A building that was once home to Dayton’s City Hall is taking a step towards being considered for placement on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Kentucky Historic Preservation Review Board meets on Tuesday morning to consider the nomination of the property at 636 Sixth Avenue in the Campbell County city.
It was recently announced that the historic property will be redeveloped in a $1.8 million residential project.
The building – known both as the Rayme Building and the Burton Building – was built in 1884 on land owned by Burton Hazen, a Cincinnati steamboat builder and lumber-yard owner and one of the original founders of the City of Brooklyn, which merged with the City of Jamestown in 1867 to form the City of Dayton.
A post office, barbershop, store, and private offices originally occupied the first floor of the historic building. The back of the second floor served as Dayton’s City Hall – housing the offices of the city marshal, city clerk, treasurer, property assessor, and engineer, while the front portion of the second floor and third and fourth floors served as a meeting hall and offices of the International Order of Odd Fellows.
Over the years, the building was used for a variety of commercial and civic uses, including a Pythian Temple, the city’s first Kroger grocery store, a druggist, barbershop, attorney office, insurance agency, print shop, and a movie theater. In recent years, tenants had vacated the building, windows were boarded, and the building’s condition deteriorated. The last active commercial use in the building was a carpet retailer more than two decades ago.
You can read the nomination of the building here.
Tuesday’s meeting is open to the public and can be accessed virtually (through Zoom) here.
The state preservation review board will also be considering a nomination from Calloway County.
-Staff report