{"nrhp_refnum":"84002909","name":"Urbana Monument Square Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by Market, Walnut, Church, and Locust Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Urbana","county":"Champaign County","state":"OH","lat":40.10892835650006,"lon":-83.75229856616758,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-03-01","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A downtown historic district of about 25 acres and roughly 70 buildings in Urbana, Champaign County, Ohio, centered on the 250-foot-square Monument Square and covering most of the central business district.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the district is significant as a consciously planned open space laid out when Urbana was platted in 1805, and for the variety of its commercial architecture. It also stresses the square's role as the commercial, governmental and cultural heart of Urbana and Champaign County. The buildings show the town's growth and prosperity from the early 19th to early 20th century.","narrative":"Monument Square Historic District covers the core of downtown Urbana, Ohio, about 25 acres built around a public square roughly 250 feet on each side. Colonel William Ward platted the town in 1805 with this square at its center. It became a market center for the surrounding farmland, and a Civil War monument erected in 1871 gave the square its name. Around 70 mostly brick buildings, two to four stories tall, line the streets. They display Federal, Italianate, Second Empire, Richardsonian Romanesque and Georgian Revival styles, along with some eclectic designs. Examples include the c. 1811 building at 20 Monument Square, the large Second Empire Douglas Hotel of the early 1870s, and the c. 1889 Mosgrove Building. The streetscape is largely intact, with few intrusions and few vacant lots. Urbana has been the Champaign County seat since 1807, and the square served as its commercial, transportation and cultural focus, with hotels, markets, celebrations and the first classes of Urbana College.","period_of_significance":"1805, 1870-1910","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Federal, Greek Revival, High Victorian Italianate, Second Empire, Richardsonian Romanesque, Georgian Revival, and eclectic buildings","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Condition is marked excellent, good and fair, with some buildings altered. The central business district is described as busy and thriving, although the Douglas Hotel had ceased hotel use about two years earlier and its owners were considering reuse.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:14.2359-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/84002909.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002909/3b719d8e4b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002909/3b719d8e4b-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Urbana_Roundabout.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Urbana_Roundabout.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71987028","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbana_Monument_Square_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2493294"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/champaign-county/urbana-monument-square-historic-district-84002909/"}