Chardon became the county seat of Geauga County in 1808. On July 25, 1868, fire destroyed the entire village business district, now Main Street, including forty businesses, offices, meeting halls, and the 1824 courthouse. Citizens quickly organized the Chardon Building Company, and in August 1868 contracted with Herrick and Simmons of Cleveland to build the fire-resistant brick Union Block on the northern half of the block. This was one of Rensselaer R. Herrick's last construction jobs. In September 1868, local banker and businessman L.J. Randall contracted to build the Randall Block from the south end of Main Street to the Union Block. Both blocks were completed in 1869, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellow Hall was added in 1879. The Chardon Courthouse Square District, including the courthouse, all buildings on Main Street, and Chardon Square, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 because its late nineteenth century structures are unusually harmonious in design and in their relationship to one another.