{"nrhp_refnum":"75001525","name":"Franklin Township Hall","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"218 Gougler Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Kent","county":"Portage County","state":"OH","lat":41.15519840400003,"lon":-81.36035143799995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-10-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 2-story, three-bay painted brick building at 218 Gougler Avenue in Kent, Portage County, Ohio, begun in the late 1830s and completed as a township hall, with Zenas Kent named as architect.","why_significant":"The nomination calls the well-preserved building important to Franklin Township and the City of Kent. It was planned as headquarters for the Franklin Company, then completed by the township after the Panic of 1837. It later hosted school classes, early Catholic services and James A. Garfield's 1859 nomination as an Ohio Senator.","narrative":"Franklin Township Hall is a two-story, three-bay brick building on Gougler Avenue in Kent, Ohio, painted white and fitted with green-shuttered six-over-six windows. Planned in 1836 as headquarters for the Franklin Company, its construction halted when local alpaca mills failed in the Panic of 1837. The township took it over and finished it as a town hall. Zenas Kent, a locally prominent builder, served as architect, Fredrick Wadsworth as contractor, and Nathan Button designed the open curving stair, the only original interior feature to survive a serious fire. The hall served the township from 1840 to 1867, housed a school in 1842, and hosted the village's first Roman Catholic services in 1851. In 1859 James A. Garfield was nominated there as an Ohio Senator, launching his political career. Kent State College used it as a summer school from 1901 to 1936, and the city school board has used it for offices since 1954. Greek Revival proportions mark the design, though the entry and cupola were altered.","period_of_significance":"1837","architect_builder":"Zenas Kent (architect); Fredrick Wadsworth (contractor); Nathan Button designed the curving stair","architectural_style":"Greek Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed in good condition and occupied; since 1954 it has housed executive offices for the Kent city board of education, with the township trustees named as owners.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:09.053256-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/75001525.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75001525/28a2e1eb90-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75001525/28a2e1eb90-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"JonRidinger","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FranklinTownshipHall.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">JonRidinger</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FranklinTownshipHall.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71991015","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Township_Hall","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5492056"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/portage-county/franklin-township-hall-75001525/"}