5 historic spots in Butler County to visit if you like beautiful old buildings and places

Robinson-Schwenn Building

Several businesses now occupy the Robinson-Schwenn Building, at 10 Journal Square in Hamilton. LemonGrenadeCQ Creative occupies the fourth floor there.

Steve Coon’s Coon Restoration and Sealant Inc., based near Canton, has renovated several buildings since 2008 in Hamilton. Renovations by that entity and Coon’s Historic Developers of the Robinson-Schwenn building and the nearby Mercantile building and former Journal-News building have been described as a catalyst for attracting more investment in Hamilton’s downtown.

Manchester Hotel

Middletown’s Manchester Hotel building, in mediation between the city and a developer, which the city in May 2014 sold to developer William Grau of Illinois for $1, was to have been converted into a boutique hotel, but the project hasn’t happened, a reason the city wants to take the building back.

Greenwood Cemetery

The Greenwood Cemetery in Hamilton has many historic and sacred aspects, including the Public Receiving Vault, a late Victorian Romanesque Revivalist stone building that was used around the cemetery’s beginning to house corpses during the winter until the cemetery’s ground thawed. Proponents hope to restore the receiving vault.

Historic Courthouse

Butler County’s historic courthouse was built using imported granite columns and marble floors. Its construction was finished in 1803, the same year Ohio became a state.

RELATED: Historic Courthouse sporting new steps after fits and starts

Lane-Hooven House

The Lane-Hooven House in Hamilton, which is often one of the delightful stops on the German Village Christmas Walks, is located at 319 N. 3rd St., and was built in 1863 for Hamilton industrialist Clark Lane. Many consider it Hamilton’s most unique house because of its octagonal shape.

RELATED: This weekend in Hamilton — See gorgeous Victorian homes decked out for the holidays