Knox County, Ohio

Founding: March 1, 1808
Parent county: Fairfield

Namesake: Henry Knox (1750–1806), U.S. Secretary of War
Seat: Mount Vernon (1808–)

Land area: 525 square miles

Population (2010): 60,921

Population (historic): 2,149 (1810); 28,872 (1850); 27,431 (1880); 29,338 (1930)

Periods of population growth: 1810–1840; 1900s; 1940–1970; 1980s; 1990–2010

Subdivisions: One city; eight villages; two CDPs; 22 townships

National Register listings: 45

Income (per capita): $21,204

Income (median household): $45,655
Business establishments: 1,063 (57.3 people per business)
Pre-1939 residences (estimated): 6,375 (25.2%)
Vacant houses: 2,691 (10.6%)
Sources of settlement: Pennsylvania; Maryland; Virginia; New York; New Jersey; England

Mount Vernon

Namesake: Mount Vernon, George Washington's plantation

Founding: 1805 (platting); 1809 (post office)

Population (2010): 16,990

Population (historic): 314 (1810); 3,711 (1850); 5,249 (1880); 9,370 (1930)

Periods of population growth: 1820–1910; 1940s; 2000s
Typology: Grid (with interrupting public square)

Miscellany

- In 1828, after the second courthouse's wall collapsed, county officials met temporarily in the Golden Swan Inn, which stood at the Main Street–Gambier Street intersection.

- When Knox County's third courthouse was damaged by a tornado, the county government moved to a building known as "George's Hall," on Gambier Street.

First Courthouse

Location: Public Square (Mount Vernon)

Construction: 1808

Years of service: 1808–1812

Typology: Single-pen; log; one-story

Style: None

Builder: Unknown

Cost: Unknown

Status: Razed

Features of note: Clapboard roof; earth floor; "mud-and-stick" chimney. An exceptionally crude structure, supposedly measuring 18' by 15'.

Second Courthouse

Location: Public Square (Mount Vernon)

Construction: 1812 (?)

Years of service: 1812–1828

Typology: Cubic; brick; two-story

Style: Federal (?)

Builders: Solomon Geller and George Downs

Cost: $745 ($10,903 in 2017 dollars)

Status: Razed (collapsed in 1828)

Features of note: Central cupola.

Road construction weakened the building's foundation to such an extent that, in 1828, one of its walls collapsed. This rendered the courthouse unusable.

Third Courthouse

Location: Public Square (Mount Vernon)

Construction: 1829

Years of service: 1829–1854

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

Style: Greek Revival (?)

Builder: John Shaw

Cost: $5,485 ($128,046 in 2017 dollars)

Status: Razed (damaged by an 1854 tornado)

Features of note: Pedimented portico; fluted columns; elevated basement. Built into a slope.

Fourth Courthouse

Location: 111 East High Street (Mount Vernon)

Construction: 1854–1856 / 1890

Years of service: 1856–

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

Style: Greek Revival

Builder: Daniel Clark

Cost: Unknown

Status: Extant; functional

Features of note: Square clock tower with entablature and narrow columns; wide brick entablature; triglyphs; floral tympanum carvings; inset central bay; fluted Doric columns in antis; heavy brick pilasters; one-over-one windows; pedimented window hoods.

More photos.


Sources: Wikipedia; Courthouse History; United States Census Bureau; History of Knox County, Ohio (Graham, 1881).