Nomination for Pleasant Hill

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior JAN 1 6 2008 NAT. REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES REGISTRATION FORM Place additional entries and narrative items on continuation sheets (NPS Form 10-900a). Use a typewriter, word processor, or computer, to 1. Name of Property Other names/site number CLE-326-1 2. Location street & number 909 State Route 131 Onot for publication city or town n/a D vicinity state OH _code 025 zip code 45150 3. State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act of1986, as amended, 1 hereby certify that this A December 31, 2007 Ohio Historic Preservation Office, Ohio Historical Society State or Federal agency and bureau In my opinion, the property meets - does not meet the National Register criteria.

( See continuation sheet for additional Signature of commenting or other official 4. National Park Service Certification , hereby certify that this property is: determined not eligible for the - See continuation sheet. other (explain): Date comments.) National Register Inventory & Registration Date Pleasant Hill county Clermont Historic name Milford entered in the National Register complete all items. National Park Service removed from the National Register National Register of Historic Places Registration Form (National Register Bulletin 16A). Complete each item by marking "x" in the appropriate For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions. ny opinion, the property meets does not meet the National Register Criteria. I recommend that this property be Dept.

Head This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in How to Complete the nomination [ request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In Clermont County, Ohio 5. Classification Category of Property (Do not include previously listed resources in the count) Site Number of contributing resources previously 6. Function or Use Domestic/single dwelling Agricultural/Subsistence/agricultural outbuilding Domestic/secondary structure 7.

Description Other: Italianate standing-seam, metal (Describe the historic and current condition of the property on one or more continuation sheets.) other roof object district structure Property weatherboard listing.) public-local private building(s) public-State Architectural Classification Narrative Description apply) ContributingNoncontributing Total walls Materials Historic Functions Current Functions public-Federal listed in the National Register Ownership of (Check as many boxes as (Check only one box) Late Victorian (Enter categories from instructions) Name of related multiple property listing Number of Resources within Property Pleasant Hill brick Foundation stone NPS Form 10-900 (Rev.

10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number Z Page 1 Pleasant Hill Milford, Clermont County, Ohio Section 7. Statement of Description. most of its historic fabric. A building, approximately from the first third of the nineteenth non-original, picket fence encloses the side yard (photo 3). The historic barn is located at the northeast corner of the lot (photos 4 & 5). Five of the original concrete cisterns remain, one is found directly south of the barn. Two other cisterns are located to the southwest of the barn, and two are located under the breezeway, between the dwelling and garage? The cistern south of the bam, over time, has been filled in with dirt; the others have not.

In addition, one original well remains on the property, located under the nominated area includes the dwelling and the barn (see site plan). until the recent annexation, the property was legally located in Miami Township. Within Miami Township, once rural countryside, is now consumed by suburban sprawl, with an photograph of the façade. A sixth cistern is located on a neighbor's property, approximately one hundred and fifty yards south of the barn. 1024-0018 Pleasant Hill historically resides. 1The double row of pine trees to the north of the dwelling make it impossible to get a clear Milford, into which the property was annexed circa 1990 (see topographic map).Yet, Route 131 (historically known as Edenton Pike),and is shielded by a double row of OMB No. The dwelling at Pleasant Hill (CLE-326-1) is a two-story, three-bay, frame, L-plan.

This Pleasant Hill is located approximately two and half miles east of the heart of the City of townships in Clermont County, Miami Township is located in the northwester comner of the county. Directly to the north of Pleasant Hill, what was once farmland is now being century, which has been extensively altered, is attached to the dwelling via an early ever-increasing population now reaching 36,632 (2000 Census). One of the fourteen the context of the following, Miami Township will be considered the area in which rural interpretation of the Italianate style is from circa 1867(photos 1-3). The dwelling NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev. 10-90) National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number Z Page 2 Pleasant Hill Milford, Clermont County, Ohio west, and south of Pleasant Hill.

Pleasant Hill is one of the last remaining vestiges of the late nineteenth century in this once rural landscape. which rests upon wooden, chamfered supports, with ornamental, scroll-cut brackets, with drip molding (photo 6). To each side of the front door are elongated windows, with porch from the front parlors. The second floor façade mimics the first, with three, two- over-two, double-hung wood windows. All of the windows have hood molding, and most are flanked with original and operable shutters; however, inoperable shutters flank some insets puncture the original standing-seam metal roof. foundation (photo 2). Other than the turned post balustrade, this porch is identical to the one located on the main façade. This elevation has a less formal entry, a multi-pane, wooden front door with a transom above versus the more elaborate paneled door with windows create a non-uniform rhythm.

A non-original window, in a non-original window opening is located on the first floor, at the far right of the dwelling. Although the molding that surrounds this window mimics the original window molding, it does not have the hood molding that decorates the other windows. screened in. The scroll cut brackets slightly differ from those on the other two elevations. Instead of the tumed post balustrade found on the east elevation, the porch along the 1024-0018 dominates the symmetrical facade.Both brackets and modillions decorate the porch frieze.The fenestration rhythm of the first floor is that of a central passage house. The primed for an inevitable subdivision.Newer homes have been constructed to the east, Dwelling.Pleasant Hill rests upon a coursed rubble foundation.

It is an L-plan house, each of the windows having wood panels beneath that open to provide access to the United States Department of the Interior The east elevation hasa verandah inset into the Lof the house (photo 3). Both tiers are sidelights found on the façade. This elevation is irregular in its visual massing, as the NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev. 10-90) National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number Z Page 3 Milford, Clermont County, Ohio chimney, with the same detailing as the present chimney, in the same location, it is believed that this external chimney is original to the dwelling. the main body of the house, only a single two-over-two, double-hung, wood window, flanked by inoperable shutters, is present. On the second floor, a one-over-one, double- hung, wood non-original window is placed off center, not above the window below.

Only the brackets of the screened verandah and just the tops of the vertical posts are visible on the first floor verandah. This is the section of the house where the early twentieth century breezeway has been attached (photo 7). Unfortunately, when looking at the south elevation of the dwelling, the breezeway is the dominating visual element. floor of the verandah is fully visible, and has the same flat jigsaw-cut out balustrade as the east elevation. To the west of the verandah, on the second floor, the rest of the wing is visible. A single, two-over-two, double-hung, wood window, minus shutters, is present. Also, a brick, internal chimney punctures the roof. The exterior of the dwelling retains most of the original fabric. However, from a historical etching of Pleasant Hill, published in Louis H.

Everts' History of Clermont County, Ohio: are two, one-over-one, double-hung, non-original wood windows, one on the west elevation, on the first floor, and the other on the south, on the second floor (photos 2& 3Although this rendering shows the dwelling with a belvedere, this image is thought to be romanticized. This dwelling is not believed to have had a belvedere. 1024-0018 original,that this exterior chimney had been moved form another location.After With illustrations and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers Pleasant Hill However, lattice has only been placed where there was once screen.

Therefore, the United States Department of the Interior inspecting the historic photograph, from circa 1880, which shows an extemal, brick dwelling and the end of the verandah and wing projection (photo 7).On the first floor of The asymmetrical south elevation is composed of both the rear of the main body of the appears that there was once a rectangular balustrade crowning the dwelling. Also, there (continuation sheet 53),and from a historic photograph sheet 52),it structure.Further, the breezeway masks the first floor end of the wing.The second (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service Section number Z Page 4 Pleasant Hill Milford, Clermont County, Ohio original ceiling medallion.

The formal staircase, with tured balustrade, abuts an interior ornamental newel post rests upon the original plank floor, which is found throughout the along an interior wall (photo 11). Behind the family room is the dining room, which The ceiling cornices and baseboards throughout the house are original. Three bedrooms, a sitting room, and two bathrooms are on the second floor (see floor ceiling cornices, and baseboards, heavily molded, as was typical in Italianate interiors such as the rounded door openings on the second floor, and the built-in and non-original mantel on the first floor, the interior retains a high degree of integrity, and has a strong of the nineteenth century, located to the south of the dwelling (photos 8 & 14). This building also has a course rubble foundation, and is clad in weatherboard with water- table, and has a few six-over-six, double-hung, wood windows.

The low-pitch, asphalt while performing maintenance on this building, found evidence which suggests that this building, there is a vertical seam indicating an expansion of the original form (photo 14). subdivision to the south of Pleasant Hill. This building is discussed in Section 8. visual character. CONTINUATION SHEET The original function of the building is unknown.However, considering this building are present throughout the house;the metal mantelpieces are quite graceful, if not dwelling.A double parlor is to the west. The mantelpiece in this parlor is not original restrained 11). The original four panel interior doors maintain original hardware, The main entry of Pleasant Hill opens into the formal central hall, which retains the retains the original chair-rail. The kitchen is behind the dining room (see floor plan 1).

building results from an addition onto a building half its size.Evidence of this addition is NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES wall (photo 9).An emphasis on the vertical is noticeable in this space. The carved, NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (photo 10). To the east is the present owners' family room; there is a non-original built-in plan 2). The upstairs has been slightly reconfigured, as arched doorways were including the stamped hinges (photo 13). Although there are some interior changes, also visible in the foundation. Further, on both sides, almost in the middle of the predates the dwelling by decades, and since the Gatch residence* is approximately one 4 The Gatch dwelling is a small frame house sandwiched between dwellings within the NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev.

10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number Z Page 5 Pleasant Hill Mifford, Clermont County, Ohio summer kitchen. More likely this building was originally a simple, two-bay, single-pile, one-story dwelling, perhaps a tenant house. The additional two-bay, single-pile addition However, it is thought the second story was a later addition, considering that the second floor window openings are somewhat narrower than the first floor (photo 3). Although all the same as the dwelling. In approximately the last thirty years this building has been extensively modified, inside and out, resulting in the extensive loss of historic fabric. One-over-one, double-hung, garage. The breezeway, likely from the 1920s, has a poured concrete foundation and a 1867, and like the house, has a coursed rubble foundation.

