{"nrhp_refnum":"81000428","name":"Jefferson Town Hall","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"27 E. Jefferson St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Jefferson","county":"Ashtabula County","state":"OH","lat":41.73868415000004,"lon":-80.76795856699994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1981-06-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story stuccoed brick municipal building at 27 East Jefferson Street in Jefferson, Ashtabula County, Ohio. It is the remnant of an 1880 Second Empire town hall, rebuilt in 1929 in a Spanish Colonial Revival manner.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is locally significant as the seat of town and village government continuously since 1880. It also illustrates the shift from township to village government, since the village leased the lot from the township trustees in 1928. It is also remembered locally for the lectures held in its former second-floor auditorium.","narrative":"Jefferson Town Hall, at 27 East Jefferson Street, is a one-story stuccoed brick building with round-arched openings, a low hip roof covered in red tile, and a projecting entrance vestibule. It is what remains of a two-and-a-half story Second Empire hall built between 1877 and 1880 by John Waters for $12,000. That building held a second-floor auditorium used for lectures, meetings and plays. Fire destroyed the upper floors on November 10, 1927. Cleveland architects J. Ellsworth Potter and Henry Gabele redesigned the surviving first story, and the council authorized $13,500 for a \"Spanish-effect\" look. The first council meeting in the rebuilt hall took place on November 2, 1929. The building is considered locally significant because it has housed town and village government continuously since 1880. Its lease from the township trustees in 1928 also reflects the shift from township to village government. Residents still associate it with lectures given there by William Jennings Bryan and others.","period_of_significance":"1900-","architect_builder":"John Waters; Potter and Gabele","architectural_style":"Spanish Colonial Revival (rebuilt remnant of a Second Empire building)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in excellent condition, though altered; the upper stories were lost to fire in 1927 and the first story was rebuilt in 1929. Owned by the Village of Jefferson and used as a government building.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:12.255959-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/81000428.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/81000428/1fce8c37d0-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/81000428/1fce8c37d0-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Alfredtwo","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Town_Hall_in_Jefferson.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Alfredtwo</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Town_Hall_in_Jefferson.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71986699","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q137599189"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/ashtabula-county/jefferson-town-hall-81000428/"}