Gilboa Main Street Historic District

Gilboa's Main Street is a two-block stretch of mostly frame stores, hotels and houses along the Blanchard River in Putnam County, Ohio. Laid out in 1837 by Elisha Stout, Gilboa was the first village in Blanchard Township and grew faster than any other town in the county between 1846 and 1857. It competed for a railroad line and for the county seat, but the railroad was planned through Findlay, then ran to Ottawa in 1878, and Ottawa became the county seat. Growth stopped, and the street kept its buildings from before about 1880. Surviving structures include story-and-a-half river cabins, large 1840s hotels with pillared porches, an 1870s Grange Hall in brick Italianate style, an I.O.O.F. hall, a Township House, and an 1886 iron truss bridge. Fires in 1909, 1926 and 1932 changed the corner of Main and Pearl Streets. A local preservation group has begun restoration work, including a doctor's house.