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COLUMBUS, Ohio - Members of the Ohio Historic Site Preservation Advisory Board have voted to
recommend to State Historic Preservation Officer Dr. William K. Laidlaw, Jr., that nominations for
the following properties in Ohio be forwarded to the Keeper of the National Register of Historic
Places for her consideration:
Bellaire / Belmont County
Rock Hill Presbyterian Church
56244 High Ridge Rd.
Cincinnati / Hamilton County
Mount Airy Forest
5083 Colerain Ave.
Cleveland Heights / Cuyahoga County
Inglewood Historic District
Inglewood Dr., Oakridge Dr., Cleveland Heights Blvd., Yellowstone Rd., Glenwood Rd., and
Quilliams Rd.
Colerain Township / Belmont County
Concord Hicksite Friends Meeting House
East Side of Negus Rd.
Dennison / Tuscarawas County
The Railway Chapel
(First Presbyterian Church)
301-307 Grant St.
East Sparta / Stark County
The Town Pump
Intersection of Walnut St. and Main Ave.
Enon / Clark County
Old Enon Road Stone Arch Culvert
Rocky Point Rd., about 185 feet west of Old Mill Rd.
Ironton / Lawrence County
Selby Shoe Company Building
1603 S. Third St.
New Carlisle / Clark County
Olive Branch High School
9710 W. National Rd.
Wellston / Jackson County
Harvey Wells House
403 E. A St. (Lots 441 & 442)
The board’s recommendations were made on Friday, December 5, 2008, during a meeting held at the
State Library of Ohio in Columbus. As a result, nominations for each of the properties will be
forwarded to the Keeper of the National Register, who directs the program for the U.S. Department
of the Interior.
If the Keeper agrees that the properties meet the criteria for listing, they will be added to the
National Register of Historic Places. A decision from the Keeper is expected in about 90 days.
The board also approved the content of a study, “Historic Resources of the Cincinnati Park and Parkway
System 1817-1959,” that, if approved by the National Park Service, too, will become a basis for
deciding what components of Cincinnati’s parks and parkway system may be eligible for National
Register listing.
In addition, the board recommended one nomination to Ohio’s State Registry of Archaeological and
Historic Landmarks:
Clermont County / Loveland
Charles C. Meade House
11887 Lebanon Rd.
In other actions, the board elected Nancy Otis of Celina to a one-year term as chair, succeeding
Aaron Askew of Columbus, chair for the past two years. Clyde Henry of Columbus was elected to a
one-year term as vice chair.
About the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register lists places that should be preserved because of their significance in
American history, architecture, archaeology, engineering, and culture. It includes buildings,
sites, structures, objects, and historic districts of national, state, and local importance.
To be eligible for listing on the National Register a property or district must:
- be associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of
our history, or
- be associated with the lives of people significant in our past, or
- embody the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction, or
represent the work of a master, or possess high artistic values, or represent a significant,
distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction (e.g. a historic district),
or
- have yielded, or be likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history.
National Register listing often raises community awareness of a property. However, listing does not
obligate owners to repair or improve their properties and does not prevent them from remodeling,
altering, selling, or even demolishing them if they choose to do so.
Owners or long-term tenants who rehabilitate income-producing properties listed on the National
Register can qualify for a 20 percent federal income tax credit if the work they do follows the
Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation, guidelines used nationwide for repairs
and alterations to historic buildings.
In Ohio anyone may prepare a National Register nomination. Nominations are made through the Ohio
Historic Preservation Office of the Ohio Historical Society. Proposed nominations are reviewed by
the Ohio Historic Site Preservation Advisory Board, a governor-appointed panel of citizens and
professionals in history, architecture, archaeology, and related fields. The board reviews each
nomination to see whether it appears to be eligible for listing on the National Register, then
makes a recommendation to the State Historic Preservation Officer. The final decision to add a
property to the register is made by the National Park Service, which administers the program
nationwide.
About the State Registry of Archaeological and Historic Landmarks
The State Registry of Archaeological and Historic Landmarks program is Ohio’s effort to provide
increased recognition and protection for significant archaeological and historic sites.
Authorized under legislation passed by the Ohio General Assembly in 1976, the State Registry
program is administered by the Ohio Historical Society and includes provisions for designating
sites, structures, buildings, objects, or districts.
