John W. Coffren House and Store facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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John W. Coffren House and Store
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John W. Coffren House, December 2008
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 Location in Maryland
Location in the United States
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| Location | 10007 Croom Rd., Croom, Maryland |
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| Built | 1853–1861 |
| NRHP reference No. | 87000768 |
| Added to NRHP | June 2, 1987 |
The John W. Coffren House and Store are two historic buildings. You can find them in Croom, in Prince George's County, Maryland. These buildings are special for a few reasons. They show us interesting architecture. They also tell us about the history of business in the area. Plus, they belonged to an important local person, John W. Coffren. He was a merchant and owned a lot of land.
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The John W. Coffren House and Store
What Are These Buildings?
The Coffren House was built in 1861. It has a beautiful entrance and inside details in the Greek Revival style. This style was popular in the 1800s. It often used ideas from ancient Greek buildings.
The Coffren Store was built a bit earlier, around 1853. It was a simple building. It had just one room and was used as a general store. A general store sells many different things. Think of it like a small supermarket and hardware store all in one. People in rural areas would buy almost everything they needed there. The store stopped operating in 1945.
Why Are They Special?
Together, the house and store are very important. They are a great example of how homes and businesses were connected in the 1800s. Many small towns had a house and store built together. This allowed the owner to live right where they worked. These buildings show us what life was like in rural communities back then.
Who Was John W. Coffren?
John W. Coffren lived from 1828 to 1874. He was the person who built these buildings. John Coffren started out working hard, even digging ditches. But he worked his way up to become a very successful and wealthy merchant. He owned much of the property in the small village of Croom.
John Coffren was also active in his community. He served on the Vestry of St. Thomas Church in Croom. He also helped out on the Prince George's County School Board. This shows he cared about his town and its people.
National Recognition
Because of their history and importance, the John W. Coffren House and Store were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987. This is a list of places in the United States that are important to history. Being on this list helps protect these special buildings for future generations.
