{"nrhp_refnum":"79001927","name":"Gilboa Main Street Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Gilboa","county":"Putnam County","state":"OH","lat":41.01666641750006,"lon":-83.92263820063354,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-02-27","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Exploration/Settlement"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-block historic district along Main Street in Gilboa, a small frame village on the Blanchard River in Putnam County, Ohio, covering about 19 acres of commercial and residential buildings mostly dating from the 1840s to about 1880.","why_significant":"The nomination presents Gilboa as an early river village that grew rapidly from 1846 to 1857 and then stopped growing when railroads went to Findlay and Ottawa and Ottawa became county seat. As a result, the town remains much as it was built up to about 1880. The district is marked for commerce and exploration/settlement.","narrative":"Gilboa's Main Street is a two-block stretch of mostly frame stores, hotels and houses along the Blanchard River in Putnam County, Ohio. Laid out in 1837 by Elisha Stout, Gilboa was the first village in Blanchard Township and grew faster than any other town in the county between 1846 and 1857. It competed for a railroad line and for the county seat, but the railroad was planned through Findlay, then ran to Ottawa in 1878, and Ottawa became the county seat. Growth stopped, and the street kept its buildings from before about 1880. Surviving structures include story-and-a-half river cabins, large 1840s hotels with pillared porches, an 1870s Grange Hall in brick Italianate style, an I.O.O.F. hall, a Township House, and an 1886 iron truss bridge. Fires in 1909, 1926 and 1932 changed the corner of Main and Pearl Streets. A local preservation group has begun restoration work, including a doctor's house.","period_of_significance":"1840-1899","architect_builder":"Wrought Iron Bridge Company (Pearl Street Pratt truss bridge, 1886)","architectural_style":"Vernacular frame buildings, with an Italianate brick Grange Hall, Queen Anne houses and a Romanesque church","criteria":[],"status_note":"Mixed use: residences, four businesses, and municipal buildings; many buildings reported vacant for 20-40 years, and restoration work has begun on Dr. Ray's house.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:12.659583-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/79001927.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71991086","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":null},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/putnam-county/gilboa-main-street-historic-district-79001927/"}