Officials, experts seek to preserve courthouses

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Ohio county officials, architects, historic preservationists and others are putting their heads together to figure out ways to preserve the state’s historic courthouses.

Participants at the Ohio Courthouse Symposium in Columbus later this week will share ideas about how to rehabilitate and maintain the old buildings as a symbol of county government in challenging financial times.

The Ohio Historical Society says Ohio has 69 county courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places. Many were built in the stretch between the Civil War and the beginning of World War I. Few states have more courthouses recognized as historic treasures.

Other states, such as Texas and Arkansas, have programs especially to help counties maintain their courthouses, but that’s not the case in Ohio.