Waterstreet Historic District

Southwest Xenia holds a tree-shaded residential neighborhood of about 25 acres, where houses from the middle and late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century stand close together. Queen Anne, Italianate and Eastlake designs dominate, with fewer Federal and Greek Revival buildings, plus cottages and vernacular homes. Iron fences, gates and hitching posts survive. Thirteen pivotal buildings are described, among them the Baldwin House, the Nesbitt House with its restored Eastlake porch, the High Victorian Italianate Darlington House, the Fetz Brothers Grocery and the Thornhill Furniture building, a former sawmill and planing mill. The area was developed by Xenia's prominent middle-class businessmen, professionals and manufacturers, and its architecture reflects their tastes. The 1974 tornado passed beside the western boundary and destroyed many structures, leaving large vacant lots, especially near West Street and Cincinnati Avenue. A few modern buildings, including an elderly high-rise apartment complex, intrude on the historic character.