Chardon Business District

Side A: Chardon was designated the county seat of Geauga County in 1808. On July 25, 1868, the entire village business district (now Main Street) was destroyed by fire, including forty businesses, offices, meeting halls, and the 1824 courthouse. Citizens immediately rallied and formed the Chardon Building Company. In August 1868 they contracted with Herrick and Simmons of Cleveland to build the Union Block using fire-resistant brick. This was one of Rensselaer R. Herrick’s (Cleveland Mayor 1879-1882) last construction jobs. The Union Block occupies the northern half of this block of Main Street. (Continued on other side) Side B: (Continued from other side) In September of 1868, L.J. Randall, local banker and businessman, contracted to build the Randall Block, starting at the south end of Main Street extending to the Union Block. Both blocks were completed in 1869. The Independent Order of Odd Fellow (I.O.O.F.) Hall was added to this block in 1879. The Chardon Courthouse Square District, composed of the courthouse, all of the buildings on Main Street, and Chardon Square, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. This district is significant, in part, because the late nineteenth century structures are unusually harmonious in design and in their relationship to one another.