L.N. Gross Company Building

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016. 7 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1906.

From the record

One of 49 National Register listings published here for Portage County · listed in 2016 · category: Building.

Sources: the National Register database, National Park Service · the Wikipedia article

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
Listed as. Gross, L.N., Company Building - the National Register files a house under its owner's surname.
Address. 315 Gougler Ave., Kent, 44240
When was it listed? 2016-09-02
Category. building
City. Kent city
National Register reference number. 16000598 - assigned by the National Park Service when the property was listed.

Then and now

1906 to 1994

The ground this property stands on, surveyed 88 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet covering L.N. Gross Company Building, surveyed 1994

Topographic sheet covering L.N. Gross Company Building, surveyed 1906

The ground it stands on

3,758 words

The chapter on Kent City in A Visitation of the County of Kent, published 1906 names Kent. This is what it says, exactly as the scans read.

Stowe MS. 621 in the British Museum, formerly the property of John Holland, is described in the catalogue : « Original Pedigrees of Kentish Families to 1663 (in which year Bysshe made a Visitation of the County), with the signatures of members of the several families, f. 2," and on the title page is written " A peice of the Visitation of Kent." This manuscript contains sixteen pedigrees in the same handwriting as the Heralds' College copy, and all signed by the heads of the families or their representatives, whereas the pedigrees of the same families lare not signed in the College copy, so it would seem that some of the original pages had been mislaid and a copy substituted for them in the official copy in the College. These pedigrees are marked (Stowe MS. 621) in the reference.

Passage source: A Visitation of the County of Kent, published 1906.

These complaints were delivered to Sir Edward Bysshe by his own request by Sir Edward Walker, Garter King of Arms.* He appaiently disregarded them, for at fo. 100 we find that an order was made by James, Earl of Suffolk, deputy to the Earl Marshal, prohibiting Sir Edward Bysshe to make airy new Visitations until he had rectified the errors and defects of the books of his Visitation of Kent (among others). There is in Add. MS. 22,883 a summary of the alleged errors in this Visitation, as follows : - have been done." It is curious to note that these complaints were mostly made between 1670 and 1674, whereas the Visitation is said to have been finished in 1668, but there is no further reference to them in the correspondence. Sir Edward Bysshe died in 1679.f

Passage source: A Visitation of the County of Kent, published 1906.

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 Kent City - 3,758 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.

Specimens collected near this property

12 of 770 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 770 specimens collected within 10 miles of L.N. Gross Company Building between 1883 and 1975: 498 Animalia, 232 Plantae, 33 Fungi, 5 Unrecorded, 1 Protozoa, 1 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. D. Huryn, A. F. Clewell, A. K. Wyatt 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.

Species	Year	Collected by	Where, as recorded
Frankiella alni (Woronin) Maire & A.Tison	1910	Rankin; H.H. Whetzel
Stereum frustulatum (Pers.) Fr.	1910	H.H. Whetzel
Valsaria exasperans (W.R.Gerard) Sacc.	1910	Whetzel; Rankin
Colaptes auratus luteus Bangs, 1898	1883	John C. Catlin	Ravenna
Dolichonyx oryzivorus (Linnaeus, 1758)	1883	John C. Catlin	Ravenna
Glaucomys volans volans (Linnaeus, 1758)	1889	C. P. Streator	Ravenna
Ambloplites rupestris (Rafinesque, 1817)	1893	A. Woolman	Cuyahoga River, Kent, Ohio
Cambarus propinquus Girard, 1852	1893	Woolman	Cuyahoga River, Kent
Catostomus commersonii (Lacepède, 1803)	1893	A. Woolman	Cuyahoga River, Kent, Ohio
Esox americanus vermiculatus Lesueur, 1846	1893	A. Woolman	Cuyahoga River, Kent, Ohio
Etheostoma blennioides Rafinesque, 1819	1893	A. Woolman	Kent, Ohio
Etheostoma nigrum Rafinesque, 1820	1893	A. Woolman	Cuyahoga River, Kent, Ohio

All 770 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 13 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 13 workings within 5 miles of L.N. Gross Company Building: 6 past producers, 5 producers, 2 plants. 7 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Brimfield Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Brimfield Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Donald Wartko Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Donald Wartko Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Hilltop Sand and Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Howitt Plant & Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Plant
Hugo Sand Co. Dredge	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Karg Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Karg Pit & Mill	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Plant
Lappins Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer

