Old School Privy | |
Western and northern sides | |
   | |
| Location | 310 Main St., Genoa, Ohio |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 41°30′54″N83°21′34″W / 41.51500°N 83.35944°W Coordinates: 41°30′54″N83°21′34″W / 41.51500°N 83.35944°W |
| Area | 0.1 acres (0.040 ha) |
| Built | 1870 |
| Architectural style | Romanesque Revival |
| NRHP reference # | 75001515 [1] |
| Added to NRHP | July 31, 1975 |
The Old School Privy is a historic outhouse in the village of Genoa, Ohio, United States. Constructed in the 1870s, it has the unusual distinction of being both a public toilet and an official historic site.
An outhouse, also known by many other names, is a small structure, separate from a main building, which covers a toilet. This is typically either a pit latrine or a bucket toilet, but other forms of dry (non-flushing) toilets may be encountered. The term may also be used to denote the toilet itself, not just the structure itself.
Genoa is a village in Ottawa County, Ohio, United States. The population was 2,336 at the 2010 census. Originally settled as Stony Ridge, it took its present name in 1856 and was incorporated as a village in 1868.
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the Great Lakes region of the United States. Of the fifty states, it is the 34th largest by area, the seventh most populous, and the tenth most densely populated. The state's capital and largest city is Columbus.
Incorporated in 1868, Genoa quickly sought to demonstrate its residents' civic pride through the construction of fine buildings. Among these was its first schoolhouse, which the residents built two years later; it was significant enough to the community that they also erected an architecturally distinctive public toilet adjacent to it in the same year. Public toilets were once common near crossroads in Ohio and other Northwest Territory states, but architecture comparable to the Old School Privy was virtually unknown for such humble structures. [2] In later years, the building was converted for use as an incinerator. [1]
A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. The term can also be used to describe municipally owned corporations.
Civic virtue is the cultivation of habits important for the success of the community. Closely linked to the concept of citizenship, civic virtue is often conceived as the dedication of citizens to the common welfare of their community even at the cost of their individual interests. The identification of the character traits that constitute civic virtue has been a major concern of political philosophy. The term civility refers to behavior between persons and groups that conforms to a social mode, as itself being a foundation of society and law.
One-room schools were commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries, including Prussia, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Spain. In most rural and small town schools, all of the students met in a single room. There, a single teacher taught academic basics to several grade levels of elementary-age boys and girls. While in many areas one-room schools are no longer used, it is not uncommon for them to remain in developing nations and rural or remote areas. Examples include remote parts of the American West, the Falklands, and the Shetland Islands.
Built of brick, the privy features elements of limestone. It is a rectangular building with a gabled roof and a chimney at each end; two doors pierce the front, while two full windows and a small semicircular light are placed in the side. [3] Rather than being built simply functionally without unnecessary elements, the building features the high styling of Romanesque Revival architecture, such as rusticated stone trim and decorative stonework in the arches that top the entrances. Stonework is used in many of the components that were expected to see heavy use, including the steps, the windowsills, the thresholds, and the water table. [2]
Limestone is a carbonate sedimentary rock that is often composed of the skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral, foraminifera, and molluscs. Its major materials are the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). A closely related rock is dolomite, which contains a high percentage of the mineral dolomite, CaMg(CO3)2. In fact, in old USGS publications, dolomite was referred to as magnesian limestone, a term now reserved for magnesium-deficient dolomites or magnesium-rich limestones.
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesthetic concerns. A gable wall or gable end more commonly refers to the entire wall, including the gable and the wall below it.
Romanesque Revival is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, however, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to feature more simplified arches and windows than their historic counterparts.
In 1975, the Old School Privy was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, qualifying because of its place in local history. One of 29 such locations in Ottawa County, it was the seventh to be given this distinction. Other outhouses have been added to the Register as contributing properties to larger designations, [1] such as the outhouses associated with the Old Union Church at Alfordsville in southwestern Indiana, [4] but very few public toilets such as the Old School Privy or Colorado's Bear Lake Comfort Station have individually been named to the Register. [1]
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance. A property listed in the National Register, or located within a National Register Historic District, may qualify for tax incentives derived from the total value of expenses incurred preserving the property.
This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Ottawa County, Ohio.
Ottawa County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2010 census, the population was 41,428. Its county seat is Port Clinton. The county is named either for the Ottawa Indians who lived there, or for an Indian word meaning "trader".
