Renz Block

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Renz Block was a three-story brick commercial building on North Main Street in downtown Lima, Ohio, built in 1900 in a late Victorian style. It stood across from the Allen County Courthouse and featured an elaborate parapet and a decorative façade with windows that had double-sashed transom lights. The block was named after Jacob Renz, a local baker who opened a North Main bakery in 1887 and moved to a larger nearby building in 1903. Lima’s oil boom helped the city grow rapidly during this period, and Renz’s bakery became a major local business, being the largest bakery in Allen County by 1958. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 for its architecture. It has since been demolished, and a parking lot sits on the site, though it remains listed on the National Register.