{"nrhp_refnum":"83001955","name":"Brown Township Building","other_names":["Ansonia Town Hall"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Main and Weller Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Ansonia","county":"Darke County","state":"OH","lat":40.20617681300007,"lon":-84.64955249299999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-08-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story red brick Italianate town hall at Main and Weller Streets in the village of Ansonia, Darke County, Ohio, built in 1883 and also known as the Ansonia Town Hall.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is historically and architecturally significant as the political and social center of Ansonia and Brown Township for over one hundred years. Its lower floor housed government offices, the jail, the post office and a fire station, while the upper hall hosted community events. It is described as the most architecturally significant building in the village.","narrative":"Built between April and November 1883, this two-story red brick building in Ansonia, Darke County, Ohio, has served as both the Brown Township hall and the village town hall. Designed by architect John Fryberger of Spitzer and Co. of Toledo, with O.J. Hager as contractor, it is an Italianate structure with a projecting central entrance, a bracketed balcony with original metal cresting, a half-round parapet reading TOWN HALL 1883, and a deep bracketed cornice. Inside, twin stairways curve up to an upper hall that retains wooden seats, a raised stage, a hardwood floor and an embossed tin ceiling. The ground floor has housed township and village offices, voting space, a jail, a post office and a fire station. The upper hall hosted plays, concerts, lectures, dances, basketball games and movies. Its century-long role as the community's political and social center, together with its architecture, supported its listing.","period_of_significance":"1883","architect_builder":"John Fryberger of Spitzer & Co., Toledo; O.J. Hager, contractor","architectural_style":"Italianate","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied; the lower level is used for village and township offices, emergency squad vehicle and water works housing, and community services. The upper hall was restored by the community during the Bicentennial Year.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:14.656431-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/83001955.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83001955/beae98a60a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83001955/beae98a60a-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brown_Township_Building,_Ansonia.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brown_Township_Building,_Ansonia.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71987991","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_Township_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4976328"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/darke-county/brown-township-building-83001955/"}