Harmar, Marietta

Last updated

Harmar Historic District
and Boundary Increase
Harmar, Ohio.jpg
Aerial view, looking west
USA Ohio location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
LocationRoughly bounded by the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers and the rear property lines of Lancaster, George, and Franklin Sts.; also roughly bounded by Lancaster, Harmar, Putnam and Franklin Sts. and the Ohio River, Fort Harmar Dr., and the Muskingum River, Marietta, Ohio
Coordinates 39°24′30″N81°27′30″W / 39.40833°N 81.45833°W / 39.40833; -81.45833
Area60 acres (24 ha); 147.5 acres (59.7 ha)
Built1785 (1785)
Architectural style Federal, Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, Late Victorian
NRHP reference No. 74001645; 93000987 [1]
Added to NRHPDecember 19, 1974; September 16, 1993

Harmar is a historic neighborhood in the city of Marietta, Ohio, United States. Located at the western side of the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio Rivers, it grew up around the early Fort Harmar in the 1780s, being settled in conjunction with Marietta. After a period of forming part of Marietta, it existed separately beginning in 1837 before rejoining the mother city in 1890. Connected by bridge to the rest of the city, it retains much of its nineteenth-century architecture and landscape, and most of the neighborhood is now a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places.

Contents

History

The first pioneers of Marietta landed in April 1788, beginning by building cabins and planting crops along the river. They generally lived on the eastern side of the Muskingum, across from Fort Harmar, [2] :54 but their farms were close enough to the fort that garrison troops routinely watched their farming activities, [2] :55 and their ventures across the river were not always peaceful, as pioneer Robert Warth was murdered by Indians just west of the fort on the flat land that later became occupied by the neighborhood. [2] :97 Until 1800, neither side of the river had an official legal status, but an act of the Northwest Territory legislature incorporated the settled areas of both sides as the town of Marietta, effective January 1, 1801. Decades later, disagreements with city leaders prompted Harmar residents to request separation from the rest of the city, [2] :306 and on January 5, 1837, the General Assembly passed an act incorporating Point Harmar separately from Marietta, [3] :388 which itself was reincorporated by an act of March 13, 1837. [3] :663 Believing the bill's provisions to be in accord with the desires of the residents, [3] :388 a legislative committee found itself to have been deceived after residents resolved almost unanimously to reject many of the provisions, [3] :389 and five days after Marietta's incorporation bill passed, the first act was repealed and replaced by a new act drafted to reflect the resolution of Harmar's electorate. [3] :699 This status continued until 1890, when the two municipalities were re-merged. [2] :306 The same year marked the end of Harmar's own legal school district, separate from the districts of Marietta and Marietta Township, which had been formed in 1866. [2] :164

On January 9, 1970, the neighborhood was the site of fire at the Harmar House Center nursing home, which ultimately killed 32 of the 46 residents. [4]

Landscape

Scene on Maple Street Harmar Historic District.jpg
Scene on Maple Street

Architecturally, Harmar is a good example of Ohio communities planned in the nineteenth century. Its grid plan begins at Fort Harmar and proceeds along both rivers away from their confluence, with the wide tree-lined streets being oriented north-south and east-west rather than paralleling the rivers. [5] Houses in the neighborhood include examples of various nineteenth-century architectural styles; the Federal, Greek Revival, and Gothic Revival styles are most significant, [1] and the Colonial Revival and Italianate styles are also common. [5] Since 1880, Harmar has been connected by bridge to Putnam Street in Marietta proper; the first bridge was destroyed in the Great Flood of 1913 and a swing bridge constructed in its place, [6] :2 although the bridge has since been replaced by a newer span that opened in September 2000. [7] State Route 7 formerly traversed the neighborhood, although the opening of the nearby Washington Street Bridge facilitated its rerouting away from the Putnam Street Bridge. [6] :4

Historic district

In 1974, 60 acres (24 ha) of Harmar was designated the Harmar Historic District and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Forty-two buildings, plus the fort site and one object, were included in the district as contributing properties. In 1993, the district was expanded by the addition of more than two hundred contributing properties over an area of approximately 150 acres (61 ha); the original district protected areas closer to the fort, while the later designation expanded the district to the base of the bluff at the far edges of the neighborhood. [1] Not all of the contributing properties are still in existence, as the destroyed Putnam Street Bridge was included in the district, but the replacement span was designed to be compatible with the architecture of Harmar to the west and the larger Marietta Historic District at its eastern end. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marietta, Ohio</span> City in Ohio, United States

Marietta is a city in, and the county seat of, Washington County, Ohio, United States. It is located in southeastern Ohio at the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio Rivers, 11 miles (18 km) northeast of Parkersburg, West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, Marietta has a population of 13,385 people. It is the principal city of the Marietta micropolitan area, which includes all of Washington County, and is the second-largest city in the Parkersburg–Marietta–Vienna combined statistical area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northwest Territory</span> United States territory (1787–1803)

The Northwest Territory, also known as the Old Northwest and formally known as the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, was formed from unorganized western territory of the United States after the American Revolutionary War. Established in 1787 by the Congress of the Confederation through the Northwest Ordinance, it was the nation's first post-colonial organized incorporated territory.

