Delightful Homes Stand As Sentinels of the Architecture Beauty of the Yesteryears

Sunday Morning Observer, November 25, 1917

The winds of progress striking Marietta full force within the past decade did not and cannot erase the sunshiny and comfortable characteristics of the city, now best exemplified by its historic homes.

Even though almost all of the old mansions, homes and buildings of all sorts have gone to make way for the unhampered, unswerving march of prosperity - which means tall buildings, smoke and factories - there are still standing in the city proper and along its outskirts homes around which romance and tender history have been written and entered in the city's memoirs; homes and buildings that breathe, even in the hurry and scurry now, the old hush of immemorial placidity that guards like an unseen shroud.

Not even the zealous and arduous work of the city's certainly zealous real estate men has as yet taken away all the structures and they remain monuments of early times when men who came into the forests of the great West, built even better than they knew and they stand as models of real home architecture that pleases the eye and brings a feeling of comfort to those who look upon them.

The first dwelling houses were built in Marietta at "The Point" immediately after the landing of the Pioneers, April 7, 1788.  Roads were then cut through the forests and Campus Martius, the Block House and the Ohio Company's Office built in the few years following.  From that time on the forward march of construction of homes and business houses continued and many of the structures stand today and mark the beginning, sentinels of the yesteryears of architecture and the handiwork of those who have gone before.

The office of the Ohio Company was built prior to 1790 and still stands in its original site on Washington street, between Front and Second streets.  It is believed to be the oldest building standing where built in the state of Ohio, in fact, west of the Alleghany mountains.  It was used by Gov. Arthur St. Clair and, in fact, the first capitol building of the Ohio Territory, now the state of Ohio.  It is now occupied by the Washington County Historical Society as a relic room.

The old Block House at the southeast corner of Campus Martius was built at the time of the Indian War prior to 1791 by General Rufus Putnam and used by him as a residence till his death and after which it was occupied by Arius Nye till 1865.  It is now the property of Miss Minerva T. Nye and is used by the Daughters of the American Revolution.

The old Dr. S. P. Hildreth residence on Putnam street was erected in 1809.  That was the physician's home till his death and then occupied by Dr. George Hildreth till his death and now owned by Jerry Buckley and occupied as an office building and known as the Hildreth Building.

The Governor Meigs property on Front street for many years the home of Judge Martin D. Follett and now owned and occupied by his son, Judge E. B. Follett.

The Battelle property on Fourth street now owned and occupied by Dr. Reuben Cisler.  The Col. D. P. Bosworth house on Third street now owned and occupied by Mrs. Kate Biszantz.  The old school building on Fourth street just above Putnam, remodeled and now occupied by David Thomas.  The two Rodick homes on upper Front street, one owned and occupied by Prosecuting Attorney R. M. Noll, and the other by the Watson family.  The George T. Elston home occupied by Dr. J. D. Cotton and now by his daughter, Miss Willia Cotton.  The J. W. Baldwin home at the corner of Wooster and Fifth, later owned by Harlow Chappin, and now occupied by the daughters of the late Dr. John Boyd.  The J. B. Hovey property at the corner of Wooster and Fifth later occupied by the Kingsberry's and now by Henry Ebinger.  The Beman Gates property at the corner of Putnam and Fourth, later the Congregational parsonage and now the home of the Girl's Monday Club, the gift of Mrs. Betty Gates mills.

The Henry Armstrong property at Fifth and Whites Road, now the home of Dr. Ross.  The Thomas Ewart residence at the corner of Putnam and Fifth, later the T. D. Dale home and now the home of Edward Flanders.  The W. H. Buell home, opposite the Mound Cemetery and still occupied by his descendants.  The Putnam home on Second street, later the Frank's home and now the property of the Board of education.

The E. W. Clark property at the corner of Fifth and Wooster, later the Gurley home and but recently purchased by F. R. Hall.  The R. P. Ijams property on Fourth street, later owned by J. H. Grafton and now by J. A. Lovell.  The Col. Melvin Clarke property, later John Newton, then Ed. W. Nye and now Mrs. T. F. Davis.  The Noah L. Wilson home at the corner of Fifth and Putnam now the fine residence of Col. John Mills.  The McCarty property on Fifth street, now the home of E. A. Meyers.  The R. Merydith property on upper Front street.  The David C. Skinner property on Front street now the home of Mrs. Charles R. Rhodes.  The James Holden and Prof. Biscoe properties on Front street.  The Dr. B. Frank Hart property on Front street.

The Nathan Fawcett property on Putnam street, now the home of Mrs. Sallie Purple Hart, relic of the late Dr. Samuel Hart.  The I. W. Waters property at the corner of Fourth and Wooster now the site of the St. Mary Catholic church.  The Nahum Ward property at the corner of Second and Putnam, later the George Rice home and now built up in business blocks.  T
he Guitteau property, at the corner of Front and Putnam streets, once used for the post office, later Brigham's grocery, Curtis' Drug Store and the Dysle Drug Co.

The A. T. Nye homestead, now occupied by Miss Mary Nye.  The Styer property at the corner of Sixth and Putnam.  The John Eels home on Putnam near Sixth, once occupied by the president of Marietta College.  The Gen. R. R. Dawes home on Fourth.  The Chas. S. Dickey home on Fourth, later owned and occupied by Hon. D. B. Torpy and now by Mrs. George Brown.  The Woodbridge property at the corner of Putnam and Third, now moved to face Third and the front built up in residences owned by Mrs. J. D. Cadwallader.  The Woodbridge property on Third street below Putnam.  The R. E. Hart property on Third street, now owned by Elmer Thorniley.  The Gen. A. J. Warner property now occupied by his son-in-law, David Okey.  The old Dunlevy home on Front street, later the home of Col. R. L. Nye and now occupied by Meisenhelder & Leonhart.

The M. P. Wells home on Second street, now being remodeled into a business block.  The George Mathews property on upper Front street, now occupied by Chas. Bailey. 

The Ed. and Ichabod Nye homes between Front and Second streets on Washington and now built up in residences.  The Ben P. Putnam and Luther Edgerton homes on Fifth street.  The late Holden home at the upper end of the City Park, later occupied by S. B. Kirby.  The A. B. Waters home at the corner of Front and Scammel, now the home of Attorney A. T. Williamson.  The old Smith home , now the home of Lawrence Mills.  The Sailor [Sala?]Bosworth home now the residence of Mrs. Anna Gracey.  The John Kendrick home, later the Joe Dyar home and now the home of Earle Spies.  The Ed. Buell property on Fourth street across from the College and now occupied by his widow.  The Dudley Nye property at the corner of Sixth and Wooster and now occupied by his daughter, Miss Virginia Nye.  The Davis Green property on Second street, later the home of Dr. Z. D. Walters and now Mrs. Dr. Helen N. Curtis.  The J. H. Best home on lower Second street near Greene.  The old Reckard property at the corner of Third and Greene.

There are many others, these were picked at random but they go to turn back sweet memory into channels that lead to the yesteryears and we see again the foundation on which Marietta was built.