and opened a boarding school for boys, Pleasant Hill Academy, which started with four students and grew quickly enough that Cary built a larger academy building nearby around 1835. Nearly 1,200 young men studied under the academy. From it Cary went on to found Farmers' College, whose students included future President Benjamin Harrison. Together with the Ohio Female College, these schools gave College Hill its name. Cary lived in the house until the late 1840s. The building has braced-frame construction, wood clapboard siding, a decorative five-bay porch from an 1870s update, rear additions made before 1900, and a timber-frame barn from about 1830-1850. It is described as the oldest and most intact building in the community tied to higher education.","period_of_significance":"1832 - ca. 1845","architect_builder":"unknown","architectural_style":"Mid 19th Century / Greek Revival; Late Victorian / Italianate","criteria":["A","B"],"status_note":"Historic and current functions are listed as single dwelling; the house has a ca. 1905 photo showing little change since then.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:07.48862-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/99000511.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/99000511/8b6ead3279-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/99000511/8b6ead3279-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Freeman_Grant_Cary_Pleasant_Hill_Academy.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Freeman_Grant_Cary_Pleasant_Hill_Academy.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71989211","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_Military_Institute","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5501011"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/hamilton-county/cary-freeman-grant-pleasant-hill-academy-99000511/"}