The Washington Downtown Historic District is a nationally recognized

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...

located in

Washington, Iowa Washington is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Iowa, United States. It is part of the Iowa City, Iowa Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,352 at the time of the 2020 census. History Washington was founded in 1 ...

, United States. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places 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 or "great artistic v ...

in 2013. At the time of its nomination it contained 122 resources, which included 83

contributing buildings In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...

, two

contributing objects In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...

, one contributing site, 34 non-contributing buildings, one non-contributing structure, and one non-contributing object. The historic district is located in the original town plat, and covers the city's

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

. Washington was platted in 1839 as the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

for Washington County. Central Park, the town square, is the earliest contributing resource having been platted with the original town. It is the contributing site and contains the two contributing objects: the 1931 Civil War monument and the 1939 fountain. The Washington County Courthouse was located here from 1845 to 1869, when it was relocated to its present location a block away. It is one of the contributing buildings. The oldest extant buildings date to the 1850s. The district contains a mix of civic and commercial buildings, fraternal clubs, churches, warehouses, automobile-related services, utility companies, theaters, and a newspaper office. The civic buildings include the courthouse, county jail and sheriff's residence, post office, and the public library (both the old and new buildings). The period of significance is from 1839, when the original town was platted, to 1966 when the jail/sheriff's residence was built. The oldest buildings are second generation buildings that replaced frame and log structures, and date to the arrival of the railroad into Washington. The late 19th century and early 20th century was a significant period of new construction and the remodeling of the older buildings. The importance of the automobile was felt beginning in the 1920s. The 1950s and the 1960s was another period of prosperity and building. Late 19th and early 20th-century revival styles and the various Late Victorian styles are dominant.

References

{{NRHP in Washington County, Iowa Washington, Iowa Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Washington County, Iowa Historic districts in Washington County, Iowa Buildings and structures in Washington County, Iowa Victorian architecture in Iowa