Fayette County Courthouse (Ohio)
local government building in the United States
The Fayette County Courthouse is a historic courthouse building located at 110 East Court Street in Washington Court House, Ohio. On July 2, 1973, it was added to the National Register.
History
The area that is currently Fayette County was once part of the Virginia Military District and was established as a county in 1810 from part of Ross County. The county seat was placed at Bloomingburg and court was held in the home of John Devault. The county seat was moved to Washington Court House in 1812 and a wooden structure was built that year. This building was replaced by a brick structure in 1813, and ultimately burned downed in 1828.
The county rebuilt at the same site in 1828, erecting a structure with 40 square feet (3.7 m2) and an additional wing measuring 14 x 30 feet (9.1 m). This was soon deemed too small and a new courthouse was designed by architect David W. Gibbs and began construction in 1882. The courthouse closely resembles the county courthouse in Marion. The courthouse was completed in 1885 and has served the county since.
“Fayette County Courthouse (Ohio)” enters the record as local government building in the United States. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Fayette, County and Courthouse can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Fayette County Courthouse (Ohio)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Fayette, County and Courthouse provides the most credible route into that argument.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5439007. Authority coordinates are 39.536, -83.440. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1973, 1810, 1812 and 1813.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
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- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Fayette County Courthouse (Ohio)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Fayette County Courthouse (Ohio) primary sources, Fayette County Courthouse (Ohio) archive and Fayette research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Fayette County Courthouse (Ohio)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.