COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A small, sad crowd stood in a cold rain two years ago as heavy machinery demolished the Seneca County Courthouse in the northern Ohio town of Tiffin, a once-grand structure that dated back to 1884 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

County leaders decided to spend around $400,000 to remove the crumbling structure from the city streetscape rather than continue efforts to fundraise the $8 million or so needed to make it usable again.