Built in 1822 in the Federal architecture. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in
1973. 17 historic map sheets show this location, the earliest from 1904.
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From the record
“Eighty-seventh regiment, company A, private, served four months, mustered out Septem- Ijer, 1862 ; re-enlistment, volunteer. One Hundred and Forty-eighth regiment, company A. corporal, served four months, mustered out 1864, also member of the independent company in Marietta,”
History of Marietta and Washington County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens (1902). Machine-read text.
one of 39 National Register listings in Washington County · listed in 1973 · category: BUILDING · significant for ARCHITECTURE · built in 1822, Federal architecture · one of 1 National Historic Landmarks in Washington County.
Also known as. President's House, Marietta College; See Also:Marietta Histor
Township. Marietta city
When was it built? 1822
Architectural style. Federal architecture
National Register reference number.73001550- the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
Then and now
1904 to 1994
The ground this property stands on, surveyed
90 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are
United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.
Tenney, George Champion, age 20, volunteer. May. 1862, three months. Eighty-seventh regiment, company A, private, served four months, mustered out Septem- Ijer, 1862 ; re-enlistment, volunteer. May, 1864, one hundred days. One Hundred and Forty-eighth regiment, company A. corporal, served four months, mustered out 1864, also member of the independent company in Marietta,
Darrow, Allen R., age 38, volunteer. May, 1864, one hundred days. One Hundred and Forty-eighth regiment, first lieutenant and regimental quartermaster, served four months, mustered out in September, 1864, one of the original members of the National guards, organized in Marietta in 1863.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 12 fires within 5 miles of Wilcox-Mills House between
1999 and 2019, burning about 5 acres in total. 2 started naturally. None was recorded as arson.
Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted
here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
Reported cause
Fires
Debris and open burning
6
Equipment and vehicle use
2
Natural
2
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
2
The most recent of
them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service
that recorded it.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. Museums hold 1,283 specimens
collected within 10 miles of Wilcox-Mills House between 1853 and
1975: 1,196 Animalia, 54 Fungi, 31 Plantae, 1 Unrecorded, 1 Chromista. 12 distinct Species records are shown.
Collected by A. D. Selby, A. Drew, A. L. McElhose and others. Each is a
physical object with a catalogue
number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was
collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be
concluded from a species being absent.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
7 workings within 5 miles of Wilcox-Mills House: 4 producers, 2 past producers, 1 plant.
5 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Manganese, Chromium, Iron. Distance is straight-line from the
map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring
settlement's page as well.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Marietta, the town this property stands in, in 68 storm reports between 1993 and 2026: 31 thunderstorm wind, 25 hail, 5 flood, 3 lightning.
The reports record 3 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office
filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date
opens the federal record of that event.
A double wide mobile home was destroyed after its roof was blown off. The home was located on Warren Township Road 277. Seven people were in the home at the time, 3 were taken to the hospital with minor injuries and later released. The National Weather Service survey estimated winds of 60 to 70 mph from the microburst.
Numerous large trees were blown down by strong wind gusts. The wind was associated with a bow echo configuration to the thunderstorms. Wind gusts of around 70 mph likely occurred. Several homes and businesses were hit by fallen trees. Residents described the aftermath in the hardest hit portions of downtown Marietta as looking like a war zone.
Rains of 2.5 to 4.5 inches fell in less than 3 hours. The 24 hour rain amount from the cooperative observer at Newport was 4.7 inches. The Marietta cooperative observer had 2.94 inches. Streams such as Long Run and Newell Run flooded and forced a few evacuations. Many residents were stuck in their homes. The Newport fire chief said, We couldn't get to them because they couldn't see the bridges. Basically every direction we went there was rushing water, it looked like a whitewater river.||More urban streams such as Goose Run flooded basements around Marietta.
Thunderstorms moved from east to west crossing the Ohio River from West Virginia. The city of Marietta hauled 130 loads of fallen limbs away over a eight day cleanup period. At least two homes were damaged. A dairy barn was heavily damaged in Warren Township. A tree fell onto a car in Belpre.
Downpours associated with severe thunderstorms overwhelmed the city drainage system, causing brief street flooding. Water got into a few basements. The cooperative observer measured 2.6 inches for its 24 hour rain amount, most of which fell within about 2 hours.
Thunderstorms moved from east to west crossing the Ohio River from West Virginia. The city of Marietta hauled 130 loads of fallen limbs away over a eight day cleanup period. At least two homes were damaged. A dairy barn was heavily damaged in Warren Township. A tree fell onto a car in Belpre.
Thunderstorm winds blew a large section of roofing material off a rehabilitation center. Power lines were also blown down in town, causing power outages.
