Diamond Match Historic District

Four brick industrial buildings in Barberton, Ohio, survive from the Engineering Department of the Diamond Match Company. They are the north Machine Shop (1894 and 1896), the Foundry (1894), the Pattern Shop (about 1898) and the larger south Machine Shop (1903). The two-story buildings share gabled roofs, raised piers between bays, corbelled brick cornices and segmental arched windows. The earlier buildings rest on sandstone foundations and use wood post-and-beam framing. The 1903 shop has a concrete foundation and steel framing that allows a wide clear span inside. These shops built the match-making machinery used in Barberton and in Diamond Match plants around the world. They also reflect Ohio Columbus Barber, who founded Barberton and led the company. Most of the main factory was torn down in the 1960s, and this group is the only surviving set of its brick buildings. The complex remains largely as built and keeps a high degree of integrity as an early industrial group.