State Historic Preservation Office

​The State Historic Preservation Office is the official historic preservation agency of the State of Ohio. It has developed since 1967 when the Ohio History Connection was designated to manage responsibilities delegated to the state by Congress in the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. Enacted after the destruction of numerous buildings and sites in the years following World War II, the National Historic Preservation Act encourages Americans to identify and preserve our nation's cultural and historic resources. Visit the national Preservation50 web page to learn more about the history of the National Historic Preservation Act. Read the full text of the law here. The office also:

• prepares and distributes a state historic preservation plan,
• identifies historic places and archaeological sites,
• nominates eligible properties to the National Register of Historic Places,
• reviews rehabilitation work to income-producing National Register properties for federal investment tax credits,
• consults on significance and proposed federally-assisted projects for effects on historic, architectural, and archaeological resources,
• qualifies communities for the Certified Local Government program and administers matching grants to them,
• consults on the conservation of buildings and sites, and
• offers educational programs and publications.

Headquartered in Columbus, the office has a staff of archaeologists, historians, architectural historians, a historical architect and others with professional expertise in preservation-related fields. The office is funded in part by an annual grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior's Historic Preservation Fund. The Ohio History Connection, State of Ohio and other public and private sources match the federal funds.