page_title: Old Meigs County Courthouse
section_title: School
hierarchical_section_title: Old Meigs County Courthouse / School
caption_attribution_description: English: Southern side of the Old Meigs County Courthouse, located along State Route 248 near Chester in Meigs County, Ohio, United States. Built in 1823, the courthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places along with the adjacent former Chester Academy.
context_page_description: The Old Meigs County Courthouse is a historic former government building in the small community of Chester, Ohio, United States. Erected in the early nineteenth century, the courthouse served multiple purposes for the surrounding community in its early years, but it operated as a courthouse for less than twenty years before being abandoned in favor of another courthouse in another community. Following a restoration in the 1950s, it was designated a historic site in the 1970s along with an adjacent school; the two buildings are operated together as a museum. It is Ohio's oldest extant building constructed as a courthouse.
context_section_description: Chester's first school was established in 1830, largely under the influence of a Scottish scholar, Samuel Halliday, who settled in Chester Township and embarked on teaching the local children. The present three-story building was erected in 1839 with the goal of serving students from all over Meigs County. In its early years, the brick school building was used for all sorts of community events: the township trustees rented it as a voting place, social groups such as debate societies and singing schools held their meetings in it, and the complete absence of church buildings in the township prompted all of the township's churches to worship in it. The building remained in use for scholastic purposes until the Civil War, after which the school closed and its building was converted into storage for the adjacent courthouse.
caption: The courthouse in 2012
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