Wood County, Ohio

Founding: April 1, 1820
Parent county: Unorganized territory

Namesake: Eleazer Wood (1783–1814), War of 1812 officer
Seats: Maumee (1820–1823); Perrysburg (1823–1870); Bowling Green (1870–)

Land area: 617 square miles

Population (2010): 125,488

Population (historic): 1,102 (1830); 17,886 (1860); 51,555 (1900); 50,320 (1930)

Periods of population growth: 1830–1900; 1920s; 1940–1980

Subdivisions: Five cities; 21 villages; two CDPs; 19 townships

National Register listings: 32

Income (per capita): $26,671

Income (median household): $53,298
Business establishments: 2,722 (46.1 people per business)
Pre-1939 residences (estimated): 9,814 (18.3%)
Vacant houses: 4,027 (7.5%)
Sources of settlement: Germany, Pennsylvania, New York, and England

Bowling Green

Namesake: Bowling Green, Kentucky

Founding: 1832 (platting); 1834 (post office); 1855 (incorporation)

Population (2010): 30,028

Population (historic): 906 (1870); 5,067 (1900); 6,688 (1930)

Periods of population growth: 1860–1900; 1910–1930; 1940–1980
Typology: Grid

First Courthouse

Location: Front Street (Perrysburg)

Construction: 1823

Years of service: 1823–1837

Typology: Unknown; braced-frame (?)

Style: Unknown

Builders: Daniel Hubbell and Guy Nearing

Cost: $895 ($18,587 in 2017 dollars)

Status: Razed

Features of note: Appearance unknown.

Second Courthouse

Location: Perrysburg

Construction: 1837–1843

Years of service: 1843–1870

Typology: Front-gabled (temple-form); brick; two-story

Style: Greek Revival

Builders: Jairus Curtis and Loomis Brigham

Cost: $20,000 ($534,596 in 2017 dollars)

Status: Razed

Features of note: Pedimented portico.

Third Courthouse

Location: Bowling Green

Construction: 1870

Years of service: 1870–1894

Typology: Unknown

Style: Unknown

Builders: Unknown

Cost: Unknown

Status: Razed

Features of note: Appearance unknown.

Fourth Courthouse

Photo from the USDA collection.

Location: 1 Courthouse Square (Bowling Green)

Construction: 1894–1896

Years of service: 1896–

Typology: Axial (monumental); stone; three-and-a-half-story

Style: Richardsonian Romanesque

Architects: Yost and Packard

Cost: $222,895 ($6,662,015 in 2017 dollars)

Status: Extant; functional

Features of note: Lofty central clock tower; cross-shaped finials; turrets; clay tile roof; parapeted dormers; tapered projecting bay; bundled columns; corbelling; round-arched windows; low, elongated, segmental-arched entry.


Source: Wikipedia; Courthouse History; United States Census Bureau; Commemorative Historical and Biographical Record of Wood County, Ohio (Beers, 1897).