Washington County, Ohio

Founding: July 27, 1788
Parent county: Unorganized territory

Namesake: George Washington (1732–1799), Founding Father
Seat: Marietta (1788–)

Land area: 632 square miles

Population (2010): 61,778

Population (historic): 5,427 (1800); 20,823 (1840); 43,244 (1880); 42,437 (1930)

Periods of population growth: 1790–1870; 1890s; 1950–1980

Subdivisions: Two cities; five villages; six CDPs; 22 townships

National Register listings: 37

Income (per capita): $22,786

Income (median household): $41,654
Business establishments: 1,414 (43.7 people per business)
Pre-1939 residences (estimated): 6,164 (21.9%)
Vacant houses: 3,274 (11.6%)
Sources of settlement: Germany, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Connecticut, New York, and Scotland

Marietta

Namesake: Unclear—perhaps Marie Antoinette, whose government funded the American Revolution

Founding: 1788 (platting); 1794 (post office)

Population (2010): 14,085

Population (historic): 321 (1800); 3,175 (1850); 5,444 (1880); 14,285 (1930)

Periods of population growth: 1800–1870; 1880–1900; 1910s; 1940s
Typology: Grid

Courthouse Prehistory

- Between 1788 and 1799, Washington County officials met in a Campus Martius apartment.

First Courthouse

Illustration taken from Ohio History Central.

Location: Marietta

Construction: 1798–1799

Years of service: 1799–1823

Typology: Side-gabled; log; two-story

Style: None

Builders: Dudley Woodbridge and Griffin Greene

Cost: Unknown

Status: Razed

Features of note: Five-bay facade; central cupola. The building measured 45' by 39'. Its logs were "held together by iron bolts"—an oddly sophisticated method of joinery, given the construction material.

Second Courthouse

Photo taken from the Washington County, Ohio website.

Location: Marietta

Construction: 1819–1823 1854 / 1876

Years of service: 1823–1902

Typology: Cubic; brick; two-story

Style: Federal / Gothic Revival

Builders: Unknown

Cost: Unknown

Status: Razed

Features of note: Octagonal central cupola; three-bay facade; doorways with pediments and fanlights; buttresses and finials (on addition).

Third Courthouse

Photo by Mike Sharp.

Location: 205 West Putnam Street (Marietta)

Construction: 1902

Years of service: 1902–

Typology: Axial (irregular); stone; three-story (with elevated basement)

Style: Classical Revival

Architect: Samuel Hannaford

Cost: Unknown

Status: Extant; functional

Features of note: Lofty, off-center tower; entablature; rooftop parapet; pediments with tympanum carvings; Corinthian columns; pedimented windows; quoins; rusticated first-floor stonework; arcaded entry.


Sources: Wikipedia; Courthouse History; United States Census Bureau; History of Marietta and Washington County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens (Biographical Publishing, 1902).