Within three months, the county had secured the approval of the Ohio General Assembly to issue bonds to pay for the construction of a new courthouse, sheriff's house, and jail.

A report prepared by a state humanitarian board in 1913 observed that the building was equipped with electricity and hot and cold running water; maintenance of the jail and provision of food for its inmates was the responsibility of the sheriff.

[3] Into the 1980s, the sheriff's house and jail retained a great degree of integrity; it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 24, 1981, in recognition of its architectural significance.

The late 1980s saw a conversion in the building's purpose: by this time, increasing crime rates had led to overcrowding at many jails in northwestern Ohio.

In early 1989, officials from five northwestern Ohio counties and the city of Toledo agreed to create a single regional jail complex.