The barn is seventy-two feet reinforce the joints, but also add a decorative flare. The barn has two sets of sliding, large, wagon doors, one on the north side and the other on the west end. These doors are accessible via earthen ramps, both leading into the second story of the outbuilding (photos 4& 5). Wooden louver vents are along the top of the barn, underneath the door is not. The south side of the first floor, composed from stone, is fully exposed (photos 4 & 5). The wooden louvers are becoming quite deteriorated. The present 1024-0018 is based the appearance of six-over-six windows on the first floor of both sections.

of the second story windows are mid-twentieth century one-over-one replacement located on the east end 4).Railing for a sliding door is present;however, the hundred yards from the "garage," it is unlikely that this building was ever utilized as a was added probably within a decade or so of the original construction. This conclusion windows, they would have likely have been two-over-two-, double-hung, wood windows, vinyl garage doors are on the south end (photo 8). During the 1970s, an apartment was constructed on the second floor, and today, very little of the original interior is extant. A gabled breezeway, with sides covered in latticework, connects the dwelling to the timber frame, bank barn, with hipped-roof and queen post truss system is from circa slightly over hanging eaves. An early, frame shed addition, with a dropped-shed roof, is (photo 5).

This side has three large openings, historically used as horse stalls. A Outbuilding. The large, wide rectangular, three-story, four-bay, mortise and tenon, hipped-roof; clad by non-original metal, shelters the barn. Two wooden cupola aluminum windows are present, some flanked by inoperable shutters.Contemporary ventilators with wooden louvers and side-gable roofs are along the barn's roof ridge NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number Z Page 6 Milford, Clermont County, Ohio years. Fully exposed, the stone pillars, visually separate the space into individual stalls. constructed from stone (photos 16& 17). An original hitch post is located at the mouth space (photo 18).

Small, narrow window openings line the exterior walls, allowing more natural light into the partially underground space. north elevation, one is automatically impressed with the sheer size of the interior. This side of the first floor is completely open, and considering the appearance of the original timber plank floors, some planks well over a foot in width, there is no indication of walls ever separating this space. If entering the barn through the west elevation doors, there to the non-historic wall, there are also two non-original windows on the south elevation good use of the space, an upright ladder would have accessed the top floor. Like the (photo 21). It is likely that this large, open space was to facilitate the use of modern 1024-0018 Pleasant Hill The stalls were originally used to shelter Megrue's horses and the horses of the wall (photo 20).

owners are replacing the vents with in-kind materials, using similar construction methods as the original vents. The basement level of the barn has changed little throughout the structure above. A vertical, wooden plank wall divides this level into two spaces (photo of the large, stone stall (photo 16). The area to the east of the wall is a completely open One gains access to the ground floor by entering one of the two sets of large, hinged, is a large, rectangular room walled off (photo 19). This room is likely not original to the The ceiling height of the center area is higher than the two areas along the north and south walls, which were likely smaller rooms or equipment stalls (photo 19). In addition The top floor is accessed by a non-original staircase (photo 20).

Originally, to make basement level, this floor appears to retain the historic floor plan.This level of the barn has various floor 19 & 21).The middle section of this level is open equipment to move hay, such as a "horse pitchfork"or a"hay elevator,"also known as NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number Z Page Z Milford, Clermont County, Ohio floor levels, almost resembling platforms, or stages (photos 19 & 21). Each floor level The massive hipped-roof is supported by a queen post truss system, which allows for the open, middle area in the truss (photo 21). This particular truss system appears as the hip truss, girder truss, and the flat top hip truss.

Unlike other truss systems, the this large rectangular barn has two cross-collar beams with posts underneath. The wall posts are located under the comners of the roof, standing away from the walls. Each post has two diagonal braces running upward to meet the rafters. 1024-0018 Pleasant Hill shares the same floor height.The west side of this floor is broken up into three more sparse, even daring in comparison to truss systems typically used for hipped-roofs, such area, almost narrow enough to be only a walkway, which extends along the south wall, type employed in this barn has no center post resting on a cross-collar beam. Instead, store hay. fluctuatesby approximately three feet. This space was likely used as mows -a place to Pleasant Hill Clermont County, Ohio 8. Statement of Significance

Statement of significance

Areas of Significance (Mark"x" in one or more boxes for the criteria qualifying the - A Property is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad X B Property is associated with the lives of X C Property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values, or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components lack individual distinction. - D Property has yielded, or is likely to yield (Mark "X" in all the boxes that apply.) Significant Person (Complete if Criterion B is marked above) religious purposes. Megrue, Enoch Gest - B removed from its original location. - C a birthplace or a grave. - D a cemetery. -E a reconstructed building, object,or structure. - F a commemorative property.

-G less than 50 years of age or achieved significance within the past 50 years. Narrative Statement of Significance (Explain the significance of the property on one or more continuation sheets.) 9.

The rest of the file

Bibliography, boundary description, and the people who prepared and reviewed the nomination.

Major Bibliographical References (Cite the books, articles, and other sources used in preparing this form on one or more continuation sheets.) Primary location of additional data - preliminary determination of individual listing - State Historic Preservation Office (36 CFR 67) has been requested.

- Other State agency - previously listed in the National Register - Federal agency - previously determined eligible by the National L Local government - University - designated a National Historic Landmark X Other - recorded by Historic American Buildings Name of repository: Cincinnati Public Library & Clermont County Library - recorded by Historic American Engineering 1867-1881 Record Register Architecture Bibliography Survey Criteria Considerations unknown Property is: Significant Dates Applicable National Register Criteria Architect/Builder (Enter categories from instructions) Period of Significance Social History Cultural Affiliation property for National Register listing) information important in prehistory or history. persons significant in our past. A owned by a religious institution or used for patterns of our history. Previous documentation on file (NPs) NPS Form 10-900 OMB No.

(Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 8 Page 8 Pleasant Hill Milford, Clermont County, Ohio Section 8. Statement of Significance design qualities within the local architectural landscape of Miami Township, Ohio. Both dwelling and outbuilding have been evaluated within the architectural context of Miami represents a rural expression of the Italianate style. The large, wide rectangular, hipped- hipped-roof uncommon in this state, so is the overall shape and size of the barn. The Cincinnati's third fire chief, one of the nation's first paid chiefs, and the first professional begins in 1867, when Megrue purchased the property, to 1881, when Megrue's widow, Ann, sold Pleasant Hill. of new homes," has the fastest population growth (29.9% between 1990 and 2000) in Clermont County.

Among the corporate parks, suburban sprawl, occasional trailer park, examples of Italianate, Federal, Greek Revival and Gothic Revival buildings. incorporated many of the historic roads of Miami Township, such as State Routes 50, 28, 48, and 131, and secondary roads, such as Buckwheat, Miami Road, and Loveland- 131). This dwelling (CLE-271-1) is a five-bay, triple pile, transitional Greek Revival for 1024-0018 Summary <www.miamitwp.org.> Architectural Significance.

The architectural landscape of Miami Township has been and plethora of new subdivisions are the remnants of the township's past.During the Pleasant Hill(CLE-326-1)meets National Register Criterion C by exhibiting uncommon greatly altered within the last couple of decades by new construction.The township, Miamiville Road were driven to ascertain the common qualities that constitute Miami fire chief in the United States.This property is the only remaining building that were identified.The first is located off of Mount Zion Road (located off of State Route The L-plan in Miami Township.A windshield survey performed in April of 2007 Township, circa 1860-1880. The dwelling, retaining a high degree of its integrity, represents Chief Megrue's life and work.

The property's period of historic significance property also meets Criterion B, with association to Enoch Gest Megrue (1820-1881), Township's historic architectural landscape. During this survey three L-plan dwellings 5 "Miami Township." 21 August 2007. NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 8 Page 9 Milford, Clermont County, Ohio circa 1870. This property has a side-gable roof, with the wing extending from the rear of the main body. Out of the three L-plans identified in the township, this particular Both examplesare two-story, frame, vernacular dwellings from circa 1880. Both have gable-fronts with side wings.

Both dwellings are modest in size, each floor composed of In contrast to the L-plan, I-houses and Central-passage plans are seen throughout the in Southern Ohio. This form was borrowed from England and brought to this region as the Upper South, the Ohio Valley Great Lakes area, and the Middle West. According which creates an L-shaped footprint, none were identified in the township. The identified Miami Township examples are all central hallway plans. Everyday Architecture of the Mid-Atlantic: Looking at Buildings and Landscapes (1997), KY; The University Press of Kentucky, 1976), 32. Stephen C. Gordon, How to Complete the Ohio Historic Inventory Form (Columbus, Ohio The Ohio Historic Society, 1992), 127. 8 Wilhelm and Noble, 91. ° Gabrielle M. Lanier and Bernard L. Herman, Everyday Architecture of the Mid-Atlantic: Press, 1997), 31. 1024-0018 three units.

Pleasant Hill that this type of dwelling "continued to be commissioned by prosperous agriculturalists example is the most similar to the dwelling at Pleasant Hill. The other two L-plans are township with more frequency.The I-house is the most widespread vernacular dwelling both located along State Route 50,one close to Perintown, the other is closer to Milford. and townsfolk throughout the 1800s.In the mid-nineteenth century....the image of the The double-pile, central-passage plan dwelling "does not seem to have been introduced 6 William Lynwood Montell and Michael Lynn Morse, Kentucky Folk Architecture (Lexington, Looking at Buildings and Landscapes (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University people moved westward.This typical folk house became popular in the "Cotton South, generally until the 1760s.Gabrielle M.Lanier and Bemard L.Herman state in NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev.

10-90) National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 8 Page 10 Milford, Clermont County, Ohio imposing, boxlike. house became the symbol of agricultural success and polite of the projecting wing, especially if the wing projects from the rear of the building, the functions as a façade, although a little less formal. United States." Italianate architecture was popular in the U.S. between 1840 and 1885, particularly common in the expanding towns and cities of the Midwest as well as in many Gordon's How to Complete the Ohio Historic Inventory, this architectural style was the Some common characteristics of the Italianate style are the arched and curved elements 10 Lanier and Bernard, 31. 1884), 214. 15 McAlester, 214. 13 Gordon, 85.

1024-0018 Italianate Architecture.According to Virginia and Lee McAlester's A Field Guide to antagonized by the country's financial panic and the subsequent depression.15 Pleasant Hill society on the rich farmlands."10 L-plans are more formal than both the I-house and Central-passage dwellings. Because United States Department of the Interior equal, or close to equal importance. This is the case with Pleasant Hill. The elevation McAlesters,"Small entry porches are most common;full-width porches are also and dominated new construction between 1850 and 1880.The McAlesters state,"lt was dwelling can have essentially two facades, with a front and side elevation assuming facing State Route 131 is more formal, in both the detailing around the porch and the sidelights and transom that detail the main entry.

