Main Street Historic District
Also known as: See Also:Old Hotel, The; Barrett, George, Concrete House
Why it's listed
Main Street in Spring Valley, Greene County, Ohio, is a village streetscape of modest frame houses, shops, a warehouse and a township hall. The village was platted in 1844 along the Cincinnati-Xenia Pike, and the Little Miami Railroad arrived at about the same time. A small commercial district formed at the railroad crossing on West Main, while larger houses rose along East Main. Many early buildings are I-houses built in the 1840s and 1850s by the Walton family, Quakers from Virginia. Later brick commercial buildings include the 1874 Pork House and the three-story Township Hall of 1888. Farming, milling and pork packing supported the village, and the Barrett family later became prominent. Rerouting of Route 42 in 1954 left the street largely bypassed, which helped preserve its appearance. The district contains 66 contributing resources and shows a continuous record of growth from the 1840s to the 1920s.
Significance in brief: The district shows the growth of a 19th-century rural commercial and manufacturing village tied to the Little Miami Railroad and the surrounding farm economy. Its largely vernacular buildings, including many I-houses built by the Walton family, record an unbroken line of development from the 1840s to the 1920s. Mills, a pork-packing operation and local commerce shaped the street.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 89000431, listed May 19, 1989. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | Roughly E. and W. Main St. from Elm to Water Sts., Spring Valley |
|---|---|
| County | Greene County |
| Listed | May 19, 1989 |
| Reference number | 89000431 |
| Resource type | District |
| Period of significance | 1840s-1920s (about 75 years of growth; exact date range not shown in the available text) |
| Architect / builder | Edward Walton and Moses Walton (builders of several houses) |
| Architectural style | Mid-19th Century: Other; I-House; Greek Revival; Queen Anne |
| Areas of significance | Industry, Community Planning and Development, Commerce, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Most buildings remain in residential, commercial, governmental and industrial use; two former churches have been converted to residences and some early structures have been lost or are endangered. |
| Acreage | 13.5 |
| Coordinates | 39.60936, -84.00745 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 89000431.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.