Thunderstorms moved from east to west crossing the Ohio River from West Virginia. The city of Marietta hauled 130 loads of fallen limbs away over a eight day cleanup period. At least two homes were damaged. A dairy barn was heavily damaged in Warren Township. A tree fell onto a car in Belpre.
A strong rise on the Little Muskingum River occurred. The crest was over 19 feet at the gauge near Bloomfield. Minor overflow along the usual low spots of Route 26 was the result. A few sections of the road were closed.
Trees fell in scattered locations about the town. Two large umbrellas, used to shelter kids from the sun, were ripped from their tables and blew away at the YMCA.
The stream gage on Duck Creek near Whipple showed the creek rose above its 12 foot flood stage late on the 25th. The creek crested at 12.4 feet just before sunrise on the 26th and had returned to its banks by mid morning. This flooded sections of State Routes 26, 145 and 821.
The stream gauge on Duck Creek at Whipple crested just over 12 feet late afternoon on the 18th. Bankfull is 11 feet. Minor flooding occurred along sections of State Routes 26, 146 and 821 in central Washington County.
1 paper published in this town,
digitised by the Library of Congress and free to read: 1,733 issues,
8,183 pages. Every page is searchable, so a name or a street can be
looked for directly in what the town printed about itself at the time.
United States Geological Survey topographic
sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by geocoding the property's own street address, then
testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.
When this property was proposed for the
National Register, someone wrote the case for it: what the building is,
and why it matters. That document is a federal record in the public domain.
It is quoted below word for word, never summarised. The text was read off the scanned case file by machine, so the
occasional stray character is the recogniser's and the 1970s
typewriter's.
Description of the property
The President's Home at Marietta College, built about 1822 by Henry Wilcox, is a Federal Style, two-story, gable roofed, brick building. It is three as well as the side porches, were not part of the original building, but the front and side porches were included in the original design, although In the mid-1850's, when Putnam Street was being graded, Col. Mills modified the corner of his property by adding a street wall and a curved Erastus Harte and executed by Count de Grasse Bonney, a Marietta blacksmith. with antiques and period furniture, much of which belonged to the Mills Also located on the property, to the rear of the home, is a fine two- story brick carriage house with gable roof and a central louvered cupola. and there are two round-arched windows, side by side, in the gable.
Alterations to the building include the addition of a greenhouse to the rear of the gable end. JAN 1 8 1973 CONDITION family. Ruins REGISTER NATIONAL In addition, considerable landscaping and formal garden-designing were The corners of the building have brick pilasters.Windows are double-hung bays wide with a full-height, pedimented front portico. The portico, large oval light; the door on the north side entrance has a one-story lintels,above and shutters.
the interior has been renovated to accommodate the requirements of the iron railing at the Putnam Street entrance which was designed by Rufus presidents of Marietta College.The interior has always been furnished elliptical fanlight.The front entrance has a flat-arched stone lintel (Check One) for a bedroom and kitchen.During the century of ownership by the Mills Since 1937,when Marietta College purchased the house from the Mills estate, family(1837-1937) many alterations doubtless were made to the interior. were added by Col.John Mi1ls about 1840.Darby& Phi1lips indicate that - Moved portico.
The present building stands on the site originally occupied by a small frame house built in 1797 by Dr. William Pitt Putnam (1770-1800) and Henry Pierson Wilcox, in 1821. Probably about the time of Wilcox's marriage in March of_1822, Wilcox had the old frame home removed and out of town into oblivion, leaving his home and financial obligations. (1795-1882) leading banker and businessman, treasurer of Marietta College from 1835 to 1850, and benefactor of the college. After the death of Col. Mills in 1882, the property passed to his sons, by the Mills family, the property was purchased by Marietta College from the Mills estate. Since that time, the home has been remodeled to accommodate the presidents of Marietta College.
house is unique in Marietta and, as originally built, small when surpasses them, however, in refinement and quality of execution.
Commerce Conservation Transportation Science Architecture Engineering Aboriginal Communications REGISTER Literature Theater losophy Military Landscape Agriculture NATIONAL Music itarian Social/Human- Urban Planning Sculpture RECEIVE Invention Political Industry Religion/Phi- The highly refined design of the Wilcox-Mills House and the carriage of whispered rumors about his having used his position as postmaster In 1837 the property and home came into the possession of Col.John Mi1ls John and William Webster Mills.In 1937,after a century of ownership JAN 1 8 1973 SPECIFIC DATE(S) (If Applicable and Known) 1822 AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE (Check One or More as Appropriate) his wife, Berthia.
The property was sold to Marietta's eighth postmaster, compared to many of the other outstanding examples of the period. It to extract money from the mails, the "honest but timid" Wilcox slipped
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 73001550, 14 pages, held by the National Archives in Record
Group 79. See the
catalogue record.
Listed places nearby
6 within 8 miles
Other National Register properties close
enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both
positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties
to their map sheets.
Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.