Southwest Ohio - Travels with Ruby

Souhwest Ohio

Brown County: OH-08-07

On Wooster Avenue, just west of Main Street in Hamersville, stands a rather peculiar building that started out as a kiln to dry bricks or pottery. The building was then converted to a passenger depot before being converted once more, this time into a residential property. Its current use is not quite clear. The lower one-third of the building consists of thick concrete walls, presumably to withstand the high temperatures in the kiln, with the upper two-third of the walls consisting of red bricks. The roof is rather striking, consisting of a regular gable roof one would find on a rectangular building, with a smaller roof extension on both gable ends.

Butler County: OH-09-01 / OH-09-07 / OH-09-08

According to Dale Travis there are supposed to be three small octagonal barns at the LB Ranch, on the south side of Cincinnati, but GoogleEarth only shows the two that I found when visiting the ranch. The ranch and its land are for sale, and have been for quite a while, but there is still some livestock in the fields. The barns probably were built to house cattle or horses but seem to be not in use anymore.

Champaign County: Nutwood Farm, OH-11-01

Built in 1858 by local builder William Stover for Absalom C Jennings, based on plans drawn Massachusetts architect Charles Rathbun, the origins of this round barn on the northern outskirts of Urbana can be directly traced back to the first true round barn in the United States, at Hancock Shaker Village. It was featured on an atlas of Champaign County that appeared in 1858. The history of this barn is quite interesting, involving a years-long legal battle between William Stover and Absalom Jennings, that is detailed elsewhere.[1] Both the farmhouse and barn were placed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 12, 1976. These days, the barn and the farmhouse are hidden from view by trees along US 68. The house continues to be occupied but the barn has not seen much use in the last few decades.

[1] Van der Veen, Cornelis (2025), Render therefore to all their dues: how Absalom C. Jennings got an excellent bargain on his Round Barn at Nutwood Farm, Urbana, Ohio. Indiana Historical Magazine

Champaign County: OH-11-02