Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. 9 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1902.
From the record
“Seneca County Courthouse Complex at Ovid, also known as the "Three Bears", is a historic courthouse complex located at Ovid in Seneca County, New York. The 1845 courthouse, known as "Papa Bear", is a three-by-four-bay, Neoclassical brick structure with a monumental frame pedimented portico supported by four Doric order columns and topped by a cupola.”
Wikipedia article Seneca County Courthouse Complex at Ovid, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 40 National Register listings published here for Seneca County · listed in 1976 · category: Building.
National Register reference number.76001277- the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
Fires near this property
71 since 2000
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 71 fires within 5 miles of Seneca County Courthouse Complex at Ovid
between 2000 and 2020, burning about 53 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 15 were recorded as arson.
Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted
here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
Reported cause
Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
29
Debris and open burning
15
Arson/incendiarism
15
Smoking
5
Equipment and vehicle use
3
Natural
3
Misuse of fire by a minor
1
The most recent of
them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service
that recorded it.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
1 working within 5 miles of Seneca County Courthouse Complex at Ovid: 1 past producer.
None of them still produces. What was taken out: Salt. Distance is straight-line from the
map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring
settlement's page as well.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Ovid, the town this property stands in, in 14 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 10 thunderstorm wind, 4 flash flood.
No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office
filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date
opens the federal record of that event.
Slow-moving thunderstorms produced flash flooding of numerous roads, culverts, and low lying underpasses in southern Seneca County. A state of emergency was declared in Seneca County due to the flash flooding as many roads were either flooded or impassable. The flooding included the towns of Covert and Ovid, and the village of Interlaken. There were several flooded basements in the town of Ovid. An estimated 3 to 4 inches of rain fell.
A thunderstorm quickly became severe over southern portions of Seneca county. Downed trees and wires were reported in the town of Ovid. The cell weakened below severe limits a short time later.
United States Geological Survey topographic
sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then
testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.
Other National Register properties close
enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both
positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties
to their map sheets.
Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.
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