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Photograph of Versailles Town Hall and Wayne Township House
Photograph by Nyttend, Public domain. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Versailles Town Hall and Wayne Township House

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981. 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 Versailles Town Hall and Wayne Township House, located at 4 West Main Street in Versailles, Ohio, in the United States, is an historic brick town hall building built between 1875 and 1876 by joint resolution of the Versailles Village Council and the Wayne Township Trustees. It is also known as the Versailles Village Hall.”

Wikipedia article Versailles Town Hall and Wayne Township House, CC BY-SA 4.0.

one of 25 National Register listings in Darke County · listed in 1981 · category: Building.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
  • Address. 4 W. Main St., Versailles, 45380
  • When was it listed? 1981-02-18
  • Category. building
  • Township. Wayne township
  • Architectural style. Italianate architecture, Renaissance Revival architecture
  • National Register reference number. 81000432 - 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

17,405 words

The chapter on Wayne Township in The History of Darke County, Ohio, Containing a History of the County; Its Cities, Towns, Etc.; General and Local Statistics; Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men;, published 1880 names Versailles. This is what it says, exactly as the scans read.

Co., locating near Versailles, where they spent the remainder of their days ; he departed this life in 1853, and his wife in 1869. Prosper, the subject of this sketch, was born in France, on the 12th day of August, 1833 ; he, with his parents, came to Darke Co., in 1847, locating in Patterson Township, where he received his education in the common schools. He celebrated his marriage on the 2d of October, 1856, with Miss Adaline Trion, who was born in France in 1840 ; in 1869, he moved to Versailles, where he has resided ever since ; he engaged in the manufacture of tile, which business he still carries on, and, in 1879, he added the grain business, operating the Commercial Elevator - he handled, last year, about 22,000 bushels of wheat, 10,000 bushels of oats, and about 2,000 bushels of corn, and, at present, is prepared to handle all kinds of grain. Mr. Dabe has had his full share of township offices since his residence in the county - served as Trustee of Patterson two years, Assessor one year, Treasurer two years, and Trustee of Wayne two years. Mr. and Mrs. Dabe are active workers in the cause of religion, being members of the Christian Church. They are the parents of fourteen children, of whom twelve are living, viz., Peter, Lewis, Edmond, Jennie M., Charles, Anna, Mary, Lawrence, Harry, Clara, Franklin and Lucy. Mr. Dabe has accumulated a considerable amount of property by his hard labor, in which he has been nobly assisted by his good and industrious wife.

Passage source: The History of Darke County, Ohio, Containing a History of the County; Its Cities, Towns, Etc.; General and Local Statistics; Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men;, published 1880.

HOR VTIO DYE, farmer, Sec. 12; P. O. Versailles. F. L. Dye, the father of Horatio, was born in Miami Co., Ohio, in the year 1808 ; Sarah Lafevere, his wife was born in Miami Co., Ohio, in the year 1810 ; he came to Darke Co. in the year 1855, where he continued to reside till the death of his wife, which occurred in September, 1866, after which he sold out and moved to Sydney, Ohio, where he married Ann Easty in the year 1868, and at present resides there. Horatio, the subject of this sketch, was born in Miami Co., Ohio, on the 7th day of April, 1834 ; lived with his parents till he was 23 years old, working on the farm during the summer season and attending the district school in the winter ; obtained a good common-school education. When he was about 23 years old, he bought a farm of 82 acres in the same county, and engaged in the cultivation of the soil on his own responsibility, and on the 2d day of December, 1858, was united in marriage to Miss Lucinda Perry, in Miami Co.; she was born in Miami Co. on the 16th day of

Passage source: The History of Darke County, Ohio, Containing a History of the County; Its Cities, Towns, Etc.; General and Local Statistics; Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men;, published 1880.

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 - 17,405 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.

Specimens collected near this property

12 of 199 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 199 specimens collected within 10 miles of Versailles Town Hall and Wayne Township House between 1911 and 1975: 184 Animalia, 10 Fungi, 5 Plantae. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by Albrecht, C., Albrecht, C., Valentine, B. (Barry) & Valentine, B. (Buena), Andrew R. Moldenke 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 SpeciesYear Collected by Where, as recorded
Specimen of Tilletia laevis J.G.KühnTilletia laevis J.G.Kühn1919not recordedVersailles
Specimen of Ustilago nuda (C.N.Jensen) Kellerm. & SwingleUstilago nuda (C.N.Jensen) Kellerm. & Swingle1919s.n.Versailles
Specimen of Ustilago tritici (Bjerk.) Rostr.Ustilago tritici (Bjerk.) Rostr.1919H.L. LewisVersailles
A photograph of the species Fomes lobatus, not of this specimenFomes lobatus Cooke1911Overholts L. O.Gettysburg
A photograph of the species Macrolepiota procera, not of this specimenMacrolepiota procera (Scop.) Singer1911OverholtsGettysburg
A photograph of the species Polyporus zonalis, not of this specimenPolyporus zonalis Berk.1911Overholts L. O.Gettysburg
A photograph of the species Poria undata, not of this specimenPoria undata (Pers.) Quél.1911Overholts L. O.Gettysburg
A photograph of the species Butorides virescens, not of this specimenButorides virescens virescens (Linnaeus, 1758)1915Householder, V.Ausonia, 1 mi E
A photograph of the species Dolichonyx oryzivorus, not of this specimenDolichonyx oryzivorus (Linnaeus, 1758)1915Householder, V.1 mi. E Ausonia
A photograph of the species Falco sparverius, not of this specimenFalco sparverius sparverius Linnaeus, 17581915Householder, V.Ansonia, 1 mi E
A photograph of the species Geothlypis trichas, not of this specimenGeothlypis trichas (Linnaeus, 1766)1915Householder, V.Ausonia, 1 mi. E
A photograph of the species Icterus galbula, not of this specimenIcterus galbula (Linnaeus, 1758)1915Householder, V.1 mi. E Ausoria

