Pike County, Ohio

Founding: February 1, 1815
Parent counties: Adams, Ross, and Scioto

Namesake: Zebulon Pike (1779–1813), explorer and general
Seats: Piketon (1815–1861); Waverly (1861–)

Land area: 440 square miles

Population (2010): 28,709

Population (historic): 4,253 (1820); 13,643 (1860); 17,472 (1890); 13,876 (1930)

Periods of population growth: 1820–1880; 1930s; 1950s; 1970s; 1990s

Subdivisions: Three villages; two CDPs; 14 townships

National Register listings: Eight

Income (per capita): $17,494

Income (median household): $35,912
Business establishments: 411 (69.9 people per business)
Pre-1939 residences (estimated): 1,198 (9.6%)
Vacant houses: 1,590 (12.7%)
Sources of settlement: Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Germany

Piketon (ex-seat)

Namesake: Pike County

Founding: 1814 (platting, as Jefferson); 1816 (post office)

Population (2010): 2,181

Population (historic): 275 (1820); 684 (1860); 625 (1900); 713 (1930)

Periods of population growth: 1814–1820; 1830–1850; 1880s; 1950s; 1970s; 1990–2010
Typology: Grid (linear, dogleg)

Waverly

Namesake: Unclear—perhaps Walter Scott's Waverley

Founding: 1829 (platting, as Uniontown); 1830 (post office)

Population (2010): 4,408

Population (historic): 306 (1840); 1,057 (1860); 1,854 (1900); 1,603 (1930)

Periods of population growth: 1840–1880; 1890s; 1950–1970
Typology: Grid

Courthouse Prehistory

- Between 1815 and 1819, the Pike County government convened in a stone house owned by one John Chenoweth.

First Courthouse

Photo by Don O'Brien.

Location: East Main Street (Piketon)

Construction: 1816–1819

Years of service: 1819–1861

Typology: "I" house; brick; two-story

Style: None

Builder: Unknown

Cost: Unknown

Status: Extant (used as Piketon village offices)

Features of note: Five-bay facade; Flemish-bond brickwork; rectangular lintels and sills (some emblazoned with names of county offices); one-over-one replacement windows. Damaged by fire in 1844.

Second Courthouse

Photo by Yolanda Lifter (2006).

Location: 100 East 2nd Street (Waverly)

Construction: 1864–1866 / 1909

Years of service: 1866–

Typology: Front-gabled; brick; three-story

Style: Classical Revival

Builder: Unknown

Cost: Unknown

Status: Extant; functional

Features of note: Pedimented, off-center cupola; elongated, round-arched windows; round-arched side recesses; broken pediment; denticulate cornice; brick entablature; centered Palladian window; pilasters; splayed stone lintels; round-arched central recess; date stone; stone door surround with broken, curved pediment.

For more photos, see this page.


Sources: Wikipedia; Courthouse History; United States Census Bureau; Remarkable Ohio; Historical Collections of Ohio (Howe, 1889).