Any person can prepare a State Registry nomination form for consideration by the Ohio Historic
Site Preservation Advisory Board. Nominations are made through the Ohio Historic Preservation
Office of the Ohio Historical Society.
Upon approval by the Ohio Historic Site Preservation Advisory Board, the State Registry nomination
is submitted to the State Historic Preservation Officer and the Director of the Ohio Historical
Society for final ratification.
Following approval of a nomination to the State Registry, and after final ratification by the
Director of the Ohio Historical Society, a written agreement between the property owner and the
Ohio Historical Society is filed in the office of the county recorder of the county in which the
property is located.
About the Ohio Historic Preservation Office
The Ohio Historic Preservation Office is Ohio’s official historic preservation agency. A part of
the Ohio Historical Society, it identifies historic places in Ohio, nominates properties to the
National Register of Historic Places, reviews federally-assisted projects for effects on historic,
architectural, and archaeological resources in Ohio, consults on the conservation of older
buildings and sites, and offers educational programs and publications.
Background
At its December 5, 2008, meeting, the Ohio Historic Site Preservation Advisory Board voted to
recommend the following properties for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places.
Additional background on the properties is available to be faxed or e-mailed on request. Contact
Tom Wolf, (614) 298-2000.
Bellaire / Belmont County
Rock Hill Presbyterian Church, 56244 High Ridge Rd.
Recommended for nomination to the National Register for its local architectural significance, Rock Hill Presbyterian Church was designed by Fairmont, WV, architect George D. Giffin, a native of Belmont County, whose father, Hugh Giffin, belonged to Rock Hill Presbyterian Church at the time the new church was built. Completed in 1903 at a cost of $13,000 to replace an 1891 building that had been destroyed by fire after being struck by lightning, the asymmetrical red brick church has Gothic-arched stained glass windows and a square tower and steeple. The interior features the original oak pews and woodwork, and ornamental pressed metal wainscot and ceiling. The auditorium-style floor plan with a sloped floor and pews arranged in concentric arcs is one favored by many Protestant congregations at the time, designed to enhance hearing and sightlines. A large Sunday School room at the rear can be opened to the sanctuary by tall folding doors.
Cincinnati / Hamilton County
Mount Airy Forest, 5083 Colerain Ave.
Mount Airy Forest is the largest park in Cincinnati’s park system. Created in 1911, the vast majority of it was developed during the Depression with federal funding and federal labor programs. Mount Airy Forest has been recommended for nomination to the National Register for its history as one of the earliest urban reforestation projects in the nation; as a Depression-era development using federal WPA and CWA funding; and for the African-American Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) labor that provided manpower for planting trees, building roads and trails, and constructing shelters and comfort stations. The park is also recommended for nomination to the register as a work of landscape architecture jointly designed by noted landscape architect George E. Kessler and State Forester Edmund Secrest; for the quality of construction and craftsmanship of its rustic-style buildings and structures; and for its association with R. Carl Freund, the Cincinnati Park Board’s most prolific architect, who designed 12 buildings in Mount Airy Forest between 1930 and 1959.
Cleveland Heights / Cuyahoga County
Inglewood Historic District, Inglewood Dr., Oakridge Dr., Cleveland Heights Blvd., Yellowstone Rd.,
Glenwood Rd., and Quilliams Rd.
Located north of Mayfield Rd. between Taylor and Warrensville Rds., the proposed Inglewood Historic District encompasses two Shaker Heights Improvement Company subdivisions of the 1920s centered on Inglewood Dr. Recommended for nomination to the National Register for its local historical and architectural significance, Inglewood was developed as a “neighborhood for finer homes” by brothers Oris P. and Mantis J. Van Sweringen, who also developed Shaker Heights. The Inglewood development was laid out by F. A. Pease Engineering Co. in June 1920 in the picturesque Garden City style, with curvilinear streets and 81 lots of varying sizes. In 1923 the northwest corner Oakridge lots were combined and subdivided to create eight additional lots along Quilliams Rd. The 78 houses of 1920 to 1958 in the proposed district include homes in the historical revival styles styles favored at the time, designed by leading Cleveland architects such as Howell and Thomas, Walker and Weeks, Charles Schneider, and Bloodgood Tuttle, following design standards set by the Van Sweringens.
