The Gen. William Henry Harrison Headquarters, commonly known as the Harrison House, is a historic Federal-style brick building at 570 West Broad Street in Franklinton, a neighborhood of Columbus. It was built in 1807 by Colonel Robert Culbertson, a Revolutionary War veteran and early Franklinton landowner. By tradition, the house served as a headquarters for General William Henry Harrison when his Army of the Northwest was sporadically based in Franklinton during the War of 1812. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 15, 1972, and on the Columbus Register of Historic Properties in 1985. It is the only remaining building in Ohio associated with Harrison's military presence in the region. In 2021, the Columbus Historical Society assumed ownership of the site from the City of Columbus.

Franklinton and the War of 1812

Franklinton was founded in 1797 by Lucas Sullivant on the west bank of the Scioto River, making it the first permanent American settlement in what would become Franklin County. The settlement served as the county seat of Franklin County from 1803 until 1824, when the seat was transferred to the newly established city of Columbus across the river.

When the War of 1812 began, Franklinton's central location on the National Road corridor and its position at the confluence of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers made it a natural staging ground for military operations in the Northwest. Following the surrender of General Hull at Detroit in August 1812, Ohio and Kentucky governors scrambled to recruit troops to reclaim the frontier. Franklinton was selected as the rendezvous and depot of supplies for the reorganized northwestern force.

On October 25, 1812, General William Henry Harrison arrived in Franklinton with three other generals, joining more than 700 soldiers already assembled there, with additional troops arriving from Pennsylvania and Kentucky. At times, as many as three thousand troops were gathered in and around the settlement for inspection and training before marching north toward the frontier. The town's population briefly swelled, its public square filled with soldiers, and its supply routes became critical arteries of the war effort in the Northwest.

The building and its builder

The Harrison House is a two-story Federal-style brick structure, one of only twelve brick buildings constructed in early Franklinton. The lot on which it stands, designated in-lot 123 of the Franklinton plat, was surveyed by Nathaniel Massie on October 28, 1796, as part of Virginia Military District entry 1393, comprising 1,000 acres on the west fork of the Scioto River. Captain Robert Vance, a veteran of the Virginia Continental Line during the Revolution, initially claimed the land. Lucas Sullivant, the founder of Franklinton, acquired it from Vance and included it in the 1797 plat of the village, recorded at the Ross County Courthouse in Chillicothe in 1802.

Colonel Robert Culbertson, a wealthy landowner and veteran of the Pennsylvania Line during the Revolutionary War, acquired in-lot 123 in 1804. Culbertson had arrived in Franklinton in 1801 and quickly became one of its most prominent citizens. In 1802, he was elected as a representative to the First Ohio General Assembly from Ross County, and in March 1803 he made the motion in the legislature to create a new county from the northern portion of Ross County, the motion that brought Franklin County into existence. He constructed the brick house on in-lot 123 in 1807. Culbertson and his wife Elizabeth owned the house during the years when Franklinton served as the headquarters of the Army of the Northwest. Colonel Culbertson died on April 14, 1821, and is buried in the Old Franklinton Cemetery.

Harrison's use of the house

By tradition, General William Henry Harrison used the Culbertson house as his headquarters during the periods when the Army of the Northwest was based in Franklinton in 1813 and 1814. The Columbus Historical Society, which now owns the building, describes this association as a matter of tradition rather than documented certainty, noting that Harrison's Army of the Northwest was "sporadically headquartered in Franklinton" and that he "may have been a guest" of Colonel Culbertson during those periods. Research conducted by Teaching Columbus Historic Places suggests that Harrison's actual command headquarters may have been located a few blocks from the Culbertson house, closer to the intersection of Broad and Foos Streets.

Whatever the precise location of his command post, Harrison's presence in Franklinton is well documented. His arrival on October 25, 1812, with three generals and an army of several hundred men was recorded in the local press and in military correspondence. The following summer, on June 21, 1813, Harrison hosted a diplomatic conference at Lucas Sullivant's property in Franklinton, at which he met with representatives of the Shawnee, Delaware, Seneca, and Wyandot nations. Chief Tarhe the Crane of the Wyandot rose to shake hands with Harrison, and an agreement was reached securing the support of those nations for the American cause against the British. Harrison subsequently moved his forces northward, eventually winning the decisive Battle of the Thames in October 1813.

Harrison later served as the ninth President of the United States, taking office on March 4, 1841. He died on April 4, 1841, thirty-one days into his term.

