Ohio Open Doors: Kent, OH Historic Landmark Buildings Tour

A walking tour of Historic Landmark Buildings along River and Gougler Streets begins at 11 am. Stops include the Carnegie Library, now the Kent Free Library; the former Congregational Church, now Bell Tower Brewing; Franklin Township Hall, one of the oldest buildings in Kent; and the Unitarian Universalist Church, completed in 1868 on land donated by Marvin Kent.

Carnegie Library

The Kent Free Library in Kent, Ohio, features a historic Carnegie library section built in 1903 with a $10,000 grant from Andrew Carnegie. Located at 312 West Main Street, this original structure is preserved as the "Carnegie Section," housing local history rooms while integrated into a modern library building expanded in 2006.

Key Details of the Kent Carnegie Library:

• Construction: The building opened in 1903 after receiving a $10,000 grant, part of a push to provide free library services, having been established initially in 1892.
• Structure: The original 1903 structure remains as the "Carnegie Section". It was designed with a combination of community space and historical charm.
• Usage: The Carnegie portion currently houses special collections, including the Burbick Foundation Genealogy Room, Keller Room, and Bumphrey Room.
• Modern Integration: In 2006, the building was extensively renovated and expanded, integrating the old Carnegie section with modern facilities

Bell Tower Brewing

Bell Tower Brewing in Kent, Ohio, is housed in the former First Congregational Church, constructed in 1858. The historic building, featuring a bell forged in 1867, served as a church until the 1940s/50s before becoming manufacturing office space for R.W. Martin Company. It was renovated into a brewpub in 2021, preserving original arches and details.

Key Historical Details

• Original Construction (1858): The building was constructed as the First Congregational Church of Kent.
• The Bell (1867): The bell currently in the tower was forged and hung in 1867.
• Church Closure (c. 1950s): The church ceased using the building around 1955.
• Industrial Use (1969–2019): Saved from demolition by Mr. Martin, the building was used as the R.W. Martin Company corporate headquarters.
• Transformation (2020–2021): Purchased by Ryan and Bridget Tipton and Jennifer Hermann in August 2020, the space was renovated to become a brewery, officially opening in late 2021 after COVID-related delays.

Preservation and Design
The developers focused on preserving the historic integrity of the church, including its, arches, and the functioning bell which still rings on the hour. The brewery space was formerly a garage addition (added in 1915) that required extensive renovation, while materials from the demolition were repurposed into the bar and tables.

Franklin Township Hall

Designed in the likeness of a public building that stood in Hartford, Connecticut, the Franklin Township Hall was built in 1837. It was used as an office for the Franklin Silk Company; after the company failed, the completed the Franklin Township Hall in 1840. The site of the Township government since that time, the building also housed the first school of higher learning in 1842. Later, the completion of the new union school was delayed, so this hall was used as the first high school in Kent from 1868-69.

After the turn of the century, the hall served as a summer school for the public school system. The Davey Institute of Tree Surgery trained some of its personnel there. At the beginning of World War II, C.L. Gougler Machine Company took over the building and renovated it. The Kent Board of Education used the hall for their offices from 1954 to 1978.

James A. Garfield, 20th president of the United States, was nominated in the Franklin Township Hall on August 23,1859, for joint senator representing Portage and Summit Counties. This was the beginning of his political career.

Franklin Township Hall is located 218 Gougler Avenue in Kent Ohio.

Unitarian Universalist Church

Founded in 1866,[1] the current building was completed by builder Joseph Gridley (1820-1902) in 1868 on land donated by philanthropist Marvin Kent and rests on a bedrock of sandstone.[3] Its 19 founding members were among the major movers and shakers of the then Village of Franklin Mills, and included abolitionists and Civil War veterans. They were: Dr. Aaron M. Sherman, M.D., who served as a Civil War surgeon (“contract surgeon” for the 46th Ohio Volunteer Infantry and who was stationed at “Lincoln General Hospital” in Washington, D.C.), a prominent civic promoter, served many terms on the local school board, co-founded the Rockton Masonic Lodge that occupies the historic 1883 summer home of Marvin Kent on West Main Street, served as a State Representative in the Ohio State House of Representatives and whose 1858 home first built by Zenas Kent (father of Marvin) for his daughter Frances and her husband George Wells was recently saved, moved and restored by local historic preservation activists, Arvin Olin, Ransom Olin, Nelson Olin, Joseph Stratton, who, in 1882, donated the large bell that is in the church belfry, Phillip Boosinger, Mary Boosinger, Rhoda Boosinger, James D. Haymaker (son of Frederick Haymaker, member of a family who had strong abolitionist leanings and a business partner of abolitionist John Brown, who resided in Kent for a time) and Mary Rosetta Olin Haymaker, J.G. Whitcomb, T.H. Marshall, Eliza Wright, A. Merrell, Almund Russell (a member of a prominent Franklin Mills abolitionist family), Sybil Bradley, Effie Parsons, Mary J. Parsons and Mary A. Furry. These 19 men and women gathered on May 27, 1866, to write and sign the church's constitution in the historic 1836 Village Hall that would serve as an early place of worship before the church building was completed next door in 1868. It is the only church still using its original 19th century building in the city of Kent and in 1976 the site was designed as a "significant restored building site".