Haydenville Historic Town
Why it's listed
Haydenville is a company town in southern Hocking County, Ohio, strung along old U.S. Route 33. Rows of nearly identical houses line the road, interrupted only by the church, school, company building, community building and railroad station. Peter Hayden bought 3,000 acres here in 1852, and a charcoal furnace was running by 1856. Coal and then clay products became the main industries. The earliest employee houses, from about the 1870s, were two-story porous brick buildings. Larger houses built between 1883 and 1900 used fired clay products made by the company. The 1870 Gothic Revival church also displays the variety of local clay products. After the 1907 sale to the National Fireproofing Company, houses became smaller and were eventually built of wood. The company town was sold in 1964 and its homes were sold off, but the buildings remain. The district was listed for its architecture and its record of industry built around clay.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues the town shows how locally made clay products shaped every part of community life, from houses and church to walls and paved surfaces. It also records the paternalistic leadership of Peter Hayden and the high-quality products of the Haydenville Mining and Manufacturing Company. It was described as Ohio's last company town.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 73001480, listed March 20, 1973. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | Haydenville, Haydenville |
|---|---|
| County | Hocking County |
| Listed | March 20, 1973 |
| Reference number | 73001480 |
| Resource type | District |
| Period of significance | 19th Century (first houses built in the 1870's) |
| Architect / builder | Peter Hayden (built the first employee houses); Haydenville Mining and Manufacturing Company |
| Architectural style | Company town; church of Gothic Revival design |
| Areas of significance | Commerce, Architecture, Invention |
| Level of significance | State |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Condition marked good and altered; occupied, with multiple private owners. Uses include commercial, industrial, private residence and religious. Company houses were sold to individuals after 1964. |
| Acreage | 20 |
| Coordinates | 39.47828, -82.32509 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 73001480.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikidata Q34835129
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.