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THE BRONZE PLAQUE PROJECT
In 2019, Downtown Marion, Inc. embarked upon a mission to record and preserve the historic downtown structures of Marion, Ohio. As a result of this effort in 2022, 109 downtown buildings were named to the National Register of Historic Places. Many of these downtown buildings were home to the businesses which supported major manufacturing companies. These industrial businesses and the related supporting companies, helped to build the infrastructure of America in the 19th and 20th centuries.
With great gratitude, we acknowledge the partnership and support of the Marion Community Foundation, and local historian and author Randy Winland.
The Uhler Building
At the northwest corner of Prospect and Center streets is the 1902-03 Huber Building. This large five-story office building is of the Second Renaissance Revival Style. It has a stone base at the first floor, which includes a cornice and emphasized entrances with quoins and segmentally arched openings. Upper stories are brick and the quoin pattern is continued, although it is created with alternating sections of raised brick instead of stone. This building was home to the Uhler Phillips Department Store, later to be Uhler’s. This building was constructed by the famed industrialist, Edward Huber.
Old Stone Block
Nathan Peters, Marion’s first mayor, is credited with erecting the building at 127 South Main Street around 1830 less than ten years after the city of Marion was platted in 1822. Early occupancy records for what became known as the Old Stone Block building are difficult to ascertain with any certainty. One of the first on record was in 1844 for the George Miller & Sons Dry Goods Store. The Buckeye Eagle newspaper was then located on the second floor. From the time of its opening, the building’s three ground-level storefronts housed multiple tennants including residential.
Masonic Temple
The Masonic Temple building was commissioned in 1900 and completed in 1903. This Marion landmark is the permanent home of the Marion Masonic fraternity. The Marion Masonic Lodge #70 F&AM traces its roots back to its formation in 1840. This beautiful structure, constructed in the Second Renaissance Revival Style was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2022.
The Opera House
The three-story Grand Opera House, at 130-136 S. State, was completed in 1896. In 1914, a three-story addition was built on the south elevation. Although the addition is of a different style and appears to be a separate building, the two sections originally had interior connections on the second and third floors. The Elks club occupied the upper floors of both building sections from 1885 to 2022. The Grand Opera House, later the Grand Theatre and then the Ohio Theatre is Second Renaissance Revival in style, while the 1914 brick addition is Neo-Classical Revival in style, featuring fanlights, keystones, arched storefront openings, and decorative shield carvings.
Montgomery Ward
The Montgomery Ward Co. department store, at 205 West Center Street, is a 2½ story brick building. It features five pedimented dormer windows within the slate mansard roof and brick chimney end walls. The second story features five windows with decorative wood surrounds that have an entablature lintel and a closed balustrade underneath the lower sash. A painted Montgomery Ward ghost sign is at the top of the east elevation. This building is an excellent representation of the commercial phase of downtown Marion development.
The IOOF Temple
The IOOF Temple, built in 1915-16 is located at the southwest corner of West Center and Orchard streets. It is a three-story, brick building with stone details. The ground floor storefronts have been somewhat altered with later materials. Brick bulkheads, original openings, and dividing piers are intact. The building has some elements of the Second Renaissance Revival style. Later, this building became home to the Eagles Aerie #337 from 1926 to 2013 and numerous retail businesses over the years.
Bennett Building
The imposing Bennett Building on the SW corner of Main and Center Streets opened for tenants in early 1890. The four-story building presented a faux-towers design constructed of Marion blue limestone and large, curved plate glass windows on the NE corner. The first tenant to occupy the main floor was Samuel Oppenheimer Clothier whose banner claimed “Strictly One Price. All Goods Marked in Plain Figures.” In 1908, The Marion County Bank moved into this building. This bank, which was the oldest financial institution in Marion County, had been established in 1843 by James S. Reed and Dr. Henry A. True only 19 years after the village of Marion was platted.
Harding Hotel
Ground was broken at 267 West Center Street in May of 1922 for the finest hotel in Marion. A Marion Steam Shovel dug the first scoop. By February of 1924 the hotel, with its final cost escalated to $900,000, was ready for patrons. The colonial-style structure was “fire-proof” and utilized a reinforced concrete construction and limestone and brick exterior. Partitions of hollow tile throughout the eight-story-tall building rendered the hotel “sound, moisture, and vibration proof.” The entire costs for contruction were raised locally. Contruction was completed in 1924, and sadly, President Harding did not survive to see the completion of this project.