However, the west side elevation also Andrew Jackson Downing published in the 1840s and 1850s popularized the style in the 1 Virginia and Lee McAlester, A Field Guide to American Houses (New York: Alfred A Knopf, along the comices.Porches are usually one-story in height.As observed by the American Houses, the Italianate style originated in England and the pattern books of NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number & Page 11 Milford, Clermont County, Ohio pane glass doors, versus multi-pane doors, first became popular with this style." Also Italianate dwellings are typically two or three stories, with low-pitched roofs.

There are many subtypes within the Italianate style, which include the simple hipped-roof, the centered-gable, the asymmetrical, the towered, the front-gabled roof, and the townhouse. a slide collection in the late 1970s that provides a wide sampling of the county's Italianate, from circa 1860, for instance, can be found in Owensville, at 2703 U.S. Route example, from circa 1860, has segmented arched windows and a later two-story, full- width front porch. Register in1980,it meets Criteria A and B. Another towered example is located at 313 West Main Street, Batavia. This farmhouse from circa 1860 is now utilized as a doctor's A townhouse subtype is located at 202 Main Street in Milford. This building, constructed in 1875 as an Odd Fellows Hall, has full arched windows with drip molds above.

Finally, the Lewis McKeever farmhouse (National Register reference # 82003555) in 16 McAlester, 212 County Public Library, slide collection 1971. 1024-0018 Pleasant Hill Clermont County's Italianate Architecture.Although there is no formal study of Register nominations illuminate the rich variety of ltalianates in the local architectural museum operated by the Greater Milford Area Historical Society.Listed in the National Clermont County's Italianate architecture,the Clermont County Public Library produced hipped-roof example is located in Felicity at 582 State Route 133.This belvedered "The Promont Register reference # 80002959),at 906 Main Street, office. Milford, is a fine example of the towered subtype. Today, the building functions as a architectural legacy.

Further, both Ohio Historic Inventory forms and local National 19Chris Hammond and Bruce Pomerantz.Architectural History of Clermont County.Clermont NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service CONTINUATION SHEET Section number & Page 12 Pleasant Hill was Milford, Clermont County, Ohio This side-gabled, brick dwelling has brackets under the eaves, segmented arches over architecture for rural Miami Township. A windshield survey of the surrounding area in which Pleasant Hill is located was performed in April of 2007. This survey included the Days Heights vicinity, parts of Milford, and the vicinity of Perintown.

No similar Italianate truncated hipped-roof, which appears to have once had a widow's walk, from circa 1870, Italianate styles from circa 1880, is located at 1186 State Route 50 in the Perintown Township, Pleasant Hill does appear to be uncommon. Pleasant Hill sharescharacterstics of the simple hipped roof and the asymmetrical are the compound plan, which creates the L-shaped footprint, and no tower. According to the McAlesters, two-story porches are uncommon elements of Italianates - constructed in a rural setting, versus an urban setting, which was more typical. Another frame building is clad in weatherboard, Italianates are typically masonry. In addition, the identified. Perhaps these liberties, such as the weatherboard exterior, and two-tier porch, result from this dwelling being a rural interpretation of the Italianate style.

Ohio: National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Ohio, 1996), 14. 1024-0018 Criterion C. characteristic that separates Pleasant Hill from local examples is the material.This NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES the windows.This dwelling was listed in the National Register in 1982 as meeting dwellings were identified.A brick transitional Greek Revival and Italianate with a is located at 803 Center Street in Milford (CLE-306-1). In addition, a severely dilapidated side-gabled, brick dwelling, which is a blend of vernacular Federal and vicinity (CLE-292-1). Yet, both of these examples were constructed in more populated Italianate - rectangular in massing, with three ranks. The asymmetrical characteristics Williamsburg at 4475 McKeever Pike, from circa 1860, exhibits an Italianate influence.

Pleasant Hill, as noted in its Ohio Historic Inventory form, is a "very unusual" style of areas, unlike Pleasant Hill which was once in a very rural area. Considering that Italianate subtypes. The façade shares the common elements of a simple hipped-roof L-plan is an atypical floor plan for Miami Township; only three others have been 2 Elizabeth P. Allyn, ed. A Guide to Historic House in Ohio: Open to the Public (Columbus, NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 8 Page 13 Pleasant Hill Milford, Clermont County, Ohio As illustrated above, there are fine examples of Italianate buildings sprinkled throughout examples results from the fear of fire. The Cincinnati Fire Department's Chief Engineer, Enoch Gest Megrue (1820-1881), commissioned Pleasant Hill.

Being fully aware of the fireproofing technology existing at that time, he had his home insulated with a layer of in a framed wall cavity, which is clad in weatherboard. In the interior, the brick is overlaid with lath, then plaster. Integrity. Both the dwelling and large barn at Pleasant Hill retain a high degree of historic integrity, closely resembling the property during its time of significance. For instance, the aspect of location remains intact, as neither building has been moved. The breezeway to the rear and the addition to the carriage house are unobtrusive alterations to the property, and therefore do not disrupt the aspect of design. Further, both the breezeway and the garage, which now function as a garage and home office, illustrate how the property has evolved to adapt to the needs of the twenty-first century. The land surrounding Pleasant Hill was historically farmland.

Suburban sprawl has brought a the property help to shield Pleasant Hill, and the immediate setting remains relatively is no doubt when meandering around the property of Pleasant Hill that this dwelling and are also present on the south side of the barn. On the whole, the dwelling remains as it did during the time of significance; therefore, maintaining the integrity of materials. It is Therefore, Pleasant Hill retains enough integrity to convey its significance. 1024-0018 Another architectural characteristic that separates Pleasant Hill from other local barn are fine architectural examples.The aspect of association also remains.The dwelling is still used as a single-family residence.The dwelling has seen some minor diminished significantly and outbuildings have both been moved and demolished, there Clermont County;however, in Miami Township there are no similar rural examples.

materials intact, the workmanship remains as it did during the time of significance. NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES homeowners made this discovery while performing maintenance. The layer of brick is the north of the dwelling and the growth of vegetation on both the east and west side of windows, and the move of the large, exterior chimney. A couple of non-original windows not visible from the exterior or interior. On the exterior, the layer of brick is encapsulated multitude of new builds and even subdivisions to the area. However, the large pines to brick, which extends from the foundation up through the first story.The current NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev. 10-90) National Park Service CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 8 Page 14 Pleasant Hill Milford, Clermont County, Ohio Outbuilding.

Barn types are a reflection of not only their users' needs, but also of the surrounding environment. Considering Ohio's rich agricultural history, a variety of barn Tobacco barns, and Raised basement barns - all gable roofed bamns. Professor Allen into a regional pattem. Several characteristics make this barn unusual for its location. The destruction of outbuildings results from the fact that the majority of Miami Township is no longer rural. However, a few examples were identified during the above-mentioned heading east toward Perintown, on the south side of the road, including a stone barn, circa 1890. No dwelling is associated with these outbuildings. In addition, there is property. Along Loveland-Miamiville Road, heading north toward Loveland, are two different properties that retain outbuildings. First, on the left of the road are three frame, front-gable outbuildings.

All three structures are small, one-bay, single-pile each, with Structures (New Jersey, Rutgers University Press, 1995), 19. 1024-0018 Outbuildings of Miami Township. Although examples of mid-nineteenth to late- structures.No dwelling is associated with these buildings. On the opposite side of the front-gable roofs.These outbuildings are likely late nineteenth,early twentieth century NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES United States Department of the Interior G.Noble states,"A barn's location can be a valuable clue to identification.Most ban windshield survey.For instance, the remains of a farm are off of State Route 50, types are found throughout the southwestern part of state, such as English bamns, nineteenth century dwellings remain, few outbuildings are extant within the township.

springhouse and a two-story, timber frame, three-bay, front-gable, and Transverse crib a very large, three-story, timber frame Raised basement barn, off of the north side of the only a single-pile in width, a very narrow, mid to late nineteenth century barn. Just east of Perintown is a lone frame double shed (corn) crib. This property was extremely overgrown. Therefore, it was impossible to determine if other outbuildings remain on the still house horses. Off of State Route 131,heading west toward Milford, is another and Union Townships meet, is a relatively intact farm. This farm retains several types fall into regional patterns. Some barn types are found only within one or two road. A little further east is another frame barn. This one-and-one-half-story example is NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev.

10-90) NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES Section number & Page 15 Pleasant Hill Milford, Clermont County, Ohio buildings, includinga large, two-and-half-story frame, central hall, Federal dwelling from Hipped-roof Barns. Although hipped-roof barns, like the example at Pleasant Hill, are less expensive to construct in comparison to other roof types, they offer the least amount SIze. This particular example, DAR-215-10, known as the Don and Marjorie Darding Hip- three found on either side of the Stillwater River in Darke and Miami Counties.*24 upper rear level has a central door flanked by pairs of 23 Noble, 38. 1024-0018 CONTINUATION SHEET National Park Service circa 1835,with a brick, front-gable smokehouse.Along the rear and east side of the [Ljong slender doors hinged wooden doors are paired on and the rear has an overhanging shelter for animals. The either side of the entrance.

The lower level has doorways, United States Department of the Interior property are several frame, front-gable bams, and a couple of small, double cribs. One other hipped-roof example has been found within the Ohio Historic Inventory (OHl). The OHl author further describes the barn asfollows: 22 Noble, 45. Unfortunately this intact farm is slated for demolition, as the windows and doors (all of have met - demolition for the sake of commercial development. roof barns of Wisconsin are typically only one-story, square, and according to Noble, Roofed, Italianate Barn is located off of Gettysburg-Webster Road in Darke County. It is However, the other two "unsual" barns have not been surveyed. This previously 24 Mary Ann Brown, "Ohio Historic Inventory Form," 1984. mostly found north and west of Madison, Wisconsin.

Also, it appears that the hipped- surveyed bank barn is rectangular in shape, as it is three bays wide, and two piles deep. yet only sporadically. Further, the professor states that the truncated hipped-roof is NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 8 Page 16 Milford, Clermont County, Ohio doors made of long boards. The openings are used for tobacco, which need a free flow of air for proper curing?5 The above-mentioned example shares some characteristics with the barn at Pleasant historically used for different purposes, the barn in Darke County being more of a multi- purpose barn, used to cure tobacco, and shelter livestock; the barn in Clermont County revolving around the care of horses. Other than the Darke County example, and the two in the state of Ohio.

