Muskingum County, Ohio

Founding: March 1, 1804
Parent counties: Fairfield and Washington

Namesake: The Muskingum River
Seat: Zanesville (1804–)

Land area: 665 square miles

Population (2010): 86,074

Population (historic): 10,036 (1810); 45,049 (1850); 49,774 (1880); 67,398 (1930)

Periods of population growth: 1800–1850; 1870s; 1920s

Subdivisions: One city; ten villages; five CDPs; 25 townships

National Register listings: 79

Income (per capita): $20,561

Income (median household): $39,538
Business establishments: 1,736 (49.6 people per business)
Pre-1939 residences (estimated): 10,118 (26.7%)
Vacant houses: 3,746 (9.9%)
Sources of settlement: Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ireland, Maryland, and Germany

Zanesville

Namesake: Ebenezer Zane (1747–1811), builder of Zane's Trace

Founding: 1799 (platting, as Westbourne); 1801 (post office)

Population (2010): 25,487

Population (historic): 474 (1800); 4,766 (1840); 18,113 (1880); 36,440 (1930)

Periods of population growth: 1800–1910; 1920s
Typology: Grid

Courthouse Prehistory

- Between 1804 and 1808, Muskingum County officials met in buildings owned by David Harvey and James Herron.

First Courthouse

Location: Zanesville

Construction: 1808

Years of service: 1808–1812

Typology: Unknown; braced-frame; two-story

Style: Unknown

Builder: Henry Ford

Cost: $480 ($7,463 in 2017 dollars)

Status: Razed (burned in 1814)

Features of note: Appearance unknown. The structure, apparently, measured 55' by 20'.

Second Courthouse

Photo from Remarkable Ohio.

Location: Main Street (Zanesville)

Construction: 1809–1810 / 1833

Years of service: 1812–1874

Typology: Cubic (with flanking wings); brick; two-story

Style: Federal

Architect: Joseph Munro, Daniel Convers, John Williamson, and James Hampson

Cost: $7,500 ($119,118 in 2017 dollars)

Status: Razed

Features of note: Octagonal central cupola; five-bay facade; recessed, round-arched doorway; stepped gables; attic fanlights.

Third Courthouse

Photo by Leslie Dellovade.

Location: 401 Main Street (Zanesville)

Construction: 1874–1877

Years of service: 1877–

Typology: Axial; stone; two-and-a-half-story (with elevated basement)

Style: Second Empire

Architects: Henry E. Myer

Cost: Unknown

Status: Extant; functional

Features of note: Massive central clock tower with projecting pediment; mansard roof with polychromatic slates; ornate, pedimented dormers; cornice brackets; Corinthian capitals; quoins; segmental-arched windows with fluted hoodmolds and keystones; Classical Revival porch.



Sources: Wikipedia; Courthouse History; United States Census Bureau; History of Muskingum County, Ohio (Everhart, 1882).