Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in
1973. A historic map-sheet match is not published yet. The record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.
From the record
“The Guernsey County Courthouse is located on U.S. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.”
Wikipedia article Guernsey County Courthouse, CC BY-SA 4.0.
one of 18 National Register listings in Guernsey County · listed in 1973 · category: Building · one of 1 National Historic Landmarks in Guernsey County.
Architectural style. Second Empire architecture in the United States and Canada
National Register reference number.73001452- 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
1,041 words
The chapter on Adams Township in History of Guernsey County, Ohio, published 1911 names Cambridge. This is what it says, exactly as the scans read.
Adams, which is the central western township in Guernsey county, is hounded on the west by Muskingum county, on the north -by Knox, on the east by Cambridge and on the south by Westland township. It is five miles square, containing twenty-five sections of land. The National pike crosses its extreme southeastern corner, as does also the Baltimore & Ohio railroad. It was organized as a separate sub-division of Guernsey county in 1827. In 1900 it had a population of seven hundred and seventeen. Cassel station and a portion of Mantau are the only village plattings ever made within this township. It is well watered and drained by the numerous small tributaries to Crooked creek, all streams flowing to the southeast. Being close to Cambridge, it makes that place its trading point.
James Johnston was a native of Washington county, Pennsylvania, born in 1795, and married Jane Mehaffey, who was born in Ireland. They resided in Pennsylvania six years and then removed to this township in 1824 and he died in 1868. He was a farmer and blacksmith. Their son Alexander was sheriff of Guernsey county during the Civil war, with headquarters at Cambridge. He owned a four-hundred-acre farm and was a very influential and enterprising citizen.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 55 fires within 5 miles of Guernsey County Courthouse between
2007 and 2020, burning about 152 acres in total. None started naturally. None was 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
Debris and open burning
32
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
17
Recreation and ceremony
3
Power generation/transmission/distribution
2
Smoking
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. Museums hold 286 specimens
collected within 10 miles of Guernsey County Courthouse between 1875 and
1975: 133 Fungi, 87 Animalia, 62 Plantae, 2 Unrecorded, 2 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown.
Collected by Adams, W., Adams, W. (William), Adams, W.; Adams, S. 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.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
4 workings within 5 miles of Guernsey County Courthouse: 2 past producers, 1 occurrence, 1 producer.
1 still produces. What was taken out: Limestone, General, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Titanium, Silica, Iron, Aluminum, Vanadium. 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
Cambridge, the town this property stands in, in 78 storm reports between 1994 and 2026: 47 thunderstorm wind, 22 hail, 7 flash flood, 1 flood.
The reports record 3 injuries. 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.
An intense thunderstorm gust known as a macroburst raked across central Guernsey County, wind gusts were estimated between 80 and 90 mph. The thunderstorm formed in northeast Guernsey County about 430 pm just ahead of another very intense thunderstorm moving through Muskingum County. It then moved southeast at nearly 40 mph.The swath of damage produced by this intense downburst of wind was estimated to be nearly 8 miles long. Its width fluctuated between 0.75 miles to over 2.5 miles. The damage started just south of Cambridge and continued southeast to near the town of Buffalo. There were 3 reported injuries which consisted of cuts and abrasions. One person was treated and released from the hospital. The town of Byesville was hardest hit. Hundreds of trees were snapped or toppled. Power lines and telephone poles were also downed which resulted in widespread power outages. There were some outbuildings destroyed, as well as damage to shingles, siding and roofs. Part of a roof of a school was torn off. Billboards, business signs and Interstate highway signs were also partially or totally destroyed. It was also reported that about 30 automobiles in a grocery store parking lot had their windows completely shattered. A plate glass window in a fast food restaurant was also shattered. The area was declared a disaster area by the Governor of Ohio. On Interstate 77, there was a report of a tractor-trailed truck which was stopped in its tracks by the tremendous gust as it tried to move forward. It actually spun its wheels as if it were on ice without moving and an automobile behind it collided with the truck.
Emergency manager reported damage to the clock tower of an 150 year old courthouse, the collapse of a church, and several other structures damaged in the city of Cambridge.
Between 840 PM EDT and 9 PM EDT, a microburst struck just southwest of Warrentown, about 4 miles northeast of Cambridge. Numerous trees toppled or snapped. Siding and shingles torn from a few houses. Two small barns knocked down. One mobile home was pushed off its foundation. Maximum estimated wind 75 mph (65 knots). This microburst made a swath of sporadic damage about half a mile in length and 350 yards wide. It started from just south of Lakespur Lane, and moved northeastward to just south of Route 22
No historic map-sheet match is published
for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs
a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.
Browse the county's mapped places while that work is
pending.
From the nomination file
1,910 words on record
When 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 quoted below word for word, 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.
Description of the property
with smooth stone trim. The building measures approximately supported by round columns with Corinthian capitals. Along CONDITION finial. Ruins The doorways are round-arched, and have large oak doors. Second Empire building is an excellent example of its type. stone belt course divides the ground and first levels. by square, engaged columns with modified Corinthian capitals. courthouse except the north, which has only the hood molds floor has square columns with Doric capitals, the second, flat roofed mansardic tower with ornamental iron cresting. Guernsey County Courthouse was built from 1881 to 1883.This The ground floor and foundation are composed of large blocks is composed of rock-faced stone laid in regular ashlar bonds, floors are round-headed double-hung sash.
Above the windows the flat roofs of the porches are stone balustrades topped with and the second section of the tower is recessed behind it. The embellishments described above occur on alllsides of the the center is a statue of Justice. See continuation sheet. one hundred twenty feet square. On the first and second floors, the bays are accented with the and are cleverly disguised as pilasters flanking the center The large tower in the center of the courthouse rises about is a frieze decorated with incised carvings, and a denticular The building is built on a stone foundation, and the exterior The shaft has four louvered, arched openings that are flanked (Check One) urns.
Including the present structure, there have been three cost of $102,511. JUN 1 5 1973 Conservation Transportation Architecture Commerce Aboriginal Military and tower. Communications REGISTER Political Engineering Literature SIGNIFICANCE Theater NATIONAL Education Science losophy Music Yost and Packard was responsible for the design of nearly Pre-Columbian itarian Sculpture County Commissioners hired architect J.W. Yost to design Agriculture situated on the National Road.
Social/Human- Industry RECEIVED Landscape Religion/Phi has always been prosporous owing to the fact that it is was a large, rectilinear structure with a hipped roof Ohio during the period from 1870 to 1890.The Guernsey seems to have been a great courthouse building boom in During the late 1870s the county decided to construct a 18th Century contractor was T. B. Towmsend, also experienced with court- Invention Other(Specify) 1og building erected for that purpose. The second courthouse ten extant nineteenth century courthouses in Ohio. Major houses. courthouses in Cambridge.The first court was held in a the county seat, was laid out at the same time. The town This building was built from 1881 to 1883 ata AREAs OF SIGNIFICANCE (Check One or More as Appropriate)
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 73001452, 15 pages, held by the National Archives in Record
Group 79. See the
catalogue record.
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.
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.
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.
Block