Pleasant Hill is the immense size. In Doug Boyd's master thesis, The Performance of History: Constructing Pedagogical Narratives for Public Interpretation at Sharon Woods Village, he states that Clermont County rarely marked outbuildings on property maps; in Clermont County. added to a property as the need arose. However, by the 1860s there was a debate in the United States concerning the size of barns. By this time, the "small crowded village" Interpretation at Sharon Woods Village" (Master Thesis, Indiana University, 1998), 58. 1024-0018 The Mid-Nineteenth Century Barn Size Debate.Another distinction of the bam at Pleasant Hill Prior to the 1850s small barns were the customary practice.Other small barns were appears upon the information provided on the OHl form),that the bams were OMB No.

Clermont County is largerby one bay and one pile,making ita wide rectangle,and it continues by saying,"I have obtained no evidence of a barn of this type anywhere else other hipped-roof barns mentioned on the OHI form, the hipped-roof barn is uncommon unique hipped-roof that barn must have been a prominent local landmark."26 Boyd is likely correct in this assumption that this barn would have been a local landmark. Boyd, 58. NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number & Page 17 Milford, Clermont County, Ohio are placed more compactly together.

This debate lasted for decades, and appears remaining example of barns in Miami Township are typical, narrow rectangular barns that were seen by many during the mid-nineteenth century as "an 'institution' known from adapted to any use but that of storing hay and straw."2 body of the bam lowered onto the basement.Lowell Soike states in Affordable Bams vigorous discussion during the middle of the century.* Soike continues by saying that obsolete. 29 Soike, 82, 1024-0018 Pleasant Hill 34 Soike, 83.

one end of the country to the other...they are unsightly, inconvenient, and poorly for the Midwest:Beginnings that,"Whether to build one with a basement sparked This type of bam was popular between circa 1840 and 1900.The Raised basement more in the construction of roofs....and the saving in the amount of labor....when all superiority of a single large ban.There is more economy in the materials for walls; Another wrote in 1862, "Later experience, corroborated by reason, indicates the during the time that the barn at Pleasant Hill was constructed. Modernization also meant a bar with a basement. Many farmers converted their English barns into basement barns. The barn would be jacked up, the bank/basement level constructed, and the eds. Allen G. Noble and Hubert G. H. Wilhelm (Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 1995), 81. 28 Lowell J.

Soike, "Affordable Barns for the Midwest: Beginnings," in Bams of the Midwest, publications. Asa result large,multi-purpose bams began to be constructed. One 1869 Megrue's Barn -An Atypical Example.When the bam at Pleasant Hill was Bank/Basement Barns.Modernizing a barn meant more than just building a large barn constructed, other types of barns were popular, such as the Raised basement barn. author stated,"One good bam takes the place of a score of others of all ages.29 NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 8 Page 18 Milford, Clermont County, Ohio with bays on either side. However, it is constructed on raised stone, brick, or concrete. eight feet by twenty-four feet.

A Raised basement barn, with the exposed basement portion, which could easily be used for horse stalls, and the earthen ramps providing access to the interior of the barn barn would have been familiar with. Although it appears that the Raised basement barn could have met the needs of Chief Megrue, he had something quite different constructed this barn likely reflects the idiosyncratic style of the unknown builder, or of Megrue. Also by the 1860s, according to Soike, large barns were a fading fashion? Considering the dimensions of the barn at Pleasant Hill, seventy-two feet by forty-two feet, the overall shape is that of a wide rectangle - not the more common narrow rectangle. The overall which is not only rare in Clermont County but also in Ohio, makes this barn significant as a rare type in the state.

This barn is a unique example of agricultural architecture within the local context, and a rare example within Ohio. Hill remains a local landmark. Ironically, the subdivision, The Meadows of Milford, which as the logo for the development. 3 Gordon, 146. half the width of the barn at Pleasant Hill. 1024-0018 Pleasant Hill The size and shape are thus interesting characteristics of this barn.The hipped-roof, Boyd speculates this property would have been a local landmark,and today Pleasant on his property.The bam at Pleasant Hill does not conform to the common construction shape is also believed to have been uncommon at the time of the barn's construction.

According to Gordon, this type of ban typically has"doors on the gable ends as well as would have been a barn type that Megrue and the unknown builder of the Pleasant Hill length to width for a Raised basement bar is 2:1, while the typical dimensions are forty- The average width of the typical, narrow rectangular barn is approximately thirty-feet, less than practices of the mid-nineteenth century.Considering the rarity of this barn type in Ohio, NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 8 Page 19 Milford, Clermont County, Ohio closely resembling the property during its time of significance.

For instance, the aspect meandering around the property of Pleasant Hill that this barn is a fine architectural deteriorating vents in the cupolas with in kind materials, using similar construction separates the ground level into two segments, and a non-original staircase allows for alterations make the space more functional for the present owners. On the whole, this barn remains as it did during the time of significance; therefore, maintaining the integrity with the materials intact, the workmanship remains as it did during the time of significance. Therefore, the barn retains enough integrity to convey its significance. Native American tribes, such as the Shawnee, Miami, Delaware, Mingo, Ottawa, Cherokee, and Wyandot. The last native village in Clermont County was in Jackson 1811, until the largest frontier battle in the county, the Battle of Grassy Run.

Upuntil 1799, what is now Clermont County was a part of Hamilton County and called <www.co.clermont.on/us/news.aspx/name=history> Louis H. Everts, History of Clermont County, Ohio: With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of it's Prominent Men and Pioneers (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott and Company, 1880), 1024-0018 Historical Development 38 Clermont County, Ohio." 6 March 2007 openings on the south elevation.There are also some minor interior changes.A wall Pleasant Hill example.The aspect of association also remains.And although the bam no longer Clermont County. Clermont County hasa rich past. Once this land was home to many ofmaterials.It is unknown who designed or built the barn at Pleasant Hill.However, Integrity. The large barn at Pleasant Hill retains a high degree of the historic integrity, of location remains intact, as neither building has been moved.

The aspect of feeling outbuildings have both been moved and demolished, there is no doubt when easy access to the top floor.Both of these alterations are reversible;however, the methods as used for the original vents.There are also two non-original window has been preserved.While the size of the property has diminished significantly and NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev.

10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number & Page 20 Milford, Clermont County, Ohio Clermont, a French word meaning "clear mountains and hills," became the name of the following year, Clermont County split into the following five townships: O'Bannon (which County was a part of the Virginia Military Survey, which was a tract of land located in the southwestern part of Ohio "between the Scioto and Little Miami Rivers, bordered on the south by the Ohio River containing about 4,000,204acres.**2 The land of Clermont was gifted to American War of Independence veterans, although some did not accept the county land. Reverend Francis McCormick, a Revolutionary soldier, bought one thousand acres, from which sprang the first settlement in the county, located in Miami Miami Township.

In regards to the late eighteenth century Miami Township, local historian Louis H. Everts stated in History of Clermont County, Ohio: With illustrations and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers (1880): buildings, many of them being of the moder style of the townships of Clermont.* Down to the Present, vol. 1 (Reprint, Gateway Press: Baltimore, 1987), 304. # Williams, 204-208. 42 Boyd, 54. 43 Boyd, 54. 44 Evert, 460, 472 & 473. 46 Evert, 92 1024-0018 eleventh county in the Northwest Territory and the seventh county in Ohio.The Pleasant Hill and by 1870 the population reached 3,491.46 47 Evert, 460.

The county is highly improved and along the principal In the late eighteenth century,immigration into Clermont County was primarily from highways are successions of fine farms, with costly architecture.In this respect Miami takes the lead among Kentucky, and later there was an influx of German Puritans.* The land of Clermont NPS Form10-900 OMB No. (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number & Page 21 Pleasant Hill Milford, Clermont County, Ohio Further, the cemeteries of Miami Township were recognized for beauty and a source of non-Gatch family members after the death of Philip Gatch. Construction began in 1836.

Beginning in the 1870s, several railroads crossed the In addition, Miami Township was the "oldest Methodist society in the State of Ohio, if not Dates of import for Miami Township include the following. In 1861, the township enrolled into the Civil War. In 1862, the Home Guards organized - a group of township men who swing, lasting into the 1890s. In 1888, Miami Township native Benjamin Harrison was In the 1860s, when Megrue would have moved to this area, the Census indicated that 33,034 were living in Clermont County. For a number of decades, until the 1940s (Clemmont County Historical Society, 2001), 28. 51 Evert, 469. Community(Cleves, Addyston, North Bend,& Miami Heights, Ohio: The Three Rivers Historical Society, 1987), 2-14. 1024-0018 1905,the first telephone service began in the township.In 1918,electricity was 48 Evert, 468.

feared an invasion by the South.By the 1870s, the"Temperance Crusade"was in full .... the first.... in the Northwest."52 earliest cemeteries in Miami Township in 1811, when his wife Elizabeth passed. This land, originally a site of a Hopewell Indian mound building culture, became open to the township, which helped the local farmers get their product to markets in the city. Peach schools in the township, but no high schools. In 1902, free mail service began, and circa School, opened. In 1930, the Gulf Oil Refinery was constructed." The first railroad to be constructed in Miami Township was the Little Miami.5° introduced to the area. In 1920, the first high school, the Miami Township Union High pride for township citizens.4 The prominent resident Philip Gatch established one of the OMB No. (Rev.

10-90) National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 8 Page 22 Milford, Clermont County, Ohio (population of 34,109) the population of Clermont County steadily decreased the 1960s, when the "township transformed from rural countryside to a bustling suburban township "offers an extensive selection of newer homes, a high level of services, and an Township, and a countywide population of 177,977. within the next century the land on which Pleasant Hill was later built was owned by 1836. General Thomas Gatch, the son of Reverend Philip Gatch (1751-1834), one of 56 http://www.milfordtownship.com/comm/miami_twp/miamitwp.htm Boyd, 62. once again purchased by members of the Gatch family. Josephine Gatch purchased the land in 1919 from Ellsworth Haynes.