Colerain Township / Belmont County
Concord Hicksite Friends Meeting House, East Side of Negus Road
Associated with the Hicksite Quakers, a once-numerous sect that no longer exists in eastern Ohio,
the Concord Hicksite Friends Meeting House has been recommended for nomination to the National
Register for its local historical and architectural significance. Concord was the first organized
Quaker meeting in Ohio, largely made up of Quakers from two North Carolina meetings who settled in
Colerain Township en masse in 1800, drawn by the guarantee that the Northwest Territory would be
free from slavery. Built in 1815, the one-story brick meeting house replaced an earlier log one
that burned in 1814. It became the spiritual home of many early Ohio Quakers. The Concord Friends
played an important role in the 1828 division that split the Society of Friends; after the 1828
division, the building became the property of the Hicksites, the smaller of the two Quaker
factions. As originally built, the one-story brick meeting house was typical of most Friends
meeting houses built between 1770 and 1870, with separate areas for men and women, divided by a
moveable partition. In 1898, following a national trend among the Hicksites, members “reduced” the
building, removing part of it to create a smaller meeting house that allowed families to sit
together and was easier to heat. The Concord Hicksites disbanded in 1919, and since then the
meeting house has been used for other purposes.
Dennison / Tuscarawas County
The Railway Chapel (First Presbyterian Church), 301-307 Grant St.
A Romanesque Revival style church completed in 1871, the Railway Chapel has been recommended for
nomination to the National Register for its association with the role that the Pennsylvania
Railroad and its subsidiaries played in the development of Dennison. The Steubenville & Indiana
Railroad Co. was chartered in 1848 to build a line from Steubenville across Ohio to the Indiana
border. From its inception, the road was controlled and operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad. In
1864-65, the Steubenville & Indiana bought land and platted Dennison as its principal division
point, midway between Pittsburgh and Columbus. The site was picked purely for its location, as
there was no existing town or center of commerce. Everything about the community radiated from the
railroad. As Dennison and its rail-related facilities grew, the railroad also actively promoted
the community’s social welfare, building company houses and other facilities. Superintendent W.W.
Card and Thomas Denmead, Master Mechanic at the Dennison Shops, took a particular interest in
community activities, and contacted the Presbytery of Steubenville to start a church in Dennison.
Five lots were donated by the Dennison Land Company, which the railroad had organized in 1864.
Most of the labor and material were also provided by the railroad, which even laid a temporary
spur to the church site to facilitate deliveries of building supplies. Several railroad officials
donated $500 each to the project, and the bell was given by Benjamin Smith, a prominent Columbus
railroad man. Furnishings were constructed or donated by railroaders, most notably the walnut
pews, which were built in the Dennison Car Shops. Their reversible backs, still intact today, were
patterned after seat designs used in railroad coaches of the era. The National Register nomination
also includes the Second Empire style manse next door, built in 1872.
East Sparta / Stark County
The Town Pump, Intersection of Walnut St. and Main Ave.
Recommended for nomination to the National Register as the community’s most well-known landmark,
the Town Pump in the center of the East Sparta’s principal intersection has served residents and
travelers for many years, and has become a symbol of the village. The well in the square was dug
about 1846, serving as local residents’ primary water source for many years. Until 1921 the pump
was enclosed only by a wooden casing, with a platform built around it. In 1921 a shelter was added
by a crew of bricklayers who were in East Sparta working on a pipeline pumping station. They
offered to build the shelter if the town supplied the bricks, which were donated by Federal Clay
Products Co. of East Sparta. Built of locally-produced salt-glazed orange-brown brick, the shelter
has a sandstone panel in the north wall bearing the inscription “East Sparta, Erected Aug. 5, 1921,
Lang & Co.” Even after a community water system was installed circa 1950, the pump remained in
use. It is unique in the region as a reminder of a time before municipal water service was
available.
Enon / Clark County
Old Enon Road Stone Arch Culvert, Rocky Point Rd., about 185 feet west of Old Mill Rd.
Built of locally-quarried limestone in 1871 by Samuel S. Taylor, a local stone mason, the Old
Enon Road Stone Arch Culvert has been recommended for nomination to the National Register as an
example of the type of culverts once common on Ohio roadways but now rare. Culverts are small
bridges that allow streams to pass under roads. The Old Enon Road Stone Arch Culvert is the oldest
of 241 active bridges and culverts in Clark County, and is the only stone culvert among them. In
Ohio, stone culverts were built throughout the 19th century and well into the 20th, though few
remain today.
