{"nrhp_refnum":"78002097","name":"Old Lawrence County Jail","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Court St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Burlington","county":"Lawrence County","state":"OH","lat":38.40732070400003,"lon":-82.52838231499999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-12-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story, square, stone former county jail on Court Street in Burlington, Lawrence County, Ohio, built in 1846-47 by contractor John Sperry.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is the only surviving Lawrence County building from the period when Burlington was the county seat. It is also described as one of three pre-Civil War stone jails in Ohio. It served as the county jail only from 1847 to 1852, when the county seat moved to Ironton.","narrative":"Built of stone in 1846-47, this two-story square building on Court Street in Burlington, Ohio, was constructed as the Lawrence County jail. Its walls are faced with vermiculated ashlar blocks over a stone foundation, with a deeply recessed north entrance, 2/2 pane windows, a hip roof and a single chimney. The interior has a center hall running north to south, and the cell windows originally had bars. Contractor John Sperry received the contract in August 1846, and the commissioners took possession in September 1847. Burlington had been named county seat in 1817 as the only settlement in the county, but the seat moved to Ironton, the center of the iron-producing area, in 1852. The jail and the courthouse were then abandoned, and the courthouse has since been torn down. The jail became a private residence, and partitions inside have been changed over time. It is the only structure surviving from Burlington's years as county seat and is described as one of three pre-Civil War stone jails in Ohio.","period_of_significance":"1846-1847","architect_builder":"John Sperry","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Converted to a private residence after the county seat moved in 1852 and stated to have continued in that use; the form marks it as occupied and altered, in good condition.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:12.874925-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/78002097.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002097/6a44d9f1a2-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002097/6a44d9f1a2-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Lawrence_County_Jail_in_Burlington.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Lawrence_County_Jail_in_Burlington.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71989643","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138457143"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/lawrence-county/old-lawrence-county-jail-78002097/"}