Milton McCormick Gatch inherited the property in 1941 from mother Willoughby bought the land in 1968 from the Lockwood estate. Betty Bulter then owned the property until 2004, when the present owners purchased Pleasant Hill. 1024-0018 the property to Enoch Gest Megrue (106 acres).58 Pleasant Hill Josephine Gatch.Howard E.Lockwood purchased the property in 1960.And Barbara Y. Minister Ambrose Ransom bought the property (666 acres) in 1806.

Prominent business the first Methodist ministers in the country and a delegate to the Ohio Constitutional United States Department of the Interior convention in 1802,purchased the in 1837.57Nathaniel B.Gatch Megrue.Henry Stroman bought the property in 1820;then John Kugler owned it in inherited the land acres) from his father in 1859.In 1876,Nathaniel B.Gatch sold NPS Form 10-900 Substantial population growth in Miami Township began with suburban development in community.*54 However, Miami Township, which is located off of the business loop I- 275, has experienced its highest growth rate since 1990. Since then,the community has excellent quality of life."56 In 2000, the Census indicated a population of 36,632 in Miami documented history.

John White originally purchased the land in 1788 (666 acres); and Gest purchased a fraction of the property (111 acres) from his father-in-law, Andrew 54 "Milford Miami Township Chamber of Commerce." 20 October 2007. many prominent residents.In 1796,William Pollard purchased the acres). NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 8 Page 23 Pleasant Hill Milford, Clermont County, Ohio property. It is known that Thomas Gatch did not reside on this property, but rented the This house, likely a wedding present for Jacob and Ann Megrue Gest, from circa 1810, joints, which rested on a creek stone rubble foundation from circa 1810, and a small the Heritage Village website.

In December of 1971, Harry A Lockwood, then owner of Southwest Ohio moved the outbuildings to Sharon Woods, where they are displayed. The Gatch barn, as it is referred to (although it was likely built by the fifth owners, the one occupied by Conduce Gatch (the oldest son of Reverend Philip Gatch), and other by unknown. On an 1891 atlas, only the dwelling and bam at Pleasant Hill, and the Gatch Chief Megrue, whose property extended to the Little Miami River, built a tenant house for the resident farmer and barns for horses, cattle, and other farm animals, and tobacco farmers. Considering the simplicity of this building, it was likely a tenant house. 60 http://www.heritagevillagecincinnati.org (also spelled McGrew). Also, Enoch Megrue's mother's surname was Gest.

However, no direct tie has been established between Chief Megrue and the other families that owned the land before 1024-0018 addition to this building, there is a small frame dwelling approximately one hundred Pleasant Hill, gifted the barn and corncrib to Historic Southwest Ohio. Historic Margaret Megrue (Ann Megrue Gest's older sister).® The inhabitants of the third are bars near the river." These outbuildings are no longer extant. tenant house (garage) discussed above was likely built when Thomas Gatch owned the distant relative of both Reverend Gatch and the descendents of local pioneer Andrew Megrue him. NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev.

10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 8 Page 24 Pleasant Hill Milford, Clermont County, Ohio It is likely that Megrue had the large, hipped-roof barn constructed on the property.It is Museum website, it is known that there were also stalls on the upper level, which were text provided at the museum that: wells and...cisterns with tremendous capacity. In this stable, and the surrounding pastures, Megrue kept the fire Cincinnati was thriving economically and culturally, as not only the city's population who was the first professional fire chief in the United States, moved to Clermont County, The fire chief and his family spent their summers at the Pleasant Hill country home until the death of the chief in 1881, after which Mrs. Megrue sold the property.

County was influential in the development of Milford. 1024-0018 Buildings Associated with Enoch Gest Megrue.By the mid-nineteenth century, move to the suburbs typically did.When the hilltop neighborhoods were gaining in These stalls were spacious and easily watered from two horses of the Cincinnati fire department during their rest and recovery from the cobblestone streets and hills of the 64 Boyd, 52. miles from downtown Cincinnati for respite in the building.® From the Heritage Village used for carriage, buggy, and saddle horses. It is also mentioned on the website and rapidly grew, but so did the industry within the city's basin. Those who could afford to In 1867 he bought approximately one hundred acres of land from Nathaniel B. Gatch.66 known that he would bring the Cincinnati fire department's horses some twenty-five NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev.

10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 8 Page 25 Pleasant Hill Milford, Clermont County, Ohio Megrue's careeras fire chief would have made it necessary for him to live in the city. Cincinnati, such as 27 George Street, 62 Mound Street, and 423 Broadway - none of the 1860s and 1870s. Little of George Street, now known as Shillito Place, remains. Where Megrue's home dwelling where 62 Mound Street would have been in the 1860s, this entire block has been literally cleared Broadway Street still exists, but not as it did when Megrue lived there. The entire block where 423 would have once stood is now Western Southem Life. The 1887 Sanborn protection was a part of the deal that the city offered to the suburbs to gain control of these communities.

As the city annexed suburbs, new stations were built, such as in Walnut Hills, Corryville, and Camp Washington. All three of these stations remain. lt Today, the Walnut Hills' engine house is the oldest Cincinnati fire station. Engine house # 16 is located at 773 McMillan Street in Walnut Hills. Designed in 1870 1024-0018 of corporate sky-rises. would have stood is now an above-ground parking garage that connects to the Mound Street later became Calhoun Street.This street runs along the edge of the George Street. by Samuel Hannaford and Edwin Anderson unknown),the Three of the fire stations built while Megrue was chief are still extant. During the 1860s Anderson & Hannaford. This building is the "finest example of the Italianate style.... During his career as Chief Engineer, Megrue lived at multiple addresses in downtown Millennium Hotel.

The garage and hotel consume almost the entire area that was once Insurance Map indicated that this area was primarily residential, with single dwellings, Shortly after purchasing the land, Megrue built a handsome frame home on the property. University of Cincinnati's campus, which is greatly expanding. Not only is there no and some small businesses interspersed. Today, this area of downtown is compromised hardships. However, during this period the city was annexing many of the suburbs. Fire and 1870s very few fire stations were built in the city proper,asa result of financial NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev.

10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 8 Page 26 Pleasant Hill Milford, Clermont County, Ohio severely damaged by fire in 1977, the fire company moved, and the building, which is owned by the City of Cincinnati, remains vacant. who designed this building, but it is speculated that it is the work of Anderson & building is also Italianate in design, with an interesting red brickwork pattem along the intact. Today this building is used as a tattoo parlor. Out of the three stations that remain from the period in which Megrue was chief, engine house#12, located at 2940 Colerain Avenue in Camp Washington, is the most modest. 1978. The present use of # 12 is unknown. Megrue may have visited these engine houses; however, he was never stationed at one.

From an interview with Bill Blazing, historian for the Cincinnati Fire Museum, it is had an office located on George Street. The exact location of the office is unknown. apartment building), designed by James McLaughlin in 1878. Hence, Pleasant Hill, which was Megrue's summer home during a large portion of his career as fire chief, and significant individual. 67 The Cincinnati Fire Museum, A Guide to Cincinnati's Historic Firehouses: In Celebration of the 150" Anniversary of the Cincinnati Fire Department (Evansville, Indiana: M.T. Publishing Company, Inc., 1989), 89. Insurance Map of George Street list the office, although the office could have been located elsewhere by the 1880s. In addition, the exact location of the office on George Street is not was chief.

1024-0018 remaining Bevis design in the city.The firehouse was no longer used as such after was his home after retirement,is the only extant property associated with this locally gleaned that during the early years of the paid and professional department, the chief Designed by Henry 1878,this Italianate firehouse is the only on this remnant of George Street is the old J.Shillito & Company Store now an patterned brickwork, a bracketed cornice and carved windows. After the building was Hannaford. Local historians contend that this building was the work of this architectural top of the façade. The heavy cornice with supporting brackets and stone lintels remain As mentioned above, little of what was once George Street remains. The oldest building firm because of the similarities this building shares with engine house # 16.

This mention in any of the Annual Reportsby Chief Megrue or other officials during the time Megrue Engine house # 19 is located at Charlton and Vine streets in Corryville.lt is unknown NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 8 Page 27 Pleasant Hill Milford, Clermont County, Ohio the townsfolk of a fire, and then it was the responsibility of all able-bodied men and boys fire bucket for every hearth in their home. Until 1731,leather fire buckets were the only means to transport water to the scene of a not until 1731 that one was imported to the City of New York, ordered from a London- until the 1860s.

In the City of New York, it was not until 1737 when a more organized effort for firefighting appointment of able, discreet, and sober men who shall be known as Firemen of the City of New York, to be ready for service by night and by day and be diligent, industrious and After the creation of a volunteer system, other improvements were as follows. By the it was their responsibility to maintain and operate the hydrants. However, this type of New York (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1999), 6. 70 NYC Fire Museum, 6 74 NYC Fire Museum, 10 1024-0018 vigilant."71 company was short lived;they ceased to be utilized after 1855.73 In 1830,New York equipment to scene -horses were not used to pull the fire engineers in New York City to aid in the relief. In most cities it was mandated that property owners have one leather based company?

Although a slight improvement over the leather buckets, the engines albeit crude, water hydrant was introduced. Hydrant companies were also established, late eighteenth century, New York City had wooden water mains, and in 1817 the first, on the time of day, would be hung from the tower in the direction of the fire. somewhat primitively.Early on it was common for a"prowler"or"rattle-watch" to alert NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service CONTINUATION SHEET Section number & Page 28 Milford, Clermont County, Ohio By the mid nineteenth century, the city had eight fire districts? The volunteers had companies of New York City established a paid Fire Patrol.

However, the Fire Patrol were notfirefighters, but were paid to rescue goods and furniture from burning system', which used paid firefighters, horse-drawn vehicles, and steam engines to pump Engineer for the City of New York. developments of fire fighting in Philadelphia, and throughout the nation. It was Franklin's Gazette" entitled "Protection of Towns from Fire." He wrote: In the first place, as an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, I would advise 'em to take care how they suffer living coals in a full shovel, to be carried out of one room into another, or up or down stairs...for scraps of 76 NYC Fire Museum, 11. "NYC Fire Museum, 23 BO NYC Fire Museum, 36. Company, Inc., 1940), 242.