Ironton / Lawrence County
Selby Shoe Company Building, 1603 S. Third St.
The 1926 Selby Shoe Company Building has been recommended for nomination to the National Register
for its association with the history of industry and architecture in Ironton. A women’s shoe
manufacturer, Selby Shoe Company originated in Portsmouth, Ohio, in the 1870s and began operations
in Ironton in 1921. The five-story reinforced concrete Tudor style building, completed in 1926,
is ornamented with blue, green and orange tile. It had a capacity of 500 pairs of shoes a day in
1926, although the plant was designed to produce 2,500 pairs a day at capacity, and produced 3,200
pairs a day at its peak in 1938. From 1944 to 1987 the building housed the Wilson Athletic Goods
Manufacturing Co., and from 1987 to 1997 Cabletron Systems made circuit boards there.
New Carlisle / Clark County
Olive Branch High School, 9710 W. National Rd.
Olive Branch High School has been recommended for nomination to the National Register for its
association with the history of educational innovation in Bethel Township and as an example of a
rural Progressive Era high school. Completed at a cost of $30,000 in 1908, it was designed by
Dayton architect Charles I. Williams in the Craftsman style popular at the time. Dr. William Oxley
Thompson, president of The Ohio State University, dedicated the building on May 15, 1908. After a
1913 fire, the school was rebuilt along the same lines on the original foundation. The unusual
plan with four classrooms that open onto a central common reflects a longstanding interest in
educational innovation in Bethel Township, which in the 1880s had been one of the first rural
townships in Ohio to build a high school.
Wellston / Jackson County
Harvey Wells House, 403 E. A St. (Lots 441 & 442)
A two-story Italianate style frame house built in 1883 on a high vantage point overlooking
Wellston, the Wells House has been recommended for nomination to the National Register for its
association with Harvey Wells (1846-1896), a mathematician, entrepreneur, and business leader
who platted Wellston in 1873 with the idea that it would grow to become a center of southeast
Ohio’s coal and iron ore industries. Although Wells died heavily in debt in 1896, his business
dealings spurred the growth of Wellston to a peak population of 8,045 in 1900, and he was
remembered as a man who sacrificed personal fortune for the good of the people and to keep the
city alive. In 1912, the Sun Semi-Weekly newspaper of Jackson, quoting a Portsmouth paper, said
“Harvey Wells was one of the most picturesque characters ever produced in Southern Ohio, or
anywhere else for that matter. In the first place he was a lightning calculator of almost
marvelous powers, and that gave him his first claim to fame. Then, he took it into his head to
build a city out of nothing, and in that he succeeded. Wellston stands today to testify. Harvey
Wells had faith, oceans of it, and followed up his faith with works and that combination seldom
fails.”
Nomination to the State Registry of Archaeological and Historic Landmarks
The Ohio Historic Site Preservation Advisory Board recommended the following property for
nomination to Ohio’s State Registry of Archaeological and Historic Landmarks at its
December 5, 2008, meeting. Additional background is available to be faxed or e-mailed on request.
Contact Tom Wolf, (614) 298-2000, (614) 297-2346, or twolf@ohiohistory.org.
Clermont County / Loveland
Charles C. Meade House, 11887 Lebanon Rd.
Built in 1906 as the home of Dr. Charles C. Meade, who had a horse-breeding and -racing farm on
the property until 1917, the Meade House has been recommended for nomination to Ohio’s State
Registry of Archaeological and Historic Landmarks for its local historical and architectural
significance. Meade, a homeopathic physician, was president of the Homeopathic Medical Society
and a professor of obstetrics at Cincinnati’s Pulte Medical College. He developed the farm
replete with barns, outbuildings, a tenant house, and training track on 200-plus acres in Symmes
Township near Loveland to pursue his interest in breeding and training trotters and pacers.
Architecturally, the two-and-a-half story house with full portico is an example of the early 20th
century revival of 18th and early 19th century American styles based on Classical architecture,
such as the Greek Revival.
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Contact Tom Wolf, Public Education Manager, Ohio Historic Preservation Office, (614) 298-2000, or via e-mail:
twolf@ohiohistory.org
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