Johnstown Jail
Why it's listed
Johnstown's village jail is a small brick lockup at 66 W Pratt Street, built in 1888-89 after the Village Council had discussed the need for one since 1884. Contractors Hodges, McGraw and Majors built it. The 16x20 foot building has 12-inch brick walls, a standing seam metal roof and a metal door. Inside, a Van Dorn Iron Works cage holds two cells, and a potbelly stove heats the room. It held minor offenders, vagrants and drunks, and drifters sometimes slept there for a night. Around 1900 it was moved from the park yard near the township hall to Pratt Street after residents objected to a jail at the village center. Prisoners were housed there until 1942, when they were sent to Newark. The building then sat vacant until 1992, when the village deeded it to the Johnstown Historical Society, which opens it each Fourth of July. It was listed as a surviving example of the small village jail type.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues the jail is a significant example of a nineteenth-century small village jail, a building type that became rare once incarceration shifted to larger county jails. It meets Criterion C, and Criteria Consideration B because it was moved during its period of significance while still operating as a jail.
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 03000274, listed April 18, 2003. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 66 W. Pratt St., Johnstown |
|---|---|
| County | Licking County |
| Listed | April 18, 2003 |
| Reference number | 03000274 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1889-1942 |
| Architect / builder | Contractors Hodges, McGraw and Majors |
| Architectural style | No Style |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Owned by the Johnstown Historical Society since 1992 and open to the public once a year on the Fourth of July; used as a museum. |
| Acreage | 0.9 |
| Coordinates | 40.15168, -82.69719 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
For a publicly owned building or structure, listing mainly matters when federal funds, permits or licences are involved: projects then go through Section 106 review so effects on the property are considered. Listing also strengthens applications for preservation grants and, for leased income-producing uses, can enable the federal rehabilitation tax credit.
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 03000274.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikidata Q138460310
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.