Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. 9 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1909.
From the record
“The Broom Building is located at 701 Wheeling Avenue in Cambridge, Ohio, United States. The property was listed on the National Register on February 17, 1983.”
Wikipedia article Broom Building, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 22 National Register listings published here for Guernsey County · listed in 1983 · category: Building.
National Register reference number.83001976- 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.
Then and now
1909 to 1994
The ground this property stands on, surveyed
85 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are
United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.
19091994
Fires near this property
47 since 2007
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 47 fires within 5 miles of Broom Building
between 2007 and 2020, burning about 139 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 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
31
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
10
Recreation and ceremony
3
Smoking
2
Arson/incendiarism
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 321 specimens
collected within 10 miles of Broom Building between 1875 and 1975: 133 Fungi, 122 Animalia, 62 Plantae, 2 Unrecorded, 2 Protozoa.
12 distinct Species records are shown.
Collected by Adams, W., Adams, W. (William), Adams, W. (William), Trautman, M. B. (Milton Bernard) et al. 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
2 workings within 5 miles of Broom Building: 1 occurrence, 1 producer.
1 still produces. What was taken out: Titanium, Silica, Iron, Aluminum, Vanadium, Zirconium, Iron. 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
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.
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
shorter than the lower.Windows on the 3rd story are round-arched,2/2,also Areas of Significance - Check and justify below - archeology-historic _ conservation . law _ science _ economics . sculpture X architecture . education .military - engineering - exploration/settlement - philosophy . theater - industry - politics/government . transportation other (specify) ca. 1890 The Broom Building is nominated for its architecture, being one of a very small city.
It is typical of the Victorian Italianate: style, with its varied surface texture (brick,moulded brick, rock-faced stone, and stamped metad), its tall window proportions, its variation of window form (flat & arches combined with considerable locally-important commercial architecture, much has been lost, and The building was built for Adam Broom, a local grocer who operated his the Practical Business College, during the early years of the twentieth century. After the turn of the century, from 1901-1917, William Harper, also a grocer, ran 1600-1699 1500-1599 1700-1799 1400-1499 town. commerce invention art humanitarian music Specific dates Period 1900- communications social/ agriculture X1800-1899 prehistoric his business from this building.
literature few Italianate structures remaining along the principal thoroughfare of this round arches),and its pronounced overhanging cornice.While Cambridge once had 8.
Statement of significance
(in one paragraph) the Broom Building represents the architecture of the late 19th century in this - archeology-prehistoric . community planning - religion landscape architecture grocery from this site.It also housed one of two Business colleges in the town, 9.
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 83001976, 12 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.
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