Some time ago, a member of an online forum compiled the following list of several of Ohio’s county seat towns, arranged by classification on how each respects and preserves its own built history.  While you may agree or not agree with some of the selections made (nor do we at Preservation Ohio necessarily agree with them), it nevertheless provides an interesting point of discussion.

Super County Seats:  Super County Seats have largely intact historic resources, have a strong preservation ethic (or at least one strong preservation project underway and which may include a preservation-based downtown revitalization program), convey a strong sense of place, have a downtown adjacent to one or more intact historic residential districts, are highly unique and potentially regionally or nationally important.

Greenville
Mount Vernon
Delaware
Circleville
Norwalk
Troy
Hillsboro
McConnelsville

Great County Seats:  All of the above, but with one or more major issues that put it into this “near-miss” category.

Lancaster
Marietta
Ashland
Bowling Green
Sidney
Mount Gilead
Millersburg
Lisbon

Good County Seats:  These county seats have significant historic resources, however there is a preservation challenge(s) which is(are) significant and affects the ability to convey a sense of place.  In the majority of these communities, it is an issue of “missing teeth” in streetscapes, the lack of a preservation ordinance or strong ethic that has resulted in several critical losses, or a general lack of maintenance or revitalization.  A few of these could make their way up to the next level (particularly those marked with asterisks).

Chillicothe*
Medina
Urbana*
Hamilton*
Tiffin (* provided the Courthouse remains)
Van Wert*
Bellefontaine
Wooster*
Kenton*
London
Athens
Warren*
Washington CH
Fremont
Marysville*
Mansfield
Marion
Lima*
New Philadelphia*
Upper Sandusky*
Jefferson
Steubenville

Others:  So much has been lost that a sense of place is difficult to convey, and no significant efforts are underway to change that fact (or just, in fact, too late).

Bucyrus
Springfield
Painesville

What do you think?  Are these classifications correct? Useful?  Where does your county seat town fit in this mix?

Photo: Downtown Hillsboro - OZinOH/Creative Commons License