BlockFrom the record
One of 43 National Register listings published here for Warren County · listed in 2001 · category: Building.
Sources: the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service
Corwin Council House and Jail
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001. 7 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1913.
The listing
- What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 2 buildingss as contributing to the listing.
- Address. 946 Harveysburg Rd., Corwin, 45068
- When was it listed? 2001-05-30
- Category. building
- Township. Wayne township
- National Register reference number. 01000589 - 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.
The ground it stands on
18,319 wordsThe chapter on Wayne Township in The History of Warren County, Ohio, published 1882 names Corwin. This is what it says, exactly as the scans read.
Before 1819, the channel of the river on the road to Corwin was not as now, but where the bridge now is was in the bend of a horseshoe, the channel above and below the bridge having been made since. The crossing of the river was between High and Main streets, in Waynesville. When the water was high, there was a ferry used, and when low, a ford. About 1812, an effort was made to build a bridge at the ford. The abutments were raised and a superstructure was placed on trestles. A freshet in the river swept out the work and no further effort was made to build a bridge at that place. In 1817, a bridge was built on a contract, where the bridge now is, by John Satterthwaite, for $700, including the abutments. It was built of oak timber, principally hewed, never covered or weather-boarded, and only lasted about ten years. At that time, the road crossed the West Branch of the Miami, known as the race at the mouth and followed the north bank of the Miami to the bridge. The race wsa then a small stream, no bridge over it; the ford was a very bad crossing.
Passage source: The History of Warren County, Ohio, published 1882.
In 1840 or 1841, some Virginians were moving through to Missouri with their slaves. It was claimed by slave-owners that they had a right to cross the State with their slaves for the purpose of business, or removal, when their destination was another Slave State. This was denied by the anti -slavery people of Ohio. A warrant was sworn out before Jonathan Clark, a Justice of the Peace here, by Dr. Brooks, and the slave-owners were arrested between this place and Franklin, and brought back and tried here. Judge George J. Smith and Robert G. Corwin were counsel for the prosecution, and Charles Anderson, of Dayton, for the defendants. After hearing the case, Squire Clark discharged the defendants. Some persons about Springboro and vicinity spirited away the slaves, or a part of them; they were afterward indicted by the grand jury, and tried, I believe, before Judge Hinkson in the Warren County Court of Common Pleas, convicted and sentenced to fine and imprisonment in the dungeon. The Supreme Court was in session at Cincinnati, a writ of error obtained therefrom, and the defendants were released from imprisonment. The case finally came before the Supreme Court of the State, when the question was set tied definitely, as claimed by the anti -slavery party.
Passage source: The History of Warren County, Ohio, published 1882.
Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.
Read the whole chapter on Wayne Township - 18,319 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.
Specimens collected near this property
12 of 3,073 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 3,073 specimens collected within 10 miles of Corwin Council House and Jail between 1844 and 1974: 2,955 Animalia, 52 Plantae, 50 Fungi, 14 Unrecorded, 2 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. R. Gaufin, A.R. Gaufin, H.H. Ross, ANSEL JOHN and others. Each is a physical object with a catalogue number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be concluded from a species being absent.
| Image | Species | Year | Collected by | Where, as recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Polyporus dryophilus Berk. | 1844 | Lea T. G. | Waynesville |
 | Lampsilis ovata (Say, 1817) | 1862 | Whiteaves, Joseph F. | Little Miami Riv., Warren Co. |
 | Ptychobranchus fasciolaris (Rafinesque, 1820) | 1862 | Whiteaves, Joseph F. | Little Miami Riv., Warren Co. |
 | Actinonaias ligamentina (Lamarck, 1819) | 1879 | Whiteaves, Joseph F. | Little Miami Riv., Warren Co. |
 | Megalonaias gigantea (Barnes, 1823) | 1879 | Whiteaves, Joseph F. | Great Miami Riv. |
 | Saponaria officinalis L. | 1881 | not recorded | Lebanon |
 | Achillea millefolium subsp. millefolium | 1884 | Bennett, F.G. | Lebanon |
 | Agrostemma githago L. | 1884 | Bennerht, F.G. | Lebanon |
 | Anthemis cotula L. | 1884 | Bennett, F.G. | [Lebanon] |
 | Asclepias syriaca L. | 1884 | Berrerlt, F.G. | near Lebanon |
 | Calystegia sepium (L.) R.Br. | 1884 | not recorded | Lebanon |
 | Campsis radicans (L.) Bureau | 1884 | Bennett, F.G. | Near Lebanon |
All 3,073 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
Mines and quarries near this property
5 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Corwin Council House and Jail: 2 plants, 2 producers, 1 past producer. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lytle Pit & Mill | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Plant | ||
| Spring Valley Aggregates Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Spring Valley Aggregates Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Waynesville Pit & Mill | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Wilson Site Pit & Mill | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Plant |
Storms near this property
4 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Corwin, the town this property stands in, in 4 storm reports between 1995 and 2026: 4 thunderstorm wind. 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Corwin | $25,000 | A large barn collapsed. |
| March 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Corwin | $6,000 | A few trees and power lines were downed in Wayne Township. |
| May 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Corwin | $3,000 | Trees downed. |
| April 2026 | Thunderstorm Wind | Corwin | $1,000 | A tree fell onto State Route 73. |
Maps showing this location
7 surveysUnited 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.
- 1913 USGS Waynesville quadrangle1:62500
- 1915 USGS Waynesville quadrangle1:62500
- 1953 USGS Cincinnati quadrangle1:250000 - 3 printings
- 1955 USGS Waynesville quadrangle1:24000 - 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Cincinnati quadrangle1:250000
- 1968 USGS Waynesville quadrangle1:24000 - 3 printings
- 1986 USGS Dayton quadrangle1:100000 - 2 printings
From the nomination file
5,352 words on recordWhen this property was proposed for the National Register, someone wrote the case for it: what the building is, and why it matters. That document is a federal record in the public domain. It is reproduced in full on its own page, word for word and never summarised. The text was read off the scanned case file by machine, so the occasional stray character is the recogniser's and the 1970s typewriter's.
The whole case file for this property - 5,352 words, 46 pages, reproduced complete.
Quoted from the National Register nomination for reference 01000589, 46 pages, held by the National Archives in Record Group 79. See the catalogue record.
Listed places nearby
6 within 8 milesOther 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.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Waynesville Main Street Historic District | 0.6 miles | 2002 |
 | Waynesville Engine House and Lockup | 0.7 miles | 1999 |
 | John Satterthwaite House | 0.8 miles | 1988 |
| Miami Monthly Meeting Historic District | 0.8 miles | 1998 | |
 | Waynesville Greek Revival Houses | 0.8 miles | 1979 |
 | Moses McKay House | 3.5 miles | 1978 |
Sources for this property
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 01000589 in Record Group 79. |
| Warren County | All 43 listed properties in this county. |
Provenance
- 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.
- Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.
- 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.