1024-0018 Pleasant Hill NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES buildings.It was not until after the Civil War when the city decided that the volunteer system was too corrupt to be of any valuable service to the city.In 1865,the Cincinnati model. In 1864 a committee concerned with the reform of the fire department 81 http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/philadelphia/fire.htm Metropolitan Fire Department was formed. However, this department was somewhat 19 Lowell M. Limpus, History of the New York Fire Department (New York: E. P. Dutton and archaic in comparison to the"many other cities had adopted the 'Cincinnati opinion that there was a need for an organized "club or Society of active Men belonging to each Fire Engine;whose Business is to attend all Fires with it whenever they happen, NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev.

10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 8 Page 29 Pleasant Hill Milford, Clermont County, Ohio forced, (as I once was) to leap out of your windows, and also mandated at this time that all homeowners were to have a leather fire-fighting bucket in their house. Later, in 1858, a reform coalition, established by middle-class critiques of volunteer department, searched for a solution to the "spiraling cycle of immorality, growing fire 1950, that "[F]or guidance in disciplining firefighters, reformers in Philadelphia looked [to] firefighting could be performed as wage labor under tight municipal control." St. Louis also lookedto Cincinnati as a model for reform.An early twentieth-century author wrote, "A]s an illustration of the advantages of the re-organized department of Cincinnati, paid conflicts of vial companies.

John Hopkins University, 2003), 117. 86 Tebeau, 118. Volunteer Firemen's Historical Society, 1906), 80. 1024-0018 hazard your necks to avoid being oven-roasted.82 Other preventive measures that Franklin suggested were that chimney sweeps be midnight;when your stairs being in flames,you may be Paris,London,Boston,and Cincinnati they found what they expected -evidence that NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES fire may fall into chinks and make no appearance until Mark Tebeau,Eating Smoke:Fire in Urban & London:The transporting goods),which were to be brought to every fire.83 The city of Philadelphia reform.Historian Mark Tebeau writes in Eating Smoke:Fire in Urban America,1800- 82 http:/ww.ushistory.org/franklin/philadelphia/fire.htm licensed by the city and be held responsible for their work.

As a result of Franklin's frequent admonishments, thirty men formed the Union Fire Company in late 1736. Their 87 Edward Edwards, History of the Volunteer Fire Department of St. Louis (St. Louis: Veteran NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service CONTINUATION SHEET Section number & Page 30 Pleasant Hill Milford, Clermont County, Ohio The committee's suggestions also included the use of new equipment, which would help Cincinnati. Tebeau writes: [They looked to Cincinnati's use of steam technology as a journeyed to Cincinnati.... after a practical demonstration, the committee concluded the Cincinnati were similar to that of New York City - in fact early fire fighting was for the most part universally the same throughout the country. In 1778, Losantiville, later known as Cincinnati, was founded.

Shortly after, by 1800, the citizens of the settlement been log or frame; however, this fear of fire led to no action. In 1802, Cincinnati bucket of a certain size to contain two and one-half gallons of water, and to be hung in a convenient and conspicuous part of his or her dwelling house. Any person violating this ordinance was liable to a fine of six dollars.' 35 Tebeau, 119. 89 Tebeau, 141. 1024-0018 received a village charter.Soon after the newly established town council passed an ordinance creating a fire organization -everyone was "required to provide a leather argued that those exhibitions had succeeded remarkably NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES demonstrations of steam fire engines in Cincinnati.It Philadelphia newspapers, the committee discussed model for Philadelphia.

years, the insurance companies of Philadelphia had urged the fire department and the In 1854,"like many cities that considered adopting steam technology, the committee Philadelphia purchased two steam engines from Cincinnatian Alexander Latta. The Early Fire Fighting Years in Cincinnati. The early years of firefighting for 9 http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/cityfire/pages/-15868-/ Using articles from two NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service CONTINUATION SHEET Section number & Page 31 Milford, Clermont County, Ohio In 1808, the first fire company, the Union Fire Company, was established. According to [This organization did not prove to be too effective, and later in this year, the Cincinnati Fire Bucket Company was basket placed upon a four-wheeled truck, and containing leather fire buckets.

An ordinance was then passed requiring every householder to keep not less than two fire drum, five feet high, with a circumference of sixteen feet, five inches, was provided to serve as a fire alarm, and it inevitable. For instance, the Report on the Re-organization of the Fire Department (Masters Thesis, University of Cincinnati, 1967), 20. 92 Kiefer, 44. 1024-0018 place. Cincinnati. buckets in a prominent place on his premises.A large Because of the many abuses of an entirely volunteer fire department, reform was organized.

The fire apparatus consisted ofa large willow Pleasant Hill (1852) stated: the Cincinnati Fire Department's website: NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES take great interest in the fire companies, the City was unwilling to and unable to fund was used until 1824,when bells were substituted in its Within the next decade, more companies were created, each owning their own nation, were known for their debauchery, rivalries, and rowdiness. In 1830, the different fire companies. volunteer companies would purchase their own engine and pay for the construction of NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev.

10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number & Page 32 Pleasant Hill Milford, Clermont County, Ohio In reviewing the present volunteer system, your Committee have become deeply impressed with the conviction that a thorough change in the department is of the most pressing and urgent importance; and, in submitting the reason for such conviction, they do not hesitate to aver the that present misrule which govers the department. department a problem but also the city was greatly expanding and the volunteer system could not meet the demands of a large city. For instance, by 1850 Cincinnati was one of 16,286 buildings in the city, 9,360 were brick, 6,886 were frame, the remaining were stone.

department.® Soon Cincinnati would, "be the center of fire-fighting precedents, building her own steam engines, and...exporting equipment of local manufacture to the East solution for their city, but, "[Bletween 1854 and 1860, official and journalistic moralists in Cincinnati....thought [it] necessary to break the hold of the volunteers on public gratitude and admiration" throughout the country. 1 1852), 1. 6 Keifer, 46. (New York: The Dial Press, 1978), 59. Volunteer Firemen's Historical Society, 1906), 81.

1024-0018 almost any change would be an improvement on the council members who fought to enact an ordinance that would establish a salaried The Country's First Paid Fire Department.Not only was debauchery within the The reorganization of Cincinnati's multiple volunteer fire departments into the "first paid 97 Dennis Smith, Dennis Smith's History of Firefighting in America: 300 Years of Courage 9 Report on the Re-organization of the Fire Department (Cincinnati, Ohio: privately printed, fire department in the United States" took place on April 1,1853.97 It was group of city NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior CONTINUATION SHEET Section number & Page 33 Pleasant Hill Milford, Clermont County, Ohio Historian Amy S.

Greenberg writes in Cause for Alarm: The Volunteer Fire Department in the Nineteenth-Century City that: paid department, Cincinnati, was the home of Alexander Latta, the manufacture of the first quality steam engines, and also the home of a powerful board of underwriters that funded the manufacture of the first viable American steam engine. Many reformers were interested in a paid department because it was thought that a paid force would work more soberly. It seems that with the new technology of the steam departments typically became paid. This is the case with St. Louis, Baltimore, and San elected by City Council to act as the first Chief Engineer of the new paid department; however, he declined payment for his role. Greenwood, who owned the Eagle Iron Smith, 58. Century City (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1998), 126. 104 Greenberg, 149.

1024-0018 National Park Service began to install fire-alarm systems -something Megrue initialized in Cincinnati soon after becoming Chief Engineer.Greenberg writes that,"[Ajccording to the author of a NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES Cincinnati's Early Chief Engineers.In 1853,Miles Greenwood (1807-1885) was steam engine handbook in 1876,the transition from volunteer topaid department was 101 NYC Fire Museum, 136. world, which were constructed by Latta. "Uncle Joe Ross" was the first in use in engine, as cities purchased steam engines from Latta in Cincinnati, the same facilitated the transformation."l0s Works, which became the largest iron-manufacturing company in the west, was able to Steam Technology and Cincinnati.

Cincinnati owned the first steam fire engines in the almost always made after a quorum of steam engines was in place.The technology Itwasno coincidence that the first city to employa fully NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 8 Page 34 Pleasant Hill Milford, Clermont County, Ohio establishing the paid department fluctuates in the various accounts. Regardless, it is not disputable that Greenwood played an integral role in establishing the paid department. and the local insurance companies.108The success of the new paid department was Assistant Chief Engineer, Ferguson Clements (life dates unknown). Very little is known about the accomplishments of Clement while chief.

The History of the Cincinnati Fire Department: As Gleaned from All Available Sources of the History of century) provides little information about Clement, and he is only referenced in other apprentice to a cabinetmaker, Paul Rust, since he was, "evidently.... gifted with a high As noted in History of the Cincinnati Fire Department. reorganization, Feb. 19" 1853. April 1s 1855, he became 108 Keifer, 87 1024-0018 sources. Megrue succeeded Clement as chief in 1857. OMB No.

The Heritage Village Museum websitenotes that Megrue began working asan dedicate his time to servicing his community.1o6The extent of Greenwood's role in Cincinnati from Its Earliest Incipiency A.D.1800 to period of almost a Megrue was a prominent and active member of the For instance, he "advanced $15,000 to underwrite the salaries and the purchases of new obvious soon after its inception.In 1851, for instance, property loss was over $586,200. remain Chief Engineer for long - he retired in 1855. Greenwood's successor was his Mary Ann Gest Megrue, whose parents were pioneer settlers in Milford and Batavia. When Clements became Chief Engineer, Enoch Megrue became Assistant Engineer. manufactured fire-fighting equipment.!° 110 http://www.heritagevillagecincinnati.org Chief Engineer Enoch Gest Megrue.Enoch Gest Megrue was the son of Joseph and NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev.

10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service Section number & Page 35 Pleasant Hill Milford, Clermont County, Ohio the assistant engineer, and filled the position until he was made chief of the department, two years later, April. 1st 1857, by the City Council, and served in that capacity for departments in the country."13 engines, and with the acquisition of these, "new and yet more powerful machines. At no period since the organization of the Fire Department, has it reached so near perfection as now.

achievement of human skill, we point to it with pride, and in its practical workings, we have the attestation of an admiring world.Its fame has spread to the remotest 1024-0018 CONTINUATION SHEET stated in his annual report that: quotes the Cincinnati Tribune from 1880 as stating that Megrue was,"an expert in the NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES Cincinnati's Fire department became a great source of pride during Megrue's watch.For instance, in 1858 the mayor characterized the department as being the "most efficient in By 1860 the fire department had "attained such a degree of efficiency" that Chief Megrue nineteen years with great efficiency." 112 http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/cityfire/pages/-15868-/ America.114 By the mid-1860s the department owned multiple self-propelling steam fire the country for its promptness and success in conquering the fire-fiend.*115 field of fire-fighting equipment,(and) he became locally famous for his organizational ability and he developed the Cincinnati fire department into one of the top flight fire NPS Form 10-900 OMB No.

(Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES Section number 8 Page 36 Milford, Clermont County, Ohio sections of our country, and, indeed, do we hear its praises wherever the confines of civilization extend. 16 "Too much praise cannot be bestowed those worthy champions of the people's cause, who early recognized and boldly defended the idea of having a fire department in Cincinnati... It was the work of love and fidelity." History of the Cincinnati Fire Department also stated in regards to Megrue: fire department of Cincinnati, Enoch G. Megrue exercised country.

How well he succeeded in his life's object is duly attested by the flattering record he achieved in the highest was added to the department, for the construction of which In addition to the fire alarm telegraph, one of the first improvements Megrue made as Department, vol. 19 (Cincinnati: Cincinnati Fire Department, 1860), 1. 1024-0018 certainty. CONTINUATION SHEET Pleasant Hill irrespective of religious prejudices and party affiliations.

expiration of each term became to be regarded as a citizens of Cincinnati.The author(s) of History of the Cincinnati Fire Department wrote, From the moment the pay system was introduced in the He was a friend of all conditions and classes of the One cannot deny the source of pride that the fire department must have been for the every energy to make that system the most efficient in this community where he resided, that his re-election at the When the Fire Alarm Telegraph chief was the construction of twenty-seven cisterns in the city. When Megrue became 116 Enoch Gest Megrue, Annual Report of the Chief engineer of the Cincinnati Fire NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev.

10-90) NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 8 Page 37 Pleasant Hill Milford, Clermont County, Ohio say it has been well spent, and would recommend that all the vacant intersections have account of this event is as follows: the steamers took their places at different cistems around be imagined.... The admiration expressed. ... at the beauty and utility of the fire department. .. was protection purposes. three hydrants, and two hundred and forty-two fire alarm boxes within the city.

Megrue obviously 1024-0018 cisterns had become a source of pride for the fire department and the residents of National Park Service United States Department of the Interior the square..at a given signal, the water suddenly After parading the streets for several hours....three of started into the air....and tuned upward, the united glory success of fire fighting.It isno surprise that the fire chief had at least six cisternsconstructed on proving one of the most beautiful sights that could possibly spectacle was quite refreshing, and their remarks upon the Through the 1860s, more cisterns were constructed, "but they were not sufficient to 119 History of the Cincinnati Fire Department, 124. understood the need for cisterns and grasped that the location of cisterns was integral to the his property. All were built in close proximity to the large barn and the dwelling. Cincinnati.

This pride was illustrated in a parade that took place in June of 1857. An expressive and complimentary. !20 History of the Cincinnati Fire Department,163.There were also three hundred and fifty- NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES Section number 8 Page 38 Pleasant Hill Milford, Clermont County, Ohio to transition into paid departments. The Cincinnati Fire Department was also a source of entertainment for the residents of "The Babcock's Fire Extinguisher Public Landing Exhibition, A Great Success, Immense Concourse of Spectators. that in a paid department most of the firefighters had other jobs. With the advent of the change also allowed for more specialization within the force. The Bloch Fire.

The "Old Chief," as it appears Megrue was often referred to as, had earned a reputation as a man of, "dauntless courage, excellent judgment and 1024-0018 Engineer in the United States. 125 CONTINUATION SHEET professional department in the country, making Megrue the first professional Chief National Park Service Megrue was Chief Engineer, the Cincinnati Fire Department became the first experiments....took place....under circumstances less favorable....a house twelve During the 1860s, many new engine houses were commissioned, and older stations Megrue's career that describe how the department would give demonstrations of new equipment.

One such instance took place in June of 1869, when the department's new Assembly of the United States of America enacted a law for the government of fire departments for cities having a population exceeding ninety thousand people.While the city.This is evident from multiple newspaper articles from the span of Chief The Nation's First Professional Fire Department. On April 29,1873,the General fire extinguisher was tested upon a public landing near the Ohio River. The"anticipated The most significant change from a paid department to a professional department was were altered to accommodate new equipment.All of the older hand pumps were replaced with steam engines.This is the time period during which fire departments in NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev.

10-90) National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 8 Pleasant Hill Milford, Clermont County, Ohio The fire took place in a five-story brick building located at 150 Race attempted to control the fire, the looming building crumbled, burying eleven men. The collapse claimed the lives of two firemen and seriously wounded nine, including Megrue, sound, a low rattle, an abysmal rumble, a peal of destruction like a roar of ordnance-all following in quick succession, and the vast wall on the north and east, burying eleven residence until his death in 1881.

1024-0018 Page 39 Street.The building had been considered unsafe prior to the blaze.While firefighters of which he carried the marks to his grave.127 Once such instance was the infamous Megrue felt that he needed rest and insisted on the acceptance of his resignation by United States Department of the Interior "insensible and bleeding from an ugly cut in the head...(and) was also badly bruised who from a third floor window demanded that the firefighters retreat to safety. Firefighter he continued on as Chief Engineer for four more years. On January 24, 1878, at the Board of Police Commissioners meeting, the "Old Chief" resigned.

"After twenty-one years of faithful service, during which the Department under indomitable resolution."126 In his line of work, Megrue's life would have been exposed to Jake Hughes recounted this moment stating, "There came a weird, windy, moaning him had become equal if not superior to any other Department in the world, Chief Enoch March 1."l32 Upon his retirement, Chief Megrue remained at Pleasant Hill as his primary men."129 Although it appeared that the,"flames would encompass the buried Chief about the body and legs.131 Although Megrue never fully recovered from this accident, within their fiery folds13a desperate yet successful rescue was made.Megrue was, danger frequently,"and in numerous instances he received wounds of a serious nature, NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev.

10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 8 Pleasant Hill Milford, Clermont County, Ohio [A] great organizer in the fire department, and during his official career he affected some material reforms, which became permanent benefits. He possessed, in a large degree, those sterling qualities, which in all conditions of life assured success, and his name is revered as one of Cincinnati's greatest citizens. 134 Cincinnati's third fire chief, one of the nation's first paid chiefs, and the first professional 1867, when Megrue purchased the property, to 1881, when Pleasant Hill was sold by interpretations of the Italianate style within Miami Township, and the L-plan is also example of this type of barn in Ohio.

Not only is the hipped-roof uncommon in this state, and within local social history, and should be recognized as such. 1 Keifer, 100. 1024-0018 was: Conclusion.Pleasant Hill (CLE-326-1) meets National Register Criteria B and C.In so is the overall shape and size of the bam.Pleasant Hill is significant, architecturally one of the "few....remembered for[his] long years of service to the Cincinnati Fire Page 40 Until recently, Megrue had spent the longest time as Chief Engineer in Cincinnati. He is regards to Criterion B, the property is associated to Enoch Gest Megrue (1820-1881), Megrue's widow, Ann. Further, both dwelling and barn at Pleasant Hill are significant architectural landscape of Miami Township, Ohio. There are no similar rural 134 The History of the Cincinnati Fire Department, 158.

Department.133The History of the Cincinnati Fire Department declared that Megrue under Criterion C.Both buildings exhibit uncommon design qualities within the local fire chief in the United States.The property's period of historic significance begins in NPS Form 10-900 United States Department of the Interior NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 9 Page 41 Pleasant Hill Milford, Clermont County, Ohio 9. Bibliographic references Allyn, Elizabeth P., ed. A Guide to Historic House in Ohio: Open to the Public. Columbus, Ohio: National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Ohio, 1996. Bancroft, Arthur P. Gazetteer & Directory of Clermont County, Ohio, 1882. Batavia, Ohio: Clermont County Historical Society, 2004. Public Interpretation at Sharon Woods Village." Master Thesis, Indiana University, Burress, Marjorie.

Dates of Interest to Miami Township: A chronological History of the Community. The Three Rivers Historical Society, 1987. Edwards, Edward. History of the Volunteer Fire Department of St. Louis. St. Louis: Veteran Volunteer Firemen's Historical Society, 1906. Everts, Louis H. History of Clermont County, Ohio. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott &Co., Gordon, Stephen C. How to Complete the Ohio Historic Inventory Form. Columbus: The Ohio Historical Society, 1992. Greenberg, Amy S. Cause for Alarm: The Volunteer Fire Department in the Nineteenth- Century City. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1998. Hammond, Chris and Bruce Pomerantz. "Architectural Heritage of Clermont County." Clermont County Public Library, 1977. Hill, Ron and Richard Crawford, eds. Clermont County, Ohio: Bicentennial 1800-2000. Clermont County Historical Society, 2001. 1024-0018 1880. 1998. (Rev.

10-90) OMB No. National Park Service Boyd, Doug "The Performance of History: Constructing Pedagogical Narratives for NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 9 Page 42 Milford, Clermont County, Ohio Kiefer, Kathleen J. "A History of the Cincinnati Fire Department in the Nineteenth Century." Master Thesis, University of Cincinnati, 1967. Lanier, Gabrielle M. and Bemard L. Herman. Everyday Architecture of the Mid-Atlantic: University Press, 1997. Limpus, Lowell M. History of the New York Fire Department. New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, Inc., 1940. McAlester, Virginia and Lee. A Field Guide to American Houses. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1984. Montell, William Lynwood and Michael Lynn Morse.Kentucky Folk Architecture. Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky, 1976.

Noble, Allen G. and Hubert G. H. Wilhelm, eds. Barns of the Midwest. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 1995. Noble, Allen George. The Old Barn Book: A Field Guide to North American Barns and Other Farm Structures. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1995. Slade, Robert K. Early Days in Clermont County. Manchester, Ohio: The Manchester Smith, Dennis. Dennis Smith's History of Firefighting in America: 300 Years of Courage. New York: The Dial Press, 1978. Tebeau, Mark. Eating Smoke: Fire in Urban America, 1800-1950. Baltimore & London: The John Hopkins University, 2003. Times Down to the Present. Vol. 1. Reprint, Gateway Press: Baltimore, 1987. 1024-0018 Signal, 1964. Looking at Buildings and Landscapes.Baltimore and London:The John Hopkins National Park Service Pleasant Hill Williams, Byron. History of Clermont and Brown Counties, Ohio, From the Earliest NPS Form 10-900 (Rev.

