The Genoa and Elmore area is rich with history.
And it’s rich with history preservationists.
Their work maintaining and renovating area buildings has created historic legacies that will give future generations a better understanding of yesterday.
Today, visitors to the area can drive through the towns and catch glimpses of life long ago.
GENOA TOWN HALL
Genoa Town Hall, built in 1868, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places because of its unique Gothic Revival style architecture.
It is the oldest freestanding building in Ottawa County, according to reference information from the Genoa Branch of the Harris-Elmore Public Library.
The hall was built with eight ornamental chimneys and a hand-carved, sandstone mask of Greek god of theater Dionysus over the main entrance.
In its early years, the town hall was a community building that housed everything from council meetings to church bazaars to high school commencements. From its inception, it was home to the Genoa Opera Hall, which opened with the play “The Three Wise Owls.”
Today, it still remains a focal point of the town as it serves as a meeting place for government business, houses the mayor’s office and is the home of Genoa Civic Theatre, which produces several theatrical performances every year.
OLD SCHOOL PRIVY, GENOA
The Old School Privy, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is a testament to the civic pride of 19th century Genoa residents.
The building, built as an outhouse for the adjoining public school, was designed in Romanesque Revival style architecture, according to reference information from the Genoa Branch of the Harris-Elmore Public Library. It featured arches over the windows, rusticated stonework and a completely symmetrical exterior design.
Builders even placed a false chimney on one end of the roof to aesthetically balance the potbelly stove chimney on the other end. The privy was built with four doors, one each for male teachers, female teachers, boys and girls.
One of the most important aspects of the privy is its simple existence. Not many “outdoor necessaries” are still around.
Most were torn down because their absence was a status symbol. It meant the owner could afford one of the most frivolous of modern conveniences: indoor plumbing.
OHIO 51 BRIDGE, ELMORE
The Ohio 51 bridge, which spans the Portage River in Elmore, is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The bridge was built in 1927, during an era when aesthetics were an important part of architectural design, according to information from the Local History Room at the Harris-Elmore Public Library. Unlike modern bridges that often are built strictly for function, the Ohio 51 bridge not only imparts beauty in and of itself, but it allows its users to enjoy scenic views of the river.
That’s not to say, however, that function was ignored by its designers. The steel-reinforced concrete design was a modern wonder of the time, and a great improvement over the 1883-era iron bridge it replaced.
Oddly, the bridge’s greatest attraction when it was built was its sidewalls, something the old iron bridge lacked. Add to that the hazard of the absence of lighting, and it became common for horses and buggies to miss the iron bridge and run into the river during evening rides.
GAR POST NO. 39, GENOA
In the year following the Civil War, veterans found solace from painful battle memories in friendships with fellow veterans.
With this in mind, surgeon Benjamin Stephenson founded the General Army of the Republic on April 6, 1866. The GAR was an organization for Union veterans that embraced the principles of fraternity, charity and loyalty and similar to the modern-day VFW.
Locally, Elliot Wyman GAR Post No. 39 was established, and named in memory of Wyman, a Genoa resident who was killed in Atlanta in 1864.
Like many GAR posts, No. 39 actively influenced post-war government. It even placed itself directly across from the Genoa Town Hall, a visible reminder to local leaders of its power.
Today GAR Post No. 39 sits on Washington Street in an ongoing state of renovation. As one of the few remaining GAR buildings in the state, local preservations are working hard to keep alive this important part of the town’s history.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES GROTTO, GENOA
When Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto was built in 1933, the Great Depression was in full swing.
Horse and buggies still shared the road with automobiles.
And a newspaper clipping announcing its opening noted the exciting news that the sermons would be “transmitted thru the microphone to the loud speakers.”
The grotto was the dream of Bishop Karl Alter of Toledo, who wished to create, somewhere in his own diocese, a reproduction of the original grotto he had visited in Lourdes, France.
For now unknown reasons, he chose Genoa.
The grotto was built largely by the volunteer efforts of unemployed men found jobless by the Depression. For its construction they used a type of porous limestone call tufa rock that was hauled from farmers’ fields in Castalia.
Today, the Grotto is open every day, year round, and guides are available for scheduled tours.
MARTIN COMMUNITY HALL
The circa 1911 Martin Community Hall was the hub of the village in the 1940s and 1950s.
Residents of the small town would congregate there for community meetings; placed their votes there on Election Day; and, at Christmastime, would gather around the tall decorated evergreen that once stood in its yard.
Whenever they met at the hall, villagers would warm themselves around the potbellied stove, the only heat source in the building for many years. The stove is still there.
Even though renovations have been made to the interior and exterior by Boy Scouts in recent years, the hall hasn’t been used for quite a while.
Longtime resident Audrey Yackee hopes that will change. “We want to revive it again,” she said.
She believes there are many memories waiting to be made there for another generation.
MAIN STREET HISTORIC DISTRICT, GENOA
The historically significant preservation of Genoa’s downtown merchant area made it eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Main Street Historic District has undergone minimum alterations since its beginnings in the 1860s.
The east side buildings, which were built from 1885-1927, and the west side buildings, which were built from 1867-1937, are still representative of a small town Ohio business district in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Ironically, the town’s commitment to architectural preservation can be seen most distinctly in the village’s newest building, Rayz Café. After the historically important building was destroyed in a 2007 Christmas Eve fire, owner Ray St. Marie and his staff spent painstaking hours throughout the remaining winter months cleaning and sandblasting bricks from the original building to use in the construction of the new one.
Under the guidance of the Ohio Preservation Society, Rayz Café was built to aesthetically blend with the historic buildings of the downtown area.
OLD VILLAGE GRADE SCHOOL, CLAY CENTER
Ottawa County’s last wooden school, the Old Village Grade School, still stands in Clay Center.
The school, which housed sixth through eighth grades, was built in 1926 for $2,775. The slate blackboards installed in the school were still a fairly new modernization.
Up until the early 1900s, students still used individual slates for their schoolwork. Work was finished, graded and erased immediately.
Today the school is used to store a police car and fire station equipment. Mayor Robert Purney said students from Bowling Green State University initiated plans to restore the school a few years ago, but a lack of grant funding killed the project.
ELMORE LOG CABIN, ELMORE
The Elmore Log Cabin is the former home of Miss Mattie Heckman (1893-1976), who taught at Harris Elmore School until the 1963-64 school year.
At the time of her death, the home appeared to be a traditional, modern home. But when the home’s owners decided to tear it down a few years after Heckman died, the log cabin was discovered underneath the plaster and siding.
The home was donated to the Elmore Historical Society, which moved it into town.
Today, visitors can tour the home to get a glance at life in log cabin days. The home is open during special events in the village, and also serves as the meeting place for the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, Dr. Mary E. Walker Tent 151.
ELMORE TRAIN DEPOT, ELMORE
The Elmore Train Depot was built in 1869 to welcome the many trains that traveled to the village from across the country.
That continuous rail traffic into Elmore was instrumental in the rapid growth of the village.
Today, the depot is operated by the Elmore Historical Society, which opens the building for special events.
On one end of the depot are displays depicting Elmore’s rail history. On the other end, the Elmore Historical Railroad Club holds meetings and hosts model train exhibits in the old passenger waiting room.
