History is full of bums, and I am one of them. Woody Guthrie said “the biggest thing[s] that man has ever done" have always been done by "The Great Historical Bum[s]" of the world--the common working man. They are "highly educated from history" and have carried all the world's accomplishments, wonders, progessions, and great wars on their shoulders. We built the Rock of Ages, the Great Pyramids, and kicked the fascist Adolf Hitler in the panzers. While I pay tribute to Woody and his words, his love of History and mine in this blog, the subject matter in these posts will present calculated thoughts, and research, but most importantly, will stand itself as a working example of the newest biggest thing that man has ever done: The digital revolution, and how it has begun to transform the discipline of History. These blogs are part of a requirement for the HIST3999 Special Topics: Digital History course at Shawnee State University in Portsmouth Ohio, and will explore some of the issues with the emerging digital age pertaining to and how it has affected and innovated the study and collective understanding of our History.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

A River House Holds an Early Formative History of the Historic River Town of Portsmouth, Ohio; A small project reveals conflicting information of house's origins and stylistic assessment

View from the east side of the house at 701 Market street.
                As you travel west on 7th Street from the corner of Court street toward the Scioto River, two houses stand out distinctly among the other modern houses that surround them now,  well, among houses that are more modern in comparison anyway, as both are perceptively old and of another era completely.  The Northern most of these is an old dilapidated crumbling structure that looks like it must have come with the town when it was first established.  In-fact, this statement may not be far from the truth.  Standing as the very last structure on the Northern end of Market Street, this plain, unadorned, decaying home is still strangely regal and alluring.  Something about the old tall house is inviting and imposing at the same time.  But that sentiment isn't so uncommon among things that have lasted so rarely-long, and aged such that ironically the most established and defining constructs with the deepest roots look the most out of place.  Even in its current state of neglect and depression this house distinquishes and beautifys the area still.  701 Market Street in Portsmouth, Ohio, has a history of property and home ownership that goes back to the founders and earliest property owners of Portsmouth—in-fact its first owners weren’t of Portsmouth at all, they were the Scioto County Commissioners whom were deeded the property before Portsmouth was officially established.  Over the years many have owned the property and home, and establishing just when it was built proved to be difficult and ultimately circumstantial and indeterminate.  The house is known to history and to the area's people as, the James Marsh House, The Paul E. Long House, the Andrew Frowine Home (from the Scioto County, Ohio website), and for some reason the Nation Register of Historic Places calls it the Joseph Marsh House (I never found the name Joseph in my research).  The architectural style of the house also turned out to be conflicting, but nonetheless a great example of early American construction and design.
View of 701 Market Street house from the intersection of 7th and Court Streets.  7th Street here runs into the north End of Market Street.  Many modern structures, including the levee, now surround the much older 701 Market street house that has been standing nearly since the establishment of Portsmouth, between 1803-1815.  The house could be as old as 1822.
                