The Treaty of Fort McIntosh was a treaty between the United States government and representatives of the Wyandotte, Delaware, Chippewa and Ottawa nations of Native Americans. The treaty was signed at Fort McIntosh on January 21, 1785. It contained 10 articles and an addendum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coal Run, Ohio</span> United States historic place

Coal Run is an unincorporated community in northeastern Waterford Township, Washington County, Ohio, United States. It has a post office with the ZIP code 45721. It is located along State Route 60 between the villages of Beverly and Lowell. The Muskingum River flows past the community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Huffman Historic District</span> Historic district in Ohio, United States

The Huffman Historic District is a historic section of the Historic Inner East neighborhood in Dayton, Ohio, United States. Formed at the end of the nineteenth century primarily by a wealthy businessman, it has long been home to people of many different occupations and numerous places on the social ladder. After seeing very few changes throughout the twentieth century, it was named a historic site in the 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenilworth Avenue Historic District</span> Historic district in Ohio, United States

The Kenilworth Avenue Historic District is a historic district in the northwestern portion of Dayton, Ohio, United States. Composed largely of houses constructed after the Great Flood of 1913, the district features examples of several prominent architectural styles, and it has received both local and federal recognition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drake Park Neighborhood Historic District</span> Historic district in Oregon, United States

The Drake Park Neighborhood Historic District is located adjacent to Drake Park near the historic downtown area in Bend, Oregon, United States. Because of the unique and varied architecture in the Drake Park neighborhood and its close association with the early development of the city of Bend, the area was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Putnam Street Bridge</span> Bridge in Marietta, Ohio

The Putnam Street Bridge, also known as the Marietta Bridge, is a historic United States river crossing that connects Marietta, Ohio, with its Fort Harmar district. The original 1880 bridge was the first free crossing of the Muskingum River. The 1913 bridge was a contributing structure to the Harmar Historic District. The bridge crosses the Muskingum, just above its confluence with the Ohio River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Harmar</span> Frontier wooden fort in Ohio

Fort Harmar was an early United States frontier military fort, built in pentagonal shape during 1785 at the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum rivers, on the west side of the mouth of the Muskingum River. It was built under the orders of Colonel Josiah Harmar, then commander of the United States Army, and took his name. The fort was intended for the protection of Indians, i.e., to prevent pioneer squatters from settling in the land to the northwest of the Ohio River. "The position was judiciously chosen, as it commanded not only the mouth of the Muskingum, but swept the waters of the Ohio, from a curve in the river for a considerable distance both above and below the fort." It was the first frontier fort built in Ohio Country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marietta Historic District (Marietta, Ohio)</span> Historic district in Ohio, United States

The Marietta Historic District is a historic district in Marietta, Ohio, United States that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Among the buildings in the district are ones dating back to 1788, the year in which Marietta was founded as the first white settlement in what is now Ohio. Among its most significant buildings are the Rufus Putnam House and the Ohio Company Land Office, which are also separately listed on the Register.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Putnam House</span> Historic house in Ohio, United States

The Putnam House is a historic building in the Harmar neighborhood of Marietta, Washington County, Ohio, United States, on the National Register of Historic Places. The house overlooks the Muskingum River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ohio Company Land Office</span> United States historic place

The Ohio Company Land Office is one of the original buildings of the city of Marietta, Ohio, United States. The Office is listed individually in the National Register of Historic Places and as a contributing property to the Marietta Historic District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Campus Martius (Ohio)</span>

Campus Martius was a defensive fortification at the Marietta, Ohio settlement, and was home to Rufus Putnam, Benjamin Tupper, Arthur St. Clair, and other pioneers from the Ohio Company of Associates during the Northwest Indian War. Major Anselm Tupper was commander of the Campus Martius during the war. Construction began in 1788 and was fully completed in 1791. The Campus Martius was located on the east side of the Muskingum River, and upriver from its confluence with the Ohio River. A firsthand description of the fort is provided in Hildreth's Pioneer History,

Campus Martius is the handsomest pile of buildings on this side of the Alleghany mountains, and in a few days will be the strongest fortification in the territory of the United States. It stands on the margin of the elevated plain on which are the remains of the ancient works [mounds], mentioned in my letter of May last, thirty feet above the high bank of the Muskingum, twenty-nine perches distant from the river, and two hundred and seventy-six from the Ohio. It consists of a regular square, having a block house at each angle, eighteen feet square on the ground, and two stories high; the upper story on the outside or face, jutting over the lower one, eighteen inches. These block houses serve as bastions to a regular fortification of four sides. The curtains are composed of dwelling houses two stories high, eighteen feet wide, and of different lengths.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Picketed Point Stockade</span>

Picketed Point Stockade was the last of three fortifications built at Marietta, Ohio. This defensive stockade was built by pioneers during the Northwest Indian War in 1791 on the east side of the mouth of the Muskingum River at its confluence with the Ohio River, and directly across the Muskingum from Fort Harmar. Colonel William Stacy superintended the construction of the stockade under direction of Colonel Ebenezer Sproat. Palisades or pickets were set from the Muskingum River eastward, meeting in the northeast corner of the fortification with another line of pickets built from the Ohio River northward, enclosing about four acres.

