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The West Salem City Hall reflects a late-1800s municipal trend to house many civic functions under one roof. The fire station, jail, and council chambers occupied the ground level, while the second floor hosted a public auditorium, or “opera house.” Designed by native son William K. Shilling, later an internationally prominent architect, the Romanesque-style building was completed in 1899 at a cost of $9,077 and soon became the center of civic life in West Salem. Band concerts, vaudeville shows, town meetings, and graduation ceremonies were conducted in the opera house during its heyday before World War II. During the Cold War it was designated as a Civil Defense emergency field hospital. It remains a focal point of the West Salem community.
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This ornate Victorian/Italianate house was constructed in 1871 as the home of Henry Bishop Perkins, Sr., a civic, business, and political leader of the Western Reserve. During the 19th and early 20th century political figures such as U.S. Grant, James A. Garfield, Rutherford B. Hayes, Benjamin Harrison and William McKinley were visitors to this house.
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Opened on May 1, 1885, this is the third Fayette County Court House building. Ohio artist Archibald Willard, who is best known for the patriotic painting, “The Spirit of ’76,” was commissioned by the firm Cooks Brothers to do painting and fresco work for the interior walls of the courthouse. Willard did not sign his work and the artist’s identity remained a mystery for nearly 75 years until confirmation was made in August 1956. The artist’s name was cleverly disguised in the delivery address of the letter in “The Spirit of the U.S. Mail” mural. The other primary murals, “Spirit of Electricity” and “Spirit of the Telegraph,” adorn the third floor corridor.
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The Bradford Tavern, West Union’s first inn built ca. 1804, served the Maysville-Zanesville stagecoach route and such travelers as Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, and Santa Anna. After 1840, it was continued as the Marlatt House and, later, the Crawford House. Robert Lawler operated it as the Commercial Hotel, 1904-1919. In 1936, Mr. and Mrs. William Lafferty restored the building as the “Olde Wayside Inn.”
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This building was a center of community life from the time of its construction in 1886 to the late 1930s. Once common, such combinations of governmental offices and commercial and entertainment space are today rare. The second floor opera house retains many original features, including stage backdrops, dressing rooms, and seats. Vaudeville, theater companies, and entertainment of all kinds were hosted here and many performers signed the backstage walls: Buffalo Bill dated his signature October 28, 1888. Along with village offices, first floor tenants have included the Vermillion Township Trustees, the Eddie Stover Hat Shop, and the F.L. Smith Watch Repair and Jewelry Store. Hayesville’s citizens approved the hall’s construction on April 18, 1884 by a vote of 100 to 13. Contractor Samuel Craig completed the building two years later at a cost of $4,852.20. Located on the Lincoln Highway, this building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
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On this site stood the Zieger House, in which the first session of court in Circleville was held on April 26, 1811, the sessions continuing until April, 1814. The first meetings of Pickaway Lodge No. 23 Free and Accepted Masons were held here, beginning April 26, 1813, and continuing until 1825.
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America’s first concrete streets were those which surrounded this court house. Concrete was first used in 1891 to provide an 8-foot strip along Main Street where horses were hitched. Two years later Court Avenue was paved with concrete made from native marl supplied by the Buckeye Cement Company, 8 miles to the northeast. This marker was erected in 1968 at the 75th anniversary of the paving of Court Street.
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Oldest Standing House 1826. Entered in the National Register of Historical Places 1974.
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