                The property upon where 701 Market Street sits today is located specifically in the South East corner of out-lot 14, and goes back to the original plat of Portsmouth mapped out by Henry Massie in 1807.  The city was plotted out from within the surrounding banks of the convergence of the Ohio and Scioto Rivers--from the East edge of the Scioto and North side of the Ohio.  Out-lot 14 was the farthest North that the lots were mapped and sat as it does today, at the end of Market Street.  There were not nearly as many roads in the original plat as exist today in the same space.  But a few of the same roads still exist today, and even fewer of the original names, but one of these few original platted and named streets is Market Street (including its large square), and it is also the towns widest street as well.  Henry Massie’s original Explanation of the Plan of Portsmouth describes that “Market Street is six perches wide.  Water Street (Front Street now) is five perches wide.  The other streets are four perches wide.  Alleys are one perch wide”.  So Market Street stands out as an intended developing center in the town’s original design.
                The property of out-lot 14 was originally deeded by Henry Massie to the commissioners of Scioto County, July 10, 1807, before Portsmouth was officially established as a city, but with the intentions of the “prosperity of the town of Portsmouth”.  In August of 1808 the property was sold in whole to Charles T. Mastin and John Brown for “ten dollars current money of the United States of America”.  John Brown is significant in the early development of Portsmouth because he owned a lot of it.  Brown owned, among other land, a big chunk of the city between Chillicothe Road and what is today, Waller Street.  Then two years later in Nov of 1810 Charles Mastin deeded the property to John Brown in a bulk deal, when Brown acquired an assortment of other properties within the city limits of Portsmouth, in a purchase of two thousand five hundred dollars.  The property transitioned again three and a half years later in May of 1814 when John Brown and his wife Hannah sold it to William Kendall and Rachel Kendal for one dollar.  This couple was another significant landholder in early Portsmouth.  Then again, the property changed hands in whole form just a year and a half later in December  1815 to one, William Swords, for a hundred dollars (a little steeper than the one dollar Kendall paid).  Three years later the lot is split for the first time when Swords sells to James Marsh the Southern part of the out-lot for the sum of fifty dollars.  The property from then would stay split, come together as whole again, and split once more as it is today in its Southern and Northern parts.  John H. Thornton is the buyer who brings the North and South parts of the lot together again between 1818 and 1845, buying the North end from William Swords in 1818 and the South end of the property (the part on which 701 Market Street stands today) from Hugh Cook Nov. 12 1845.  Subsequently a Giles S. Thornton ends up with the property from John (maybe Giles is John’s son or brother, but the transition wasn’t recorded) and sells it in whole form again to Moses C. Wilson seven years later, Feb. 14, 1852.  Up to this point sometime I believe a house must have been built, though I don’t know for certain.  Though County Auditor records assess the house's building at 1880, I come to this conclusion because Wilson keeps the property much longer than anyone had previously—32 years.  Moses sells the South end (which is the part of the property related to the current structure) to Mary M. McGowan in July of 1884; then McGowan keeps the property 36 years until her death in 1920.  So this prolonged ownership between two people between 1852 and 1920 points to a house being on the property at or prior to Moses in 1852.  Furthermore the trend of shorter turnover of the property actually started with owners previous to Moses:  John McDowell gets the property from James Marsh October 28, 1822 and keeps it for 13 years until 1835 when Hugh Cook acquires the property and keeps it for 10 years until November of 1845 when John H. Thornton brought the N. and S. ends of out-lot 14 together for the last time.  Prior to James Marsh owning the property in 1818, I don’t think a house was built, because the turnover was so frequent; but, Marsh keeps his south end of out-lot 14 for four years until 1822, then, again, McDowell keeps it for 13 years, and Cook for 10 years, and Thornton for 7 years; and it is by this point in 1852 that a house must certainly have been built as Wilson and McGowan then took the property into the 1920s.  I believe, either Marsh, McDowell, Cook, or one of the Thorntons must have built a house on the southern end of out-lot 14 between 1818-1852 at the earliest and latest.  Another bit of evidence that lends creed to this conclusion is that Giles Thornton takes the first mortgage out on the property October 4, 1849.  As well when Giles Thornton deeds the property to Moses Wilson, the sell is for nine hundred and fifty dollars, which is a lot compared to previous prices for just that lot—though I don’t know the price that Marsh sold to McDowell, and McDowell to Cook, or Cook to Thornton.  As well, Wilson sells the property to McGowan for $1,330.00.
                The trail of owners for the property that 701 Market Street now occupies doesn’t leave a clear answer for who built the current house and when.  Other houses may have been built then destroyed before the current one was constructed, so, it is with only speculation that I make my conclusions.  Although I didn’t pursue or exhaust all the avenues of research beyond the realty records, there is other information and records for the historic house that I found.  The Scioto County Auditor’s records for 701 Market Street show that the house was built in 1880, although I believe this is certainly wrong and found nothing to corroborate that assessment in my research, and I have been told that the Auditor’s records can be mistaken, especially with a house as old as this.  I’m not even sure who the current owner is.  The Auditor’s records show the owner as John Biller, as do the County Recorder’s realty records, but two other separate sources from the community say the owner is actually Michael E Russell JR, a local business owner in the area.  As well Russell’s address is in-fact the mailing address shown in the Auditor’s records as well, for contacting the owner—so that source in itself is conflicting.  Conflicting as well are all the different titles or names that I found of the current property.
A detailed shot of the front (east end) of the house.  The crowned flat colums or pilasters that flank the door are significant.  The white painted stone inlay above all the doors and windows is significant also, as well is the rectangular two-pained window that modestly adorns the top of the entrance.  This detail shows also the disrepair that the house is in, revealing major cracks in the brick structure and the multicolored chipped-away paint.