Three block houses were immediately built: one on the Muskingum bank, at the western termination of the pickets; one in the northeast corner of the inclosure; and one on the Ohio bank. Near to the latter, and by that on the Muskingum, were strong gates, of a size to admit teams, the approaches to which were commanded by the block houses. These block houses were surmounted by sentry boxes, or turrets, the sides of which were secured with thick planks for the defense of the men when on guard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donation Tract</span>

The Donation Tract was a land tract in southern Ohio that was established by the Congress late in the 18th century to buffer Ohio Company lands against local indigenous people. Congress gave 100-acre (0.40 km2) lots to men who settled on the land. This marked the first time that federal land was given without charge to specified settlers, predating the more famous Homestead Act of 1862 by seventy years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Steuben</span>

Fort Steuben was a fortification erected in Feb. 1787 on the Ohio River in eastern Ohio Country at the northern end of the Seven Ranges land tract to be surveyed. It was at the location of the modern city of Steubenville, Ohio. The fort was built by Major John Hamtramck and named for Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, a Prussian army officer who had served under General Washington. The original purpose was to provide protection from Indians for the first surveyors to venture into the Northwest Territory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Frye</span>

Fort Frye was a triangular defensive fortification built by a group of pioneers from the Ohio Company of Associates who moved about twenty miles up the Muskingum River from the settlement of Marietta, Ohio to a location near the mouth of Wolf Creek. During 1789 the pioneers established settlements now known as Waterford and Beverly on the southwest and northeast banks of the Muskingum, respectively. The settlements were located about 13 miles downriver from a small group of pioneers at Big Bottom. During January and February 1791, following the massacre at Big Bottom and the start of the Northwest Indian War, the settlers built Fort Frye at Beverly.

The form of the fort was triangular, which is rather uncommon in military defenses. But as they were in a hurry, and it saved them one line of curtains, while the block houses at the angles defended the sides just as well as in any other form, it was adopted. The base of the triangle rested on the river, distant only a few paces from the bank, and was about two hundred feet in length. One of the other sides was somewhat longer, so that the work was not a regular triangle. At each corner, was a two story block house, twenty feet square below, and a foot or two more above. The two longer sides were filled in with dwelling houses, some of which were two stories high, and others of a lesser height, while a considerable portion were built barrack fashion, with only one roof, pitched inward, so that the rain from it fell within the garrison. The spaces not occupied by buildings were filled in with stout pickets. Broad, substantial gates, near the northern block house, led out through the palisades into the highway and fields, while a smaller one in the curtain on the bank, called the water gate, afforded an opening to the river. A line of palisades, twelve feet high, at the distance of thirty feet, inclosed the whole, and descended to the river.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Unitarian Church of Marietta</span> Historic church in Ohio, United States

The First Unitarian Church of Marietta is a historic Unitarian Universalist church in the city of Marietta, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1869, it uses a building constructed in 1858 for one of its two predecessor churches; this building's high-quality architecture has led to its designation as a historic site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marietta Earthworks</span>

The Marietta Earthworks is an archaeological site located at the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio Rivers in Washington County, Ohio, United States. Most of this Hopewellian complex of earthworks is now covered by the modern city of Marietta. Archaeologists have dated the ceremonial site's construction to approximately 100 BCE to 500 CE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Putnam Historic District</span> United States historic place

Putnam Historic District, located in Zanesville, Ohio, was an important center of Underground Railroad traffic and it home to a number of abolitionists. The district, with private residences and other key buildings important in the fight against slavery, lies between the Pennsylvania Central Railroad, Van Buren Street, and Muskingum River. It became a historic district of the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Andrews, Martin R., ed. History of Marietta and Washington County, Ohio and Representative Citizens. Chicago: Biographical, 1902.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Journal of the House of Representatives of the State of Ohio: Being the First Session of the Thirty-fifth General Assembly . Columbus: State of Ohio, 1837.
  4. "17 Reportedly Killed In Rest Home Blaze— Marietta, Ohio, Facility Burns With 42 Inside", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 10, 1970, p1
  5. 1 2 Owen, Lorrie K., ed. Dictionary of Ohio Historic Places. Vol. 2. St. Clair Shores: Somerset, 1999, 1382.
  6. 1 2 Hoehn, Howard R. Putnam Street Bridge (Marietta Bridge), Historic American Engineering Record, 1997-12.
  7. 1 2 Biennial Transportation Improvement Program, Wood-Washington-Wirt Interstate Planning Commission, n.d, 9. Accessed 2016-01-04.