100 Block of West Front Street

The First Courthouse

Perrysburg's earliest buildings were made of abundantly available logs. This is a depiction of the first Wood County courthouse built in 1823 by Daniel Hubbell and Guy Nearing and used as such for 14 years. It was located about 200 feet west of Louisiana Avenue on the south side of West Front Street next door to what was to be the site of the Exchange Hotel, built in the same year. Logs were of hand-hewn oak 24 by 32 feet in size. Finished lumber was milled in Monclova, and bricks for the chimney were made at Hubbell's brickworks across the river. 

The building had offices on the first floor and the courtroom on the second, reached by an outside stairway not shown in this sketch. A log jail, in use until 1847, was moved here and located behind the courthouse. It was enlarged to include foot-square wall and floor timbers secured by pins. Windows consisted of mere slits in the logs. All of this construction cost more than the money on hand, so contractors were paid off with town lots valued at $12 each.

Walnut Street at Indiana Avenue

The Second Courthouse

Begun in the late 1830s, this 50 by 70-foot brick building was Wood County's second courthouse for 30 years. Of classical Greek Revival design, favored for public buildings, this one featured four large two- story Doric columns in the front and a tower topped with a dome. It was described at the time as "Roman Doric of bascilican [an oblong shape] style" and was built by Loomis Brigham and Jarius Curtis over a period of about six years and at a cost of $20,000. 

In 1872, fire broke out in a cooper's shop a couple of blocks west of Louisiana between Indiana and Third where about two acres of ground were covered with barrel staves and other wood combustibles. That was brought under control after the shop and two nearby houses were destroyed, but a steady wind revived the fire overnight and the next morning a nearby barn caught fire, then another dwelling, and embers from those fell on the unoccupied courthouse, which burned to the ground. At that time, not even a hand-pulled fire engine was owned by the village.