                A final assessment of the House is a consideration of its architecture and style to place it in a particular period (time) and design.  A particularly tall brick house, the National Historic Registry shows that the Market Street house in out-lot 14 is of Federal style, which would put the construction at a period in the early Republic of the United States up to the 1850s and would corroborate the assessment made here with the realty records.  The red brick of the structure is covered in discolored, weathered, cracking, and chipping paint currently and the brick goes all the way to the ground.  The blotchy paint is different dirty cream colors to mortar gray and almost white.  The same missing-paint covers the house from top to bottom.  The front East end of the house has five dominant windows with the top three being two-stacked single sashes and the two bottom windows are fashioned of twelve panes each.  At the North end of the house is the front entrance door that completes the symmetry of the door and windows.  A thin tiny two paned window sits atop the front door frame and two windows are visible at the base of the house that are partially covered by the ground.  The window construction is wooden sashes and framing.  Above and below each window and the door is what looks like a stone, or plaster, or concrete, thin rectangular inlay that trims the windows and faintly garnishes the otherwise unembellished house.  The ground covers part of the structure’s base as a result of the levee that was raised around and behind the house between it and the Scioto River sometime probably in the early 20th century after either the 1913 or 1937 floods.  The roof has a symmetrical gable that steeps on both the east and west sides.  A single chimney protrudes from the South side of the gable and hides within the structure of the house.  Even though the house is currently evaluated as a Federal style construction, there are several problems with this appraisal.  Though some of this style is evident, the style of the house actually seems more of an earlier Georgian style in-fact.  Federal style is associated with more elaborate and delicate designs and rounded and curved features of which this house has none.  This house is rather plain with no distinguishing elaborate features, and this house is characterized more by its boxy, angular, linear style than curved.  There are no fanlights above the entrance, or windows, or anywhere else that would be typical of Federal style; and there are no side-lights around these elements either.  There are no wooden balustrades adorning any part of the house—not now anyway.  There are no semicircular or semi elliptical features at all with this construction.  Though there is no fanlight over the doorway, a boxy one does exist above the front door.  There is no narrow side windows flanking the front door or any moldings or decorative cornices below the roof, and there is no dentil molding anywhere on the house.  Even more there is a glaring omission of any Palladian windows anywhere on the original structure.  As well there are no shutters present today either, although these  may have existed at some point.  There are no ovals, arches, circles, or semicircles of anykind, or decorative garlands, or any decorative, delicate details.  Though the period of style is likely aligned well with Federal style construction I believe the house is more Georgian Colonial style simply because it is much more angular and square and rectangular in the structural pieces and details as well—right from the individual bricks to the square window panes and thin rectangular double paned windows above the entrances.  Georgian style is more square and focused on symmetry.  Also, characteristic of a particular Georgian style detail that sets this house apart, are the flattened columns on each side of the front door.  This house doesn’t have a centered door or a double chimney that some Georgian style constructions have but the chimney is on the end, and the symmetry is there.  Another particular Georgian feature with this house is the twelve paned windows on main floor.  Really the only particular Federal characteristic is the high pitched roof, which in-fact is a characteristic of Georgian as well to a lesser steeped degree.  Observably Federal style is more decorative than Georgian Colonial generally, and this house is more plain.  Also,  Federal style is characterized by its curved lines, of which this structure has none, so seemingly apparent to the definitions of the individual styles it is hard to even say that this house is much of a hybrid of the two.  While it does have some Federal style characteristics, this house has two distinct Georgian Colonial features and is lacking a distinct Federal style feature, and thus, is much more Georgian in its representation.
The house currently occupying the south end of out-lot 14 is in obvious disrepair.  The property today looks much different than it did over 200 hundred years ago with the open landscape changed by a slim but notable displacement of the mouth of the Scioto River with the Ohio and Erie Canal created, and the expansion of sprawling asphalt and streets and structures over the years, and a levee raised just behind the house paralleling the Scioto River.   This project was full of conflicting information from seemingly reliable sources and led to only speculation to who built the house and when.  Even the celebrated Portsmouth Murals are misleading with thier representation of the orginal plat of Portsmouth that includes names on properties that, though were early, were several and over ten years removed sometimes from the original plat.  John Thornton who is credited to an original property-spot on the Mural, was the sixth person to have owned that property and didn't buy it until 1818--11 years after the original plat was maped (although he was the first to own the North division of the property).  Even more misleading is the date the Mural decorates next to Hentry Massie mapping out the original plan of Portsmouth, 1803, which may be when the city was founded, but not when Henry Massie mapped out the original plat.  He finished this in 1807.  The Scioto County Ohio webstite actually puts 701 Market Street at being built in 1822, which I don't think is necessarily wrong.  This in-fact would corroborate the assessment of an earlier Georgian Colonial style construction.  I couldn’t find records of the additions to the house or damages made by the historic floods of the area that were sure to have had an impact on it.  Although I did find that both ends of the property were acquired by the city of Portsmouth in 1940, maybe as a result of the 1937 flood damages or debts of the depression.  This was a river property and a river home.  At one point the Flannigan Coal Supply Company acquired the North part of the property (not where the house is today) in 1926, more than likely because of the transportation that the rivers provided nearby.  The fact that Market Street was part of original platted streets lends to speculation of a house being there very early on, rather than being used by any farm land or something--certainly much sooner than Auditors assessment of 1880.  Market Street was the widest street in Portsmouth and was meant to be a central place where houses and businesses and buildings could be built for a new up-start river city.

