BlockFrom the record
One of 57 National Register listings published here for Tioga County · listed in 2021 · category: District.
Sources: the National Register database, National Park Service
Nichols Park
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2021. 11 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1903.
The listing
- Address. Main St., Spencer, 14883
- When was it listed? March 2021
- Category. district
- Town. Spencer town
- National Register reference number. 100006304 - assigned by the National Park Service when the property was listed.
Then and now
1903 to 1992The ground this property stands on, surveyed 89 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.
Fires near this property
76 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 76 fires within 5 miles of Nichols Park between 1992 and 2020, burning about 147 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 8 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 44 |
| Debris and open burning | 10 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 8 |
| Natural | 4 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| Other causes | 2 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | not named |
| 26 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | NA |
| 26 September 2015 | Other causes | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | not named |
| 26 September 2015 | Other causes | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | NA |
| 18 September 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | N/A |
| 12 September 2009 | Natural | 1.0 acres | Fire Department of New York | not named |
| 12 September 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Fire Department of New York | not named |
| 12 September 2002 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | New York Forest Rangers | not named |
Mines and quarries near this property
3 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Nichols Park: 2 producers, 1 past producer. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Salt. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| E.C.Kesselring No.1 Well | Salt | Past Producer | ||
| Spencer Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Town of Spencer Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this property
28 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Spencer, the town this property stands in, in 28 storm reports between 1995 and 2023: 17 thunderstorm wind, 7 hail, 4 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2015 | Flash Flood | North Spencer | $400,000 | Flood water was surrounding a house on Hurlbert Hollow Road. Water was also flowing across County Routes 96 and 34. |
| July 2004 | Flash Flood | Spencer | $150,000 | Thunderstorms with heavy rain caused flash flooding. A bridge on Hulbert Hollow Road in extreme northwest Tioga County in the town of Spencer was washed out. Before the bridge washed out debris piled up against it causing water to back up several feet deep into nearby yards and houses. A house on the corner of Hulbert Hollow Road and Routes 34/96 had several inches of water in the kitchen. The one resident home was evacuated. State Route 34/96 was closed from the village of Spencer to the Tioga and Chemung county line. The Bible Baptist Church and North Spencer Christian Academy had significant damage to the lower level. Up to 67 inches of water was on the floor. 16 bundles of expensive flooring was lost. The flooring was waiting to be installed in the gym. 2 to 4 inches of rain fell. |
| May 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Spencer | $30,000 | A line of severe thunderstorms moved across Tioga County knocking down trees in Spencer at 3:15 pm and in Candor at 3:25 pm EDT. |
| July 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | North Spencer | $20,000 | Strong thunderstorm winds knocked down trees and wires. |
| September 2018 | Flash Flood | North Spencer | $20,000 | Flash flooding was occurring over several sections of Route 96. All lanes were closed. |
| August 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Spencer | $10,000 | Strong thunderstorm winds brought down numerous trees and wires in Spencer on Route 96. |
| July 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Spencer | $10,000 | Trees and wires were blown down. |
| August 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Spencer | $8,000 | no account filed |
| August 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Spencer | $5,000 | Strong thunderstorm winds brought down power lines in the area. |
| August 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Spencer | $5,000 | Strong thunderstorm winds brought down trees along Route 34. |
| May 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Spencer | $5,000 | Thunderstorm winds blew trees down. |
| April 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Spencer | $5,000 | Numerous trees were blown down. |
| August 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | North Spencer | $3,000 | Outflow winds from nearby storm knocked down two trees on Ithaca Road. One tree fell on wires. |
| July 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Spencer | $3,000 | A tree fell onto a house. |
| May 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Spencer | $2,000 | Trees down. |
| July 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Spencer | $1,000 | A telephone pole was downed. |
| July 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Spencer | $1,000 | A large tree was blown down on Route 96 by Halsey Valley Road. |
| May 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Spencer | - | Trees were blown down by strong thunderstorm winds. |
| May 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Spencer | - | Trees were snapped on Route 96 near Halsey Valley Road by thunderstorm winds. |
| July 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Spencer | - | Several trees were toppled from Spencer and Candor in the northwest part of the county to Owego and Apalachin in the southeast section. |
| January 1998 | Flash Flood | Spencer | - | Another batch of heavy rain lifted northeastward from Pennsylvania and affected New York's southern tier from late afternoon on the 8th until late that evening. Locally, 0.5 to 0.75 inches of rain fell within a 3 to 4 hour period. This was enough to re-aggravate flooding problems. In the town of Spencer, the Owl creek spilled over its banks late in the afternoon with nearly a foot of water covering some adjacent roadways. These roads were reopened late in the evening. Also, route 96 in Candor was closed due to high water conditions for a time in the evening. By midnight, all small streams and creeks were back within their banks. |
| June 1998 | Hail | Spencer | - | A thunderstorm cell became severe briefly over northwestern sections of the county late in the afternoon. Hailstones ranging from nickel to golf ball sized were observed by skywarn spotters in East Spencer. |
| August 2019 | Hail | Spencer | - | no account filed |
| May 2014 | Hail | Spencer | - | no account filed |
| August 2011 | Hail | Spencer | - | no account filed |
| June 2006 | Hail | Spencer | - | no account filed |
| May 2005 | Hail | Spencer | - | no account filed |
| June 2002 | Hail | Spencer | - | no account filed |
Maps showing this location
11 surveysUnited States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the middle of the area the National Park Service maps for this listing, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.
- 1903 USGS Owego quadrangle1:62500 - 6 printings
- 1906 USGS Catatonk quadrangle1:125000
- 1950 USGS Elmira quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
- 1956 USGS Owego quadrangle1:62500
- 1956 USGS Spencer quadrangle1:24000
- 1958 USGS Elmira quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
- 1962 USGS Elmira quadrangle1:250000 - 4 printings
- 1965 USGS Elmira quadrangle1:250000
- 1969 USGS Spencer quadrangle1:24000 - 3 printings
- 1986 USGS Elmira quadrangle1:100000
- 1992 USGS Elmira quadrangle1:100000
Listed places nearby
2 within 8 milesOther National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
 | First Presbyterian Church | 0.3 miles | 2005 |
 | Halsey Valley Grand Army of the Republic Meeting Hall | 5.6 miles | 2003 |
Sources for this property
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 100006304 in Record Group 79. |
| Tioga County | All 57 listed properties in this county. |
Provenance
- Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
- Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
- How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
- Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
- Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
- Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.