Every working recorded in Portage County

Storms near this property

34 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Kent, the town this property stands in, in 34 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 25 thunderstorm wind, 8 hail, 1 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.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
June 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Kent	$1,500,000	A thunderstorm downburst with winds estimated at 85 to 95 mph hit the west side of Kent. The area affected by the downburst was one quarter wide mile and approximately a mile in length. Several hundred trees and 40 power poles were downed. A total of 25 homes were damaged including four that were declared unhabitable. In addition, a camper and over a dozen automobiles were crushed by fallen trees. Widespread power outages occurred and a state of emergency was put in effect because of the widespread and severe damage.
August 2024	Flash Flood	Kent	$300,000	Widespread flash flooding in Kent and Ravenna. Several roads flooded and impassable with several feet of standing water, including OH-59 between downtown Ravenna and OH-44. Dispatch received 30 calls to assist motorists stranded in flood waters. Widespread basement flooding reported. Radar estimates and gauge measurements indicate 3 to 3.25 inches of rainfall in a two hour period.
May 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Kent	$60,000	Thunderstorm winds downed between 15 and 20 trees in Kent and surrounding Franklin Township. Two houses in Kent were damaged by fallen trees. Both houses sustained roof damage with one also having a wall knocked down.
August 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Kent	$50,000	There were numerous reports of wind damage to structures and trees. Several cars were damaged due to flying debris and falling trees..
July 2008	Hail	Kent	$50,000	Half dollar size hail was observed. Many vehicles sustained minor damage.
July 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Kent	$35,000	Thunderstorm winds downed around a dozen trees and damaged the roof of a house.
August 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Kent	$25,000	Thunderstorm winds downed a few trees in the Kent area. Some power outages were also reported.
August 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Kent	$10,000	Thunderstorm winds downed several trees.
July 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Kent	$10,000	Thunderstorm winds downed many trees on the west side of Kent.
June 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Kent	$5,000	Members of the public and social media indicated tree damage in Kent. Two trees were downed on Riverbend Trail and three trees were downed in Artemis Drive Park.
July 2008	Hail	Kent	$5,000	Quarter size hail was reported.
June 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Kent	$5,000	Several trees and large limbs were reported down from Kent to Ravenna.
September 2002	Hail	Kent	$5,000	Quarter size hail was observed two miles south of Kent.
July 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	Kent	$5,000	Trees and limbs were downed, some on power lines and blocking streets.
July 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Kent	$4,000	A tree and large limb were reported down.
May 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Kent	$4,000	Thunderstorm winds toppled two large trees.
May 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Kent	$4,000	Thunderstorm winds downed a couple of trees.
July 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Kent	$3,000	A tree and a few large limbs were reported down.
July 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Kent	$3,000	A few trees were reported down.
November 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Kent	$2,000	Thunderstorm winds downed several large tree limbs.
June 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Kent	$1,500	Trees downed in Kent. One downed tree damaged a shed.
May 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Kent	-	Tree downed in Kent.
April 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Kent	-	Numerous trees downed in Kent.
August 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Kent	-	Trained spotter's personal weather station recorded a peak convective gust of 80 mph about 1.5-miles southwest of Kent. Numerous large trees were snapped in the area.
July 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Kent	-	Trees downed in Franklin Township, about one-mile northwest of Kent.
June 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Kent	-	Tree downed onto three vehicles on Kent State University Campus.
April 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Kent	-	Trained spotter reported peak gust of 58 mph from thunderstorm.
June 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Kent	-	A tree was blocking West Grant Street.
August 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Kent	-	Several trees were blown down.
September 2012	Hail	Kent	-	Penny sized hail was observed.
August 2011	Hail	Kent	-	Penny sized hail was observed.
May 2009	Hail	Kent	-	Penny size hail was reported.
April 2005	Hail	Kent	-	Nickel size hail was observed.
September 2002	Hail	Kent	-	Dime size hail was observed.

Every storm recorded in Portage County

Maps showing this location

7 surveys

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.

1906 USGS Kent quadrangle1:62500 - 2 printings
1956 USGS Cleveland quadrangle1:250000 - 3 printings
1960 USGS Kent quadrangle1:24000 - 5 printings
1962 USGS Cleveland quadrangle1:250000
1986 USGS Cleveland South quadrangle1:100000
1994 USGS Cleveland South quadrangle1:100000
1994 USGS Kent quadrangle1:24000

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

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.

Property	Distance	Listed
Franklin Township Hall	under 500 feet	1975
Kent Industrial District	under 500 feet	1974
Masonic Temple	0.2 miles	1974
Franklin Hotel	0.2 miles	2013
Kent, Charles House	0.3 miles	1978
West Main Street District	0.3 miles	1977

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 16000598 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Portage County	All 49 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.