Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in
1974. A historic map-sheet match is not published yet. The record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.
From the record
one of 117 National Register listings in Montgomery County · listed in 1974 · category: Building · one of 4 National Historic Landmarks in Montgomery County.
National Register reference number.74001578- 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.
The settlement having been established in Washington Township, were soon others to recognize the fertility and advantages of the place, ai the course of a very few years, many families were located in the vicin: the present town of Centerville.
In October, 1815, a meeting of the respectable gentlemen of the con was called at the house of John Archer, Centerville, to discuss the feasihi of establishing a woolen and cotton factory on Hole' s Creek. Books for st subscription were opened immediately after the meeting, and, January 1816, the trustees met at the same place to elect a superintendent and let c tracts for building the factory, digging the race, making the dam and for ir wright work.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. Museums hold 127 specimens
collected within 10 miles of Watkins House between 1839 and
1975: 95 Animalia, 26 Plantae, 3 Chromista, 3 Fungi. 12 distinct Species records are shown.
Collected by A JOHN, A JOHN AND W E DUELLMAN, ANSEL JOHN 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 National Weather Service names
Centerville, the town this property stands in, in 29 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 15 thunderstorm wind, 11 hail, 2 flood, 1 tornado.
No death or injury is recorded in these reports. 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 microburst producing winds of 70 to 75 mph did significant damage to a few trailers. Several homes sustained siding damage, and numerous trees were knocked down. A 30-foot tower was also downed.
The tornado initially developed just east of State Route 48 in Warren County, at 2358EST, April 2nd. The tornado moved northeast and entered Montgomery County at 2359 EST, just south of Elk Creek Drive. As the tornado moved northeast across far southeast Montgomery County, it cause sporadic tree damage. More large trees were uprooted and damaged along a portion of East Social Row Road, east of Mount Holly Avenue. Tree damage was also noted farther to the northeast near and along Nutt Road and Clyo Road, where the tornado dissipated at 0001EST, April 3rd.
Several large trees up to 15 inches in diameter were downed across the southern and eastern Dayton suburbs. A few homes sustained minor damage from falling trees near Farmersville.
Several reports of hail came in from spotters and a NWS employee. Hail of 2 inches fell south of Centerville. Seven minutes later, 1.5 inch hail was reported south of Miamisburg.
No historic map-sheet match is published
for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs
a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.
Browse the county's mapped places while that work is
pending.
From the nomination file
1,652 words on record
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
as a filler between the stones, and it still remains in some places JUL 2 CONDITION NATIONAL DESCRIPTION REGISTER addition on the south side was removed and replaced with a two story with the present floor new stairway was installed on the frames remain except for a door on the west side which was replaced a new plaster wall installed.The original door jambs and window early building. fastened together but wedged against each other. doors, one on the north and one the south side, and a fireplace on (Check One) however, most of the interior stone walls are in tact.
Central addition, made in 1812, on the west side had eighteen inch thick stone This is a two and a half story stone and wood frame house with gable About 1940 the house was remodeled on the interior and a frame shed X Good The original portion was a one room stone cabin. It had two frame addition. basic integrity because the additions have been sympathetic to the Unexposed Ruins RECEIVED south side of the 1812 addition.There were a few minor changes, There were subsequent additions to the west and south. heating was installed at this time.The house still maintains its the east side.The basement of this portion has a limestone floor.
the cupboard next to the fireplace on the north wall.Mud was used bay has a 6/6 double hung sash window on both the first and second The first walls.It is two stories and the main west facade has 3 bays.Each The fireplace in the 1812 addition was removed and level.This addition had one room on each level and a stairway in
Statement of significance
This house is built of native limestone, known locally as "Dayton The house was probably begun in the autumn of 1804 when Jonathan presently owned by one of their decendents, Caroline Watkins Burnet. Architecture Commerce Conservation Communications Transportation losophy REGISTER Engineering Music NATIONAL Social/Human- itarian Aboriginal Education JUL2 Pre-Columbian Art Sculpture Political Invention Industry in danger, but it faces a main road which is becoming more heavily Agriculture Religion/Phi.
from Mason County, Kentucky.Jonathan Watkins was accompanied by 19th Century stone farmhouses.It is typical of the development of were members of the Hopewell Methodist Church which was the houses from a one or two room cabin with subsequent additions and Clarissa Watkins and their infant daughter arrived in the Center- the house to view the passing troops on Shakertown Road. and this house is one of the few remaining examples of these early his brothers George and Jeremiah Allen and Owen Hatfield.
When the addition to the original one-room cabin was being made in Military Other SPECIFIC DATE|S) (If Applicable and Known) AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE (Check One or More as Appropriate) their produce, butter and eggs in Centerville and the nearby indus- 1812 in stone and wood to an irregular form.The house is not presently houses in and near Centerville were built from stone quarried on the Henry Harrison was passing and the owner and workers left off the land.Mrs. Watkins told her grandchildren she did not see founded about 1815 to serve the needs of many of the pioneer families used as the once rural farmland is being subdivided for housing. or taste wheat bread during their first year in Ohio.The Watkins
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 74001578, 10 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.
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.
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.
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