Second Street Historic District

Second Street in Portsmouth, Ohio, runs along a tree-lined bluff above the Ohio River, and seven blocks of it form a residential historic district of 71 contributing structures. Most are frame houses, and Queen Anne examples are the most numerous at twenty-nine. Other styles include Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, Italianate, Italian Villa, an outstanding Georgian Revival house of 1900, and a large American Foursquare of about 1910. The street housed merchants, managers, bankers and industrialists tied to the city's steamboat building, iron works, brick making and shoe manufacturing. It was the city's most important residential area during much of the period from 1850 to the early twentieth century. After the 1913 flood, wealthier residents moved up the hillside. Later decades brought blight and the growth of Shawnee State Community College, which cleared two blocks. Some remaining historic buildings have since been converted to student housing. Newer intrusions exist but do not greatly alter the scale and residential character.