By Tom Stephens

Staff Writer

It’s called the National Register of Historic Places and the premise of the register is to recognize the nation's historic places worthy of preservation.

Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Register of Historic Places is part of a nationwide effort to identify, evaluate and protect America’s historic and archaeological resources. The National Park Service oversees this program.

On May 9, 2025, the National Register of Historic Places reached the 100,000 mark. Ten of those properties are located right here in Logan County.

To even be considered for listing, a property generally must first meet two basic requirements: age and significance.

Generally, to make grade and make it on the register, properties, sites or buildings must be at least 50 years old and retain much of their what the National Park Service calls “integrity”, which means that the site must maintain most of its original appearance.

Buildings in particular may qualify because of their architectural design, landscape features or engineering achievements. However, sites that have been extensively altered one way or another may exclude them from the list should the renovations interfere with their historic character or significance.

Secondly, to be considered for the NRHP, a property, building or site must have a noteworthy connection to history.

That distinction may stem from a site’s association with important events, historical activities or developments, or have connections with individuals who played an important historical role in the past.

Archaeological sites, of which there are two in Logan County, may also be eligible if they have the potential to provide important information about the nation’s history or prehistory.

One of Logan County’s sites in the NRHP encompasses quite number of buildings, the Downtown Bellefontaine Historic District, which made the list as a whole in 2020.

The Downtown Bellefontaine Historic District is bounded on the east by Madriver Street, on the north by Sandusky Avenue, on the west by Elm Street and on the south by Auburn Ave.

Not unsurprisingly, three more of Logan County’s entrants in the NRHP are located within the very same Bellefontaine Downtown Historic District.

Those sites include the Logan County Courthouse at 101 S. Main St., which was constructed in 1870 and was the first Logan County site to make NRHP list in 1973.

The second place to make it on the NRHP in the Downtown Historic District is Court Avenue, where the first concrete street in America was laid in 1891. Portions of the original street remain in use today and Court Avenue was recognized on the NRHP in 1974.

The third Downtown site is the Holland Theatre at 127 E. Columbus Ave., which was enshrined in the NRHP 2001.

A fifth site that is also in Bellefontaine and just misses the Downtown District by a couple of blocks is the William Lawrence House at 325 N. Main St., which made the NRHP list in 1979.

The Abram S. Piatt House and Donn S. Piatt House, locally known as the Piatt Castles or the Mac-A-Cheek and Mac-O-Chee castles are Gothic-style chateaux located on Township Road 47 and State Route 245, respectively, in Monroe Township east of West Liberty. Both were were added to the NRHP in 1982. (See this week’s Entertainment section of the Chronicle for a feature on the Piatt Castle Mac-O-Chee's restoration).

Two archeological sites in Logan County are also on the register - the Dunns Pond Mound and Lake Ridge Island Mound, which are located less than a mile from each other on the southeast side of Indian Lake and from which Moundwood gets its name.

Archeologists believe that the mounds are likely burial grounds of Native Americans of the Hopewell culture who lived in the area over 1,000 years ago, but no serious excavations of the mounds have ever been conducted. Both sites made the NRHP in 1974.

Martin Marmon House on County Road 153 was built in by Martin Marmon in 1820.

In addition to giving the valley east of Zanesfield his name, Marmon also left us one of the outstanding specimens of Quaker pioneer architecture which can be found on County Road 153 near Zanesfield. The Marmon House made it on the list in 1986.

The 10th site in Logan County to be recognized is the McColly Covered Bridge on County Road 13 in Washington Township.

One of the last two remaining covered bridges in Logan County, the McColly Bridge was constructed in 1876 and named for a nearby landowner and was added to the NRHP in 1975. ■