{"nrhp_refnum":"83002058","name":"Mellett-Canton Daily News Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"401 W. Tuscarawas St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Canton","county":"Stark County","state":"OH","lat":40.799138621000054,"lon":-81.37608605099996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-04-21","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Communications","Social History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A narrow, five-story commercial building of dark brown brick and terra cotta at 401 W. Tuscarawas Street on the western edge of Canton's Central Business District in Stark County, Ohio, built in 1912 to house the Canton Daily News.","why_significant":"It was the original home of the Canton Daily News, a Progressive, crusading newspaper. Its publisher, Pulitzer Prize winner Don R. Mellett, was murdered in 1926 after a muckraking campaign against Canton corruption. With the paper's disappearance, the building is the only physical remnant of this episode in Canton and Ohio reform history.","narrative":"Rising five stories along Dewalt Street on the western edge of downtown Canton, this brick and terra cotta building was constructed in 1912 to house the Canton Daily News. Its dark brown facing brick, molded terra cotta courses, curved corners with curved windows, and classical entrances give it a distinctive commercial character. Aluminum window frames added around 1950 are the main exterior changes. The building matters mainly for the newspaper it served. Industrialist H. H. Timken reorganized the paper in 1912 to give Progressive views a voice, and former governor James Cox bought it in 1923. His publisher, Don Mellett, ran exposés of ties between criminals and the police department. Mellett was shot outside his garage in July 1926, and four men were later convicted of conspiracy, including the police chief. Cox sold the paper in 1930, and the name disappeared. Much of downtown Canton has been lost to urban renewal, so this building survives as the sole physical reminder of that reform-era story.","period_of_significance":"1900-","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Polychromatic commercial style","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as occupied and in commercial use, with good condition and some alterations, including aluminum-framed street-level windows installed around 1950.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:14.925522-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/83002058.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83002058/98e5e4422c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83002058/98e5e4422c-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Sanfranman59","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mellett-Canton_Daily_News_Building,_401_W._Tuscarawas_St.,_Canton,_OH_7-23-2010_1-42-09_PM.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Sanfranman59</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:Mellett-Canton_Daily_News_Building,_401_W._Tuscarawas_St.,_Canton,_OH_7-23-2010_1-42-09_PM.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71991450","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138685040"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/stark-county/mellett-canton-daily-news-building-83002058/"}