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Photograph of Rawlings-Brownell House
Photograph by Nyttend, Public domain. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Rawlings--Brownell House

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. 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 Rawlings-Brownell House is a historic residence on the northern side of Washington Court House, Ohio, United States. Built during the middle of the nineteenth century, it was home to the man who established the neighborhood in which it is located, and it was later the home of a leading merchant.”

Wikipedia article Rawlings-Brownell House, CC BY-SA 4.0.

one of 12 National Register listings in Fayette County · listed in 1988 · 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. 318 Rawlings St., Washington Court House, 43160
  • When was it listed? 1988-03-10
  • Category. building
  • Township. Washington Court House city
  • Architectural style. Greek Revival architecture, Italianate architecture, Renaissance Revival architecture
  • National Register reference number. 88000207 - 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.

Specimens collected near this property

12 of 239 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 239 specimens collected within 10 miles of Rawlings--Brownell House between 1882 and 1975: 228 Animalia, 6 Plantae, 5 Fungi. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by Bowles, P. (Pearl), Brubaker, J. A. & Higgins, Brubaker, J. A. & Link, B. 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 Podosphaera clandestina var. clandestina (Wallr.) Lév.Podosphaera clandestina var. clandestina (Wallr.) Lév.1882Kellerman, W.A.America borealis: prope Lancaster, Ohio, in foliis Spiraeae tomentosae.
Specimen of Spiraea tomentosa L.Spiraea tomentosa L.1882Kellerman, W.A.America borealis: prope Lancaster, Ohio, in foliis Spiraeae tomentosae.
Specimen of Obovaria retusa (Lamarck, 1819)Obovaria retusa (Lamarck, 1819)1909Bureau of FisheriesOhio River, Buena Vista
A photograph of the species Accipiter cooperii, not of this specimenAccipiter cooperii (Bonaparte, 1828)1907Hegler, A. (Almer)Fairview, Fayette, Ohio, USA
A photograph of the species Buteo jamaicensis, not of this specimenButeo jamaicensis borealis (Gmelin, 1788)1907Hegler, A. (Almer)Fairview Sta., Fayette, Ohio, USA
A photograph of the species Buteo lagopus, not of this specimenButeo lagopus sanctijohannis (Gmelin, 1788)1907Hegler, A. (Almer)Fairview Sta., Fayette, Ohio, USA
A photograph of the species Falco rusticolus, not of this specimenFalco rusticolus obsoletus (J.F.Gmelin, 1788)1907Hegler, A. (Almer)Washington C.H., Fayette, Ohio, USA
Tiphiidae1925Pallister, J. C. (John C.)Madison, Fayette Co., Ohio, USA
A photograph of the species Notropis heterolepis, not of this specimenNotropis heterolepis Eigenmann & Eigenmann, 18931926Wickliff, E. L. (Edward L.)Rattlesnake Creek, no more precise locality provided, SW corner of Fayette County OH
A photograph of the species Noturus miurus, not of this specimenNoturus miurus Jordan, 18771926Wickliff, E. L. (Edward L.)water unknown, #10 Fayette Co, n/a, township n/a
A photograph of the species Opsopoeodus emiliae, not of this specimenOpsopoeodus emiliae Hay, 18811926Wickliff, E. L. (Edward L.)Sugar Creek, near NE corner of Clinton County OH locality is approximate based off Fishes of Ohio distribution map
A photograph of the species Plethodon richmondi, not of this specimenPlethodon richmondi Netting & Mittleman, 19381929Walker, C. F. (Charles F.)Perry Twp., Fayette Co., Ohio

All 239 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this property

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Rawlings--Brownell House: 1 past producer, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Limestone, General, 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Sugar Creek QuarryLimestone, GeneralPast ProducerSedimentary
Sugar Creek QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer

Every working recorded in Fayette 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

2,321 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.

Statement of significance

XX locally 1851; 1867-1902 Architect/Builder State significance of property, and justify criteria, criteria considerations, and areas and periods of significance noted above. he became a real estate developer, and purchased 55-1/2 acres of farm land residential neighborhood, and included within the city limits, contributing to offices in Columbus, Boston, Massachusetts, and Newark, New Jersey. stands on East Sycamore Street at Paint Creek, although it has been vacant 1870 Architecture Commerce 1867 taste that were taking place in the late 19th century.

1902 Unknown Significant Person during his residence in the house that Brownell's business venture grew to The Rawlings-Brownell House is significant under Criterion B for its The house is significant under Criterion B for its association with the second Applicable National Register Criteria Period of Significance Areas of Significance (enter categories from instructions) Sons as the leading business of its kind in the central/southern Ohio region together with his brother David, operated a retail grocery from 1872 to 1882. spent as a journalist followed by employment as an exchange broker.In 1850, elements of Italianate influence, illustrating the local changes in stylistic the late 19th/early 20th century growth of the community.

Cultural Affiliation Certifying official has considered the significance of this property in relation to other properties: 1ater subdivided in 1858.By 1907,the Raw1ings Addition was a developed Charles H.Brownell was active in the business he founded until his death in 1ocated outside of what was then the Washington Court House boundary line of histories written in the 1890s and early 1900s describe C.H.Brownell and The house was built in 1851 for Moses Vance Rawlings.His early career was X See continuation sheet Charles H.

Read the complete 2,321-word case file.

The whole case file for this property - 2,321 words, 33 pages, reproduced complete.

Quoted from the National Register nomination for reference 88000207, 33 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.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Washington School0.1 miles2013
Fayette County Courthouse0.4 miles1973
Sharp, Morris, House0.4 miles1974
Kelley, Barney, House0.4 miles1979
Robinson--Pavey House0.6 miles1987
Light, Jacob, House0.7 miles1989

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 88000207 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Fayette CountyAll 12 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.