A Confederate spy in the house

Decades after Harrison's military campaigns, the house passed through a series of owners whose connections to national events were no less dramatic. During the American Civil War, a resident known as A.J. Marlowe is reported by local historians to have lived in the house while conducting intelligence work for the Confederacy, observing the activities of Camp Chase, the Union prisoner-of-war camp located approximately half a mile to the southwest on land bounded by Broad Street, Hague Avenue, Sullivant Avenue, and Westgate Avenue. Camp Chase, established in 1861 on land that had once been part of the Franklinton settlement, held thousands of Confederate prisoners during the war, making its activities of considerable interest to Confederate intelligence networks. The Marlowe account has not been independently corroborated by primary documentation, and it is noted here as part of the house's locally recorded history.

The Kuhn family

The longest continuous occupants of the house were the Kuhn family, who resided there from 1863 to 1973, a span of more than a century. Across its history, the house passed through the hands of eighteen families, individuals, and organizations over more than two centuries.

Preservation

The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 15, 1972. The following year, in 1973, the owner of the building announced plans to sell the property for demolition to make way for a gas station. The announcement prompted a community response led by Columbus City Councilwoman Fran Ryan. The Columbus Society for the Preservation of the Harrison House was formed to raise funds for the building's purchase, and the organization acquired the property in 1975. The house was sold to the City of Columbus in 1980, and subsequently underwent renovation with funding from a federal historic preservation grant and a donation from the Columbus Landmarks Foundation. The house was also listed on the Columbus Register of Historic Properties in 1985, alongside the adjacent Sullivant Land Office.

The episode is remembered in Columbus preservation history as an early example of citizen-led advocacy saving an endangered structure. A section of the preservation campaign, led by Councilwoman Ryan, is commemorated in the Columbus Historical Society's records under the name "Ryan's Rescue."

Architecture

The Harrison House is a two-story Federal-style brick building constructed in 1807. The Federal style, prevalent in American architecture from roughly 1780 to 1830, is characterized by restrained classical details, symmetrical facades, and refined proportions derived from Georgian architecture. The house's brick construction distinguished it from the log and timber-frame buildings that predominated in early Franklinton; it was one of only twelve brick structures in the early settlement. A ramp at the rear entrance provides ground-floor accessibility. The second floor is not currently open to the public.

Historic designations

The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 15, 1972, under reference number 72001010. The listing was made under Criterion B of the National Register, which recognizes properties associated with the lives of persons significant in American history. In this case, the significance derives from the building's traditional association with General William Henry Harrison's military operations during the War of 1812. The National Register of Historic Places is maintained by the National Park Service under the authority of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. Listing makes federal historic preservation tax incentives available to qualifying owners and requires federal agencies to consider the effects of their actions on listed properties, but does not impose mandatory preservation requirements on private owners.

In 1985, the Harrison House was also listed on the Columbus Register of Historic Properties, alongside the adjacent Sullivant Land Office. The Columbus Register is maintained by the City of Columbus Historic Resources Commission and Historic Preservation Office, established by city ordinance in 1980. Properties listed on the Columbus Register require a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Columbus Historic Preservation Office before exterior alterations may proceed, providing a local layer of architectural oversight that complements the federal National Register designation.

Current stewardship and visiting

In 2021, the City of Columbus transferred ownership of the Harrison House and the adjacent Sullivant Land Office to the Columbus Historical Society, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and interpreting the history of Columbus and Franklin County.

The Columbus Historical Society has established the 1797 Collaborative Committee to ensure that programming at the Harrison House and Sullivant Land Office maintains a focus on Franklinton's history and its role in the founding of central Ohio. The Harrison House is used for small events, exhibits, and meetings. Many public programs offered at the site are free of charge. Group tours and meetings can be arranged by appointment. The first floor of the Harrison House is accessible by ramp at the rear entrance, and an accessible restroom is located on the first floor. The second floor is not currently open to the public.

Parking is available behind the Harrison House or along the street. The site is located at the intersection of West Broad Street and North Gift Street in the East Franklinton neighborhood, within walking distance of the Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery at 2900 Sullivant Avenue and the site of the former Lucas Sullivant House at 707 West Broad Street.

See also Lucas Sullivant Franklinton, Columbus, Ohio Sullivant Land Office Camp Chase National Register of Historic Places listings in Columbus, Ohio

References

Sources