{"nrhp_refnum":"79001971","name":"Port Washington Town Hall","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Port Washington","county":"Tuscarawas County","state":"OH","lat":40.32796438300005,"lon":-81.51871818199999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-02-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story brick town hall on Main Street in Port Washington, Tuscarawas County, Ohio, built in 1878-79 with a four-story central tower. It originally housed village offices, an opera house and a lodge hall.","why_significant":"The nomination says the building was the governmental and social focus of the small community for over 75 years. It is also described as an excellent, largely unaltered example of a 19th century public building. Its four-story tower dominates the village streetscape.","narrative":"Port Washington Town Hall is a three-story brick building with a limestone foundation, measuring 34 by 64 feet, with a slate gabled roof. A four-story square tower projects from the centre of the facade and is topped by a frame belfry that still holds the original fire bell. Openings are segmental arches, and the gable has a wooden pediment with scrollwork. Built in 1878-79 for $3,500, it combined village offices, a jail and fire department on the first floor, an opera house on the second, and a lodge hall on the third. A spiral stairway inside the tower connects the floors. The town began in the 1820s as a mill town on the Ohio and Erie Canal, and the hall was built during a speculative period of growth. It was the community's governmental and social centre for over 75 years. It was listed as a largely unaltered 19th century public building and a visual landmark, partly to encourage restoration and reuse.","period_of_significance":"1878-79","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Owned by the village. The form marks it unoccupied, but the text says the police keep an office there, much of it is used for storage, and a lodge still uses the third floor. Local interest in restoration and adaptive reuse is noted.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:13.031774-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/79001971.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001971/265ce7aca5-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001971/265ce7aca5-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Port_Washington_Town_Hall.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Port_Washington_Town_Hall.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71991758","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138753484"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/tuscarawas-county/port-washington-town-hall-79001971/"}