All 199 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Storms near this property

21 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Versailles, the town this property stands in, in 21 storm reports between 1996 and 2026: 9 thunderstorm wind, 8 hail, 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
July 2003Flash FloodVersailles$50,000Twenty-five roads in the northeast part of the county were closed due to high water. A few homes were flooded in the area as well.
May 2002Thunderstorm WindVersailles$5,000Several trees and powerlines knocked down.
August 1998Thunderstorm WindVersailles$5,000Several trees knocked down.
April 2026Thunderstorm WindVersailles$3,000A few trees were downed.
February 2011Flash FloodVersailles$3,000Roads were closed with over two feet of water on them due to heavy rain and snow melt.
August 2011Thunderstorm WindVersailles$3,000Multiple trees were reported down due to damaging thunderstorm winds.
April 2007Thunderstorm WindVersailles$3,000Trees and power lines were downed.
September 2003Thunderstorm WindVersailles$3,000Trees were downed along Jamison Road.
April 2013Thunderstorm WindVersailles$1,000Trees were downed in the area due to damaging thunderstorm winds.
May 2020Thunderstorm WindVersailles$100A few small tree limbs were downed in Versailles.
April 2018Flash FloodVersailles-Several roads were closed due to flash flooding.
June 2012Thunderstorm WindVersailles-The thunderstorm wind gust magnitude was estimated.
July 2003Flash FloodVersailles-A few roads were washed out. Swamp Creek came out of its banks.
June 1999HailVersailles-Dime size hail was reported.
April 2012HailVersailles-no account filed
July 2012HailVersailles-no account filed
July 2011HailVersailles-no account filed
May 2004HailVersailles-no account filed
July 2003HailVersailles-no account filed
October 2000HailVersailles-no account filed
June 1996HailVersailles-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Darke County

Map coverage status

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

995 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

CONDITION EXCELLENT DETERIORATED UNEXPOSED XGOOD UNALTERED FAIR removing the paint and repairing and painting the window and doorway trim. XALTERED department.Six round arched windows remain intact on the second floor, but changes The Versailles Town Hall and the Wayne Township House is located in the center under a bracketed boxed cornice of the low pitched hipped roof.

were reduced in size,but the decorative window moulding remains.Two round arched sashes The building has resumed its former elegant appearance and is once again the The Main Street facade has an opening for the township offices and the fire and township officials began plans for restoration of the building by chemically CHECK ONE by long narrow windows that have galvinized iron hood moulds with fleur-de-lis on the first floor have been made to accommodate larger fire equipment. pride of this small town. the words TOWN HALL is supported by heavy scroll brackets. The doorway is flanked detailing.

On the second floor above the doorway, a pair of long narrow windows DATE chimneys have been removed.Through the years the exterior had been coated with doors under a filled-in transom.A projecting segmental pediment which features The west and south sides of the building are less ornate.The central bell layers of white paint which had begun peeling due to water damage.In 1978,village AREAS OF

Statement of significance

space for meeting rooms, a caliboose with iron cell, the fire department, and an upstairs 1500-1599 1400-1499 1876 1700-1799 INVENTION ARCHEOLOGY-HISTORIC ART PERIOD ECONOMICS EDUCATION PHILOSOPHY BUILDER/ARCHITECT XPOLITICS/GOVERNMENT SIGNIFICANCE MILITARY _EXPLORATION/SETTLEMENT MUSIC 1900- XARCHITECTURE AGRICULTURE LITERATURE RELIGION THEATER SCIENCE TRANSPORTATION CONSERVATION _ENGINEERING The town council and the township trustees signed an.agreement in 1875 to construct today with quarters for the mayor's office/police station, rescue squad, the income tax The 1876 building known as the Versailles Town Hall and the Wayne Township House department, and board of public affairs. _PREHISTORIC it was one of the few downtown structures that escaped the Big Fire of 19ol.

_1600-1699 _INDUSTRY _COMMUNITY PLANNING LAW is a fine example of Italianate style, rarely found in public buildings in rural western -ARCHEOLOGY-PREHISTORIC

The whole case file for this property - 995 words, 9 pages, reproduced complete.

Quoted from the National Register nomination for reference 81000432, 9 pages, held by the National Archives in Record Group 79. See the catalogue record.

Listed places nearby

3 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.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
St. Peter Evangelical Lutheran Church2.1 miles1980
English, William, House2.4 miles1982
Holy Family Catholic Church2.6 miles1979

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 81000432 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Darke CountyAll 25 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.
  • 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.