Paulding County, Ohio

Founding: March 18, 1839 (declared in 1820)
Parent county: Unorganized territory

Namesake: John Paulding (1758–1818), New York militiaman
Seats: New Rochester (1839–1840); Charloe (1840–1851); Paulding (1851–)

Land area: 416 square miles

Population (2010): 19,614

Population (historic): 1,034 (1840); 4,945 (1860); 25,932 (1890); 15,301 (1930)

Periods of population growth: 1830–1890; 1950–1980

Subdivisions: 11 villages; 12 townships

National Register listings: Four

Income (per capita): $20,919

Income (median household): $46,459
Business establishments: 299 (65.6 people per business)
Pre-1939 residences (estimated): 2,021 (23.2%)
Vacant houses: 920 (10.6%)
Sources of settlement: Ohio, Pennsylvania, Germany, and New York

Paulding

Namesake: Paulding County

Founding: 1848 (platting); 1851 (post office)

Population (2010): 3,605

Population (historic): 454 (1880); 2,080 (1900); 1,904 (1930)

Periods of population growth: 1880–1900; 1930–1960; 1990s
Typology: Grid (with central courthouse square)

Courthouse Prehistory

- In 1839 and 1840, the Paulding County government met in a New Rochester store owned by one N.H. Curtis.

First Courthouse

Location: Charloe

Construction: 1840

Years of service: 1840–1851

Typology: Front-gabled (?); brick; two-story

Style: Unknown

Builder:  Benjamin Hollister

Cost: Unknown

Status: Razed

Features of note: Appearance unknown. The building measured 30' by 40'.

Second Courthouse

Location: North Williams Street (Paulding)

Construction: 1852

Years of service: 1852–1868

Typology: Braced-frame; two-story

Style: Unknown

Builder:  Unknown

Cost: Unknown

Status: Razed (burned in 1868)

Features of note: Appearance unknown. The building measured 30' by 40'. Apparently, the second-floor courtroom was accessible only via an exterior staircase.

Third Courthouse

Location: North Main Street (Paulding)

Construction: 1868

Years of service: 1868–1886

Typology: Frame; one-story

Style: Unknown

Builder:  Francis Reiniche

Cost: $2,000 ($37,402 in 2017 dollars)

Status: Razed

Features of note: Appearance unknown. The building measured 30' by 40' and housed only a courtroom and "two small jury rooms."

Fourth Courthouse

Location: 115 North Williams Street (Paulding)

Construction: 1886–1888

Years of service: 1888–

Typology: Axial; brick; two-and-a-half-story (with raised basement)

Style: Romanesque

Architect:  Edward Oscar Fallis

Cost: $40,000 ($1,107,558 in 2017 dollars)

Status: Extant; functional

Features of note: Central tower with dome and curious, bulging balustrade–parapet; corbelled parapet above entrance; projecting central bays; corbelled bosses; round-arched windows; rectangular stone lintels and sills; four-over-four windows; Romanesque entrance ornamentation. Similar in design to the Lenawee County Courthouse in Adrian, Michigan.


Sources: Wikipedia; Courthouse History; United States Census Bureau; Historical Atlas of Paulding County, Ohio (Western Publishing, 1892).