Cheese-vat Factory

Located at 16 Eagle Street in Madison, Ohio, this three-story brick factory dates from about 1865 and reflects the village's industrial past. It is a plain, functional vernacular building with common brick walls, a stone foundation, a flat roof, and rectangular six-over-six double-hung windows with stone lintels and sills. A one-story addition sits at the west end, a metal fire escape reaches a third-floor window converted to a door, and an overhead garage door faces north. According to oral tradition, the building has served as a woolen mill, a cheese-vat factory, and a basket factory, the last known as Madison Willow Craft. It was listed because it is one of the few surviving remnants of the many manufacturing enterprises that once operated in the village. The building was vacant and in poor interior condition when surveyed, with abandonment noted as a threat, though its additions and alterations were considered readily reversible. It stands between an alley and a building facing Main Street.