3 comments:

  1. Thanks! This is of particular interest to me because Moses Chance Wilson was my GGGgrandfather. He arrives in Portsmouth prior to the 1850 census but I am not sure if he is living here at that time. He is living here on the 1860 census and does until his death in 1892. His son-in-law and executor, Robert Baker, sells the house at public auction soon after.

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  3. Sorry for not responding sooner. I didn't realize anyone had left a comment until now. Can I ask how you came across this blog? Thank you so much for sharing this information. I am glad to have it; and, of course, it is great you took particular interest in my post.

    It makes this little bit of research I did come more alive and create a little more depth when you can get a sense of the people involved in it. I focused on the real estate and construction in this post, but, ultimately the people who built, lived, and made a home in it are what give it the history and make it important.

    Like I said in the blog, I didn't exhaust the research available, and that there are many other avenues that could be explored. However, for the purposes of my project, I considered the architecture and construction, and I traced the recorded history of the property, and tried to determine when exactly the house was built. I discovered that one way to do this was to see when the property tax spiked suddenly, and that would be when something valuable was built on it. Unfortunately though, these records were not easy to come by. A worker at the records office told me I would have to get access to the basement and that none of these records were likely organized in a way to find them efficiently. In other words, I would have had to spend an exorbitant amount of time to do this, which wasn't possible with this project.

    In any case, I can add to the evidence that this house predates 1880 (which I think is very clear actually due to its construction and design), if it can be concluded as you said that Moses C. Wilson didn't just buy this property in 1852, but also that according to the 1860 U.S. Census, he was living in Portsmouth as well. Also, it is great to know his middle name, Chance. All I knew was just an abbreviated middle name.

    One thing you wrote caught my attention also. You wrote that Wilson had his property sold soon after his death in 1892 at public auction. According to real estate records at the Scioto County Records Office in the Scioto County Court House, Moses Wilson sold the south end of out-lot 14 (which is the property the 701 Market Street house occupies) to Mary M. McGowan in July of 1884. Now he also owned the North end of the property which had previously been split, and apparently split again when Wilson sold to Mrs. McGowan. But I didn't research what happened to the North part of this property that Wilson owned. So perhaps Robert Baker, Wilson's executor, sold the North end of the property at public auction, or the Records aren't recorded correctly.

    I would appreciate any other info you feel like sharing about your GGGrandfather or the property at 701 Market Street.

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