Architectural style. Second Empire architecture in the United States and Canada
National Register reference number.99000094- 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
1915 to 1994
The ground this property stands on, surveyed
79 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are
United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.
Ii was along this military road that the first settlers advanced in search of homes in the ^Yest, and naturally enough, upon this road that the first settler in Plymouth Township is found, upon the present site of the village of Pl3'mouth. Here, on the headwaters of the Huron River, Abraham Trux erected his cabin, on the northwest quarter of Section 5, in the spring of 1815, and became the first settler. This cabin stood on the bank of an insignificant branch of the river, which passes through the village, and was a double cabin, of round logs. The lot is now owned by Aaron Kappenberg, and his butcher-shop occupies the exact spot upon which this first caljin was erected. Other settlers came in during this year (1815), some of them probably about the same time with 3Ir. Trux. Among these were John Concklin, who settled on the northeast quarter of Section 6 ; Daniel Kirkpatrick, northeast quarter of Section 8 ; Robert Green, southeast quarter of Section 4 ; and John Long, northwest quarter of Section 13. William and Daniel Prosser also came in this year or eai-ly in 181(3, the former settling on Section 19, and the latter on Section 13. In 1816, came John Morris, who settled on Section 15 ; Thomas McCluer, Section 14 ; James Gardner and Michael Gipson, Section 1 ; James Douglas, Section 35. Settlers continued to arrive rapidly until in 1818, when there was a suflflcient number to organize a township. The first election was held in the spring of 1818, in which Abraham Trux was made Justice of the Peace, Stephen Weliber, Constable ; John Concklin, John Long, and Thomas McClure, Trustees. Thomas Mc- Cluer was made Clerk, and Asa Murphy, Treasurer.
There were prol)a])ly not more than five hewed-log houses in the township prior to 1820. These were owned by Alexander 3IcBride, Mr. Grrifflth, John Long, Benjamin Wooley and Jacob Vanhouten. Long and Vanhouten had boards, supported by poles, in front of their cabins, upon which was inscribed " Entertainment," wdiich meant, in those days, "hog, hominy and whisky," which were enjoyed by the weary traveler at a moderate compensation. Whisky was 15 cents per gallon - the pure stuff - and was therefore used about as freely as w^ater. Until 1822, the mails were carried on horseback and on foot, but about this date stages made their appearance, a route having been established from Columbus to Portland (now Sandusky City). These stages followed "Beall's trail " through this part of the country. What a wealth of fact and romance must have been crowded into the lives of those stagedrivers ! The first post office established in that part of the country was about the year 1817, a few miles east of Plymouth Village, on the military road, on Section 4 of what is now Cass Township. It was kept by a jolly old Hollander by the name of Jacol) "V^anhouten, and called "Plymouth." The regular sixhorse teams began also to make their appearance along the trail, loaded with produce for the lakes. Arriving at the lakfe, they would discharge their cargoes and load up with salt, fish, etc., for the return trip.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Tubbs-Sourwine House
in 2002, burning about 5 acres in total. None 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
1
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 42 specimens
collected within 10 miles of Tubbs-Sourwine House between 1869 and 1951: 20 Fungi, 16 Plantae, 6 Animalia.
12 distinct Species records are shown.
Collected by Chase, H. (Hazel), Eric G. Chapman, Jennings, O.E. 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
3 workings within 5 miles of Tubbs-Sourwine House: 3 past producers.
None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the
map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring
settlement's page as well.
United States Geological Survey topographic
sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, 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.
Statement of significance
Areas of Significance L A Property is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of Property is associated with the lives of persons X C Property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction or high artistic values, or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components lack =c.1867 (Mark "x" in all the boxes that apply.) -A owned by a religious institution or used for (Complete if Criterion B is marked above) - B removed from its original location. - C a birthplace or 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 9.
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 99000094, 20 pages, held by the National Archives in Record
Group 79. See the
catalogue record.
Listed places nearby
5 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.
Block