10-90) United States Department of the Interior NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 9 Page 43 Milford, Clermont County, Ohio History of the Cincinnati Fire Department: As gleaned from all available sources of the history of Cincinnati from its earliest incipiency A. D. 1800 to A. D. 1895, (a period of almost a century) and from Fire Department Records. Cincinnati: The Robert Clarke Company, [1895]. NYC Fire Museum, F.D.N.Y.: An Illustrated History of the Fire Department of the City of New York. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1999. Report on the Re-organization of the Fire Department. Cincinnati, Ohio: privately printed, 1852. The Cincinnati Fire Museum, A Guide to Cincinnati's Historic Firehouses: In Celebration of the 150t Anniversary of the Cincinnati Fire Department. Evansville, Indiana: M.T. Publishing Company, Inc., 1989.

Clermont County, Ohio. "Clermont County, Ohio." 2007. 6 March 2007 < http://www.heritagevillagecincinnati.org>. Miami Township. "Miami Township." 21 August 2007 < http://www.miamitwp.org/>. The City of Cincinnati. "City of Cincinnati."16August 2007 < http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/cityfire/pages/-15868-/>. Other references Blazing, Bill. Interview by Bobbie McTurner, 20 August. Brown, Mary Ann. "Ohio Historic Inventory Form," 1984. 1024-0018 Websites <http://www.co.clermont.oh/us/news.aspx?name=history>. <http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/philadelphia/fire.htm>. National Park Service Pleasant Hill Heritage Village Museum."Heritage Village Museum."2003.5 March 2007 OMB No. NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev.

10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 9 Page 44 Milford, Clermont County, Ohio Clermont County, Ohio, deeds records. Clermont County Auditor's Office, Batavia, 1024-0018 Ohio. Pleasant Hill Pleasant Hill Clermont County, Ohio 10. Geographical Data Acreage of Property 2.264 (Place additional UTM references on a continuation sheet) - 736992 4339736 Verbal Boundary Description (Describe the boundaries of the property on a continuation sheet.) (Explain why the boundaries were selected on a continuation sheet.) 11.

Form Prepared By name/title organization Bobbie McTurner date October 23, 2007 street & number 5154 Romohr Road telephone 513.831.5899 state OH zip code 45244 Submit the following items with the completed form: A USGS map (7.5 or 15 minute series) indicating the property's location. Representative black and white photographs of the property. (Check with the SHPO or FPO for any additional items) (Complete this item at the request of the SHPO or FPO.) street & number 909 State Route 131 _telephone 513.831.8134 city or town Milford Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This information is being collected for applications to the National Register of Historic Places to nominate properties for listing or determine eligibility for listing, to list properties, and to amend existing listings.

Response to this request is required to obtain a benefit in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended (16 U.S.C. 470 et seg.). Photographs Additional Documentation Property Owner Boundary Justification UTM References Zone Easting Northing Additional items Continuation Sheets city or town Cincinnati name Theresa & Scot Conover 1 16 A Sketch map for historic districts and properties having large acreage or numerous resources. 20013-7127; and the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reductions Project (1024-0018), Washington, DC 20503. Maps See continuation sheet. NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Milford, Clermont County, Ohio 10.

Geographic Date Parcel Numbers: 21-07-39.043P and 18-24-11G-043 as recorder in Official records Book 1724,page 2209 of the Deed Records of Clermont County, Ohio. The nominated property includes the dwelling, the large barn, and the parcel of land, included 1024-0018 Boundary justification Verbal Boundary Description Pleasant Hill portions of the historic farm have been lost to development and therefore are not which still retains historic integrity, that immediately surrounding these buildings. Large NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 12 Page 46 Pleasant Hill Milford, Clermont County, Ohio 12.

Additional documentation Name of property: Pleasant Hill, dwelling and barn Location: Milford, Clermont County, Ohio (same for all photographs) Photographer: Bobbie McTurner Date Taken: March 5, 2007 (same for all photographs) View: Main elevation of dwelling, looking east. Photo 1 View: West side elevation of dwelling, looking southeast. Photo 2 View: East side elevation of dwelling, looking west. Photo 3 View: Main elevation of barn, looking southwest. Note dropped-roof shed addition. Photo 4 View: East side elevation of barn.Note earthen ramp leading into second story of barn. Photo 5 View: Detail of front door, looking south. Photo 6 View: South and east elevations of dwelling, looking northwest. Photo 7 Photo 8 1024-0018 Photograph key View:South elevation of dwelling, looking north.Note replacement window on second story of dwelling. Note the contemporary vinyl garage doors.

NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number _12 Pleasant Hill Milford, Clermont County, Ohio View: Formal staircase abuts interior wall, standing by front door, looking south down Photo 9 View: Non-original mantel in double parlor, standing in doorway of room, looking Photo 10 View: Non-original built-in in family room, standing in doorway, looking southwest. Note Photo 11 View: Arched doorway in upstairs, standing in hallway, looking southwest. View: Detail of stamped hinge. Photo 14 View: Plank wall in basement level of barn standing in southwest corner, looking Photo 15 View: Area north of stone stall, standing by plank wall, looking northwest. Photo 17 View: Portion of basement that is east of plank wall, standing in northwest corner, facing Photo 18 1024-0018 building.

northeast west. Photo12 National Park Service central hall. ceiling cornices and baseboards. View:West elevation of garage, looking east. Note vertical seam in the middle of Photo 13 Photo 16 Page 47 View: Stone stall with hitching post, basement of barn, standing by plank wall, looking NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 12 Pleasant Hill Milford, Clermont County, Ohio View: Ground floor of barn, facing room located in western half, standing in middle of barn, facing west. Note the different heights of the ceiling for this room. View: Non-original staircase connecting ground and top floors, standing north of Photo 20 View: Top floor of barn, standing in southeast comer of barn, looking northwest. Note queen post truss system, and varying floor heights.

Photo 21 1024-0018 National Park Service staircase, looking south. Note non-original window on south wall. Page 48 Photo 19 NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES Section number 12 Page 49 Milford, Clermont County, Ohio Front Porch Family Room Floor Plan - First Floor 909 State Route 131 Graphic Not To Scale Milford, OH 45150 Owner: K. Scot & Theresa Conover 1024-0018 Double Bathroom Porch Kitchen Side Palor CONTINUATION SHEET National Park Service Pleasant Hill Dining Room NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 12 Page 50 Milford, Clermont County, Ohio Floor Plan - Second Floor 909 State Route 131 Graphic Not To Scale Milford, OH 45150 Owner: K.

Scot & Theresa Conover 1024-0018 Bathroom Bedroom Master Verandah Pleasant Hill National Park Service NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 12 Page 51 Milford, Clermont County, Ohio 909 State Route 131 Graphic Not To Scale Milford, OH 45150 Owner: K. Scot & Theresa Conover 1024-0018 Breezeway Trail Garage McCormick cistern Dwelling Pine Trees circa 1920 circa 1867 Pleasant Hill Site Plan Barn NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev. 10-90) NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 12 Page 52 Milford, Clermont County, Ohio Historic Photograph of Pleasant Hill, circa 1880. Photographer unknown. Photograph provided by Kitti Sweeting of Cincinnati. Ms.

Sweeting is the granddaughter of Milton McCormick Gatch (the fourteenth property owner), and the great granddaughter of Josephine Gatch (the thirteenth property owner). 1024-0018 National Park Service Pleasant Hill United States Department of the Interior NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 12 Page 53 Pleasant Hill Milford, Clermont County, Ohio Historical rendering of Pleasant Hill, from, Louis H. Everts, History of Clermont County, Ohio: With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers (1880).

1024-0018 EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET NAME : N PDIL: N PERIOD: N PROGRAM UNAPPROVED: N COMMENT WAIVER: N ABSTRACT/SUMMARY COMMENTS : If a nomination is returned to the nominating authority, the TELEPHONE DISCIPLINE RETURN MULTIPLE 1/16/08 DATE 2/19/08 REVIEWER 2/29/08 RECOM./CRITERIA OTHER: NATIONAL PARK SERVICE DATE RECEIVED: NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR DATE OF WEEKLY LIST: DATE OF 16TH DAY: DATE OF 45TH DAY: REQUESTED ACTION: NOMINATION REASONS FOR REVIEW: 2-28.08 DATE V ACCEPT DOCUMENTATION see attached comments X/N see attached SLR Y/N REJECT PROPERTY Pleasant Hill nomination is no longer under consideration by the NPs. 752-5554 Mittoed, cleemantco. Ol PlEASAL HED Milfoed, Cleemantco, on PleAsAnt Hill MADEIRA QUADRANGLE U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 7.5-MINUTE SERIES (TOPOGRAPHIC) U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR MAP EXPRESS, INC.

Ph: 800-627-0039 Fax: 303-938-0550 USGS MADEIRA, OH JAN 1 6 2008 NAT. REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES National Park Service 2280 January 14, 2008 Ms. Jan Matthews, Associate Director and Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places 1201 "T" (Eye) Street, NW Washington DC 20005 Dear Ms. Matthews: Enclosed please find six (6) new National Register nominations. All appropriate notification forwarded to the National Park Service concurrent with this transmittal letter. NEW NOMINATION If you have questions or comments about these documents, please contact the National Register staff in the Ohio Historic Preservation Office at (614) 298-2000. Dr. William K. Laidlaw, Jr.

State Historic Preservation Officer Ohio Historic Preservation Office COUNTY www.ohiohistory.org Enclosures Clinton Geauga Lorain Hamilton Cuyahoga Sincerely, OHIO Parkside Apartments Cleveland Club Pleasant Hill Grafton School OHIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY RECEIVED 2280 Chardon Post Office Building National Register procedures have been followed for these new submissions. Please note that the Ohio State Historic Preservation Officer designation has changed.Notification of this change has been German Evangelical Protestant Cemetery Chapel 567 East Hudson Street, Columbus, Ohio 43211-1030 ph: 614.298.2000 fx: 614.298.2037 HISTORY