09/24/2026
Celebrating America 250-Ohio! 🇺🇸
The Dumont Building, Ottawa, is featured as one of 250 “Celebrated Buildings” in the Heritage Ohio America 250 campaign. Heritage Ohio is the state's official historic preservation and downtown revitalization organization. The CIC is honored to have been a partner in this incredible building restoration project in 2023-24.
Once nearly two-thirds vacant, the historic Dumont Building in downtown Ottawa has been transformed into a fully occupied mixed-use destination and a visible symbol of renewed confidence in the community’s future.
Before its rehabilitation in 2024, years of deferred maintenance had left the structurally sound building significantly underutilized. Its transformation came as Ottawa was taking a fresh look at its downtown through strategic planning and placemaking efforts, including improvements along Walnut Street. Support from the JobsOhio Vibrant Communities Program helped close critical financing gaps, while the Putnam County Community Improvement Corporation connected state resources with local vision and investment.
The result is a historic building once again contributing to the economic and social life of downtown. Today, the Dumont Building is home to Ottawa Brewing Company, the headquarters of Technicon Design Group, and additional fully leased office space. The project has helped bring approximately 42 professional jobs downtown while the brewery attracts residents and visitors and adds activity to the surrounding district.
Perhaps most significant is that local residents chose to invest in the building and their own community. Rather than waiting for outside development to create momentum, local owners saw an opportunity to give an underused historic property a new purpose.
The Dumont Building is no longer a place remembered primarily for what “used to be” there. It is once again a place people work, gather, visit, and experience.
As a Celebrated 250 building, the Dumont demonstrates how historic preservation, local investment, strategic partnerships, and thoughtful placemaking can work together. Its transformation from vacancy to vitality shows that reinvesting in an older building can do more than save a structure—it can strengthen a downtown and help a community see new possibilities for its future.
What historic building has been given new life in your community? Submit it to Heritage Ohio’s 250 Buildings, 250 Stories initiative and help us celebrate Ohio’s preservation success stories. Submit your story here: www.heritageohio.org/250-buildings-250-stories
