Chillicothe's Old Residential District

Chillicothe's Old Residential District is a roughly 58-acre neighborhood of nineteenth-century houses, carriage houses and iron fences, with more than 40 homes of historic and architectural importance. Most were built between 1810 and 1910 and show a continuity of styles, from Greek Revival houses with Corinthian, Ionic and Doric columns to a row of ornate Neo-Jacobean brick homes on East Fourth Street designed by John Cook around 1890. Five museums occupy buildings here, including the Ross County Historical Society Museum, erected in 1838. Chillicothe was founded near Paint Creek by Nathaniel Massie and served as capital of the Northwest Territory and of Ohio after 1803. The district links to many notable people: Lucy Webb Hayes was born here, R. G. Dun of Dun and Bradstreet was born on South Paint Street, and Olympic pole vault champion Edward Tiffin Cook lived on West Fifth Street. The area was listed for its political associations and its well-preserved architecture.