Old Perry County Courthouse (Ohio)
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Old Perry County Courthouse
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Front of the courthouse
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| Location | Main and Columbus Streets, Somerset, Ohio |
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| Coordinates | 39°48′26″N 82°17′59″W / 39.80722°N 82.29972°WCoordinates: 39°48′26″N 82°17′59″W / 39.80722°N 82.29972°W |
| Built | 1829 |
| Architectural style | Federal |
| Part of | Somerset Historic District (#75001516) |
| Added to NRHP | September 5, 1975 |
The Old Perry County Courthouse is a historic government building in the village of Somerset, Ohio, United States. Built in the 1820s as a courthouse, it is one of Ohio's oldest existing buildings constructed for that purpose, and it has seen the controversy of a county seat war. For much of its history, it has served as Somerset's village hall, and it is located within a federally designated historic district.
The village of Somerset was established in 1810 by settlers from Somerset, Pennsylvania at the spot on Zane's Trace located midway between Lancaster and Zanesville. Seven years later, parts of Fairfield, Muskingum, and Washington counties were merged to create Perry County, and the house of a Somerset resident was named the first temporary courthouse. In 1819, the county government arranged for the erection of a building in Somerset; while most of the building was used for a jail, it also included a courtroom and space for some county offices. Ten years later, the present building was constructed on the village's public square; officials quickly found it to be insufficiently large for their needs, so until a new jail was built adjacent to the courthouse in 1848, some offices remained in the jail.
As the village of New Lexington grew in importance, its residents began to agitate for the county seat to be moved to their community. From 1851 to 1859, the state legislature passed three separate laws to permit the county seat to be moved; contentious elections and a decision by the Supreme Court of Ohio saw the county seat move to New Lexington, back to Somerset, and finally back to New Lexington. After it ceased to be used as a courthouse, the building was leased to Somerset for use as its village hall. It has outlasted its successor; the original courthouse in New Lexington became too small for the county's needs by the late 1880s and was replaced by the current courthouse in 1888.
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