Marietta Historic District

Marietta's historic district covers about 450 acres of flat river bottomland where the Muskingum meets the Ohio River in Washington County, Ohio. Forty-seven settlers sent by the Ohio Company of Associates landed here on April 7, 1788, and laid out a grid of unusually wide streets, with Washington Street at 120 feet. Public commons such as Sacra Via were set aside. The streets and parks survive today. The first years were spent inside the Campus Martius stockade, home to territorial officials including Governor Arthur St. Clair and General Rufus Putnam. The Campus Martius Museum now stands on part of that site and holds the original Ohio Company Land Office. Few original buildings remain, but many 19th-century ones do, including Federal, Greek Revival, Gothic Revival and Victorian examples along Front and Putnam Streets and in tree-lined residential blocks. The district is recognized as the first permanent settlement in the Northwest Territory.