Gallipolis Public Square and Garden Lots Historic District

Gallipolis Public Square and Garden Lots Historic District occupies a high bank above the Ohio River in Gallia County, Ohio. At its center is the three-acre Public Square, called La Place, where French settlers built eighty log cabins in four rows beginning in October 1790. Today the square holds a park, an 1878 Eastlake-influenced wooden bandstand and two war memorials. Around it stand about thirty buildings from the 19th century, mixing homes and commercial blocks, along with the Garden Lots along the river that are now residential. Featured buildings include the 1811 Federal LeClerq House, built by one of the original French settlers, the 1819 Our House tavern where General Lafayette was entertained in 1825, the 1894 Lupton Block in Richardsonian Romanesque style, and several Greek Revival houses on First Avenue. Few buildings have seen major alteration, so the district retains a cohesive appearance and a visible link to the town's French origins.