{"nrhp_refnum":"74001651","name":"Wood County Courthouse And Jail","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"200 E. Court St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Bowling Green","county":"Wood County","state":"OH","lat":41.37641281800006,"lon":-83.64822853099997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-06-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A county courthouse and adjoining jail at 200 East Court Street in Bowling Green, Wood County, Ohio, built 1894-1896 in a style described at the time as modernized Romanesque, using Vermont granite walls and a tile roof.","why_significant":"The nomination calls the courthouse and jail two of the finest buildings of their type in Ohio, reflecting the lavishness of the late nineteenth century in Wood County. They were paid for largely with tax money from the oil industry, as the county was then the producing center of the Lima-Indiana oil field. They were designed by Yost and Packard, with sculpture by Whyte and Priest, using some of the finest materials then available.","narrative":"Wood County's courthouse and jail in Bowling Green were built between 1894 and 1896 and opened to the public in September 1896. The courthouse, described then as modernized Romanesque, has thick Vermont granite walls resting on solid rock, a tile roof, and a 185-foot clock tower flanked by six-sided towers. Carved stone on the entrance arch and gables depicts allegories of the law and the county's agriculture, oil, transportation and commerce. Inside are polished marble walls and stairways, bronze railings, frescoes, and a stained glass vaulted ceiling above the third floor corridor. The matching jail to the north is built of rock-faced ashlar stone with a central tower, dormers, gargoyles and a red tile roof. Oil industry tax revenue paid for the buildings, which replaced a hurried brick structure from 1869. Yost and Packard designed them, Whyte and Priest carved the sculpture, and the cost was about $200,000. Both buildings remain unaltered and in excellent condition.","period_of_significance":"19th Century (built 1894-1896)","architect_builder":"Yost and Packard of Columbus (architects); Whyte and Priest of Dayton (architectural sculptors); T. B. Townsend of Zanesville (general contractor)","architectural_style":"Modernized Romanesque","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as unaltered and in excellent condition; occupied and in government use.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:10.125157-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/74001651.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001651/d26db37184-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001651/d26db37184-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Calvin Beale","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wood_County_Courthouse_Jail.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Calvin Beale</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wood_County_Courthouse_Jail.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71992032","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_County_Courthouse_and_Jail","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8032175"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/wood-county/wood-county-courthouse-and-jail-74001651/"}