Category:Wayne County Historical Landmark

The movement to recognize historical places in Wayne County, Ohio started at the Wayne County Historical Society of Ohio in 1971^[1]. A temporary study committee, the Rogues Hollow Committee, was appointed to research and study the site of the former Chidester Mill and the possibility of restoring the site. However, by 1972 it was noted that several old historical buildings in the County were destroyed by fire, pernicious vandalism, or simply demolished to construct new buildings. These shocking events caused many historically minded people in the community to take action to start a recognition program to research, document, and mark the historically significant structures and places within the County. On April 12, 1972 the Rogues Hollow Committee was re-named the County Landmarks Committee and started to research historical buildings, residences, and places within the entire County. Educating the public about the history and architectural features of the structures designated as Wayne County Historical Landmarks encourages all the people within the community to take the necessary steps to preserve and maintain these old structures for future generations.

The Wayne County Historical Landmark recognition program was only meant to be a 4-year program that would culminate with the publishing of the book, Historic Heritage of Wayne County, Ohio, for the nation's 1976 Bicentennial Celebration. The committee proposed to vigorously adopt the historic places recognition program in order to encourage preservation of historic structures within the county over the four-year period leading up to the nation's 1976 Bicentennial Celebration. By 1976, 256 places had been accepted into the recognition program. However the program generated so much interest that the Society made the temporary committee into a permanent standing committee from 1975 until 2009 when it was given the status of special committee as interest in the program wanes.

In the process of evaluating and studying the nominations made by citizens, quite a number of the nominated houses and buildings were more than 100-years-old but did not have historic significance to be deemed a Landmark. In order to recognize these types of places the committee, with the backing of the Society Trustees, set up two new classes of historical places. One category recognized Century Houses, which are places that have been owned by the same family for more than 100 years. The other category recognized Pioneer Houses: residences that were at least 100 years old or more. However, by 2012, the Landmark Committee noted that the original Pioneer House designation no longer fit its original intention of recognizing places built by early county settlers and made two changes to the recognition program. Going forward to qualify as a Pioneer House, the structure had to have been built before 1900. After that the house that was built in 1900 or later and was 100-years-old qualified for a new 100-Year-Old House designation.

The definition of a County Historical Landmark– Building or home that is 100 years old or more and has special architectural, cultural, or historic value; or Site, district, or object of historic importance (100+ years old).

Of the original 256 places accepted into the 1976 historic recognition program, 65 were given "Wayne County Historical Landmark" status. They appear below.