and was so named because the lots were ofered free to those willing to settle there.
6. Southwest corner of South Gift and West State Streets—Isaiah Voris had a tavern on this spot in the early days of Franklinton. There is a story in Alfred E. Lee’s 1892 History of the City of Columbus, Capital of Ohio about a young boarder newly arrived from Massachusetts named William Merion. He is said to have met Sallie Wait, who lived with her parents a mile south of the village, outside of this tavern in 1808, and they eventually married. The West Side Market House later occupied this site.
7. Northwest corner of West Broad and North Gift Streets—The building that still stands here is known as the Harrison House because it was once reputed to be General William Henry Harrison’s headquarters during the War of 1812. The house was most likely built in 1807 by Jacob Oberdier, but the lack of documentation, drawings, and photographs has placed that date in dispute. It was one of only twelve brick homes built in early Franklinton. Historians later determined that this probably was not Harrison’s headquarters, but the future president stayed in several places in Franklinton during this period and this may have been one of them. It was almost torn down in 1975 but was saved, in part because of its connection to Harrison. The City of Columbus bought it in 1980 and currently leases it to the nearby Holy Family Catholic Church.
9. 625 West Broad Street—White’s Fine Furniture opened as White’s Furniture in this building in 1944.
10. Southeast corner of West Broad and South Grubb Streets—Lucas Sullivant opened a store in a two-story brick building here in 1806.
11. Southeast corner of South Grubb and Shepherd Streets—The home of General Irvin McDowell, a Union commander at the first Civil War battle of Bull Run, stood on this site. McDowell died in 1885, and Jonas McCune built Wholesale Row here in 1887.
12. 666 West Broad Street—The first Franklin County Courthouse, a log structure built in 1803, stood on this spot on what is now the east side of the highway overpass for Route 315. A brick, two-story square building replaced it in 1807–8, with Franklinton founder Lucas Sullivant serving as construction supervisor. His brick mansion stood diagonally across Broad Street. The new courthouse had a large central hall on both stories and was topped by an octagonal cupola. During the War of 1812, when General William Henry Harrison’s headquarters was nearby, a young soldier named William Fish was executed here in 1813 for threatening the life of his captain. Fish stood hooded in front of his coffin and was shot. After Fish was executed, a second condemned man was also hooded and stood in front of a coffin before he was told he had been pardoned. The courthouse remained in use until 1824, when the county seat was removed to Columbus. Afterwards, it was used as a schoolhouse. Franklinton School was built on the foundation of the old courthouse in 1877. It was razed on March 13, 1956, in preparation for freeway construction.
13. Route 315, north of Broad Street—Fort Franklinton was built north of Broad Street in the vicinity of what was later called Sandusky Street, likely as a defensive position during the War of 1812. Its exact location is unknown. No military action occurred here, and it may have been used simply as a supply depot and staging area for General William Henry Harrison’s troops in preparation for his march to Lake Erie. Some historians believe it may have been built by French traders in the 1750s; when it was being torn down in 1911, removal of the hand-split clapboards, which were applied much later with handmade nails, revealed arrowheads embedded in its cherry and walnut logs.
14. 57 South Grubb Street—Holy Family High School occupied this building until it closed in 1964. The school’s original address was 56 South Sandusky Street, but Sandusky was wiped out in the construction of the Olentangy Freeway. The Grubb address was used for the elementary school. In 1998 Holy Family Church pastor Kevin Lutz established the Jubilee Museum at Holy Family in this building. Its rooms contain many fine examples of Catholic religious artifacts, including some from Roman Catholic churches in Columbus that have been torn down.
15. South side of West Broad Street and Route 315—Lucas Sullivant, who founded and platted the village of Franklinton in 1797, built a brick house here in 1801 for himself and his new wife, Sarah (Starling). His house had two rooms on the first ffloor and two on the second, connected by a beautiful walnut stairway that was said to have been hauled here from Philadelphia. Sarah died at the age of thirty-three in 1814 after contracting typhus while ministering to sick and wounded soldiers encamped in Franklinton during the War of 1812. Lucas died in 1823, and his son William lived in it for a year, before another son, Michael, moved in and greatly expanded it. Michael lived in it until 1854, and sometime after that, the Order of the Good Shepherd bought the sprawling structure for use as a convent. The convent moved to Mifflin Township in 1963, and the buildings there on the south side of Broad Street were razed in 1964 to make way for a car dealership, which has since closed. A large historical marker sits south of Broad and just west of the freeway overpass to mark the spot of Sullivant’s home. The house was actually located near the center of the old auto dealership building, approximately one hundred feet south of Broad. The building still houses the staircase from the old Sullivant homestead.
16. 750 West Broad Street—A one-story brick house that occupied this spot was rented by Major Andrew Jackson Marlow, a spy for the Confederate Army, during the Civil War. From here Marlow could watch troop movements to and from the prison camp at Camp Chase, two miles west on Broad. (Marlow also presented himself at the camp gate and talked his way in, posing as a Michigan man looking for a missing brother, and memorized what he saw.) He returned home to the South after the war but found that he missed Columbus and moved back and lived only a few blocks from the spy house. He died in 1915 at 231 Clarendon Avenue.
17. 714 West Gay Street—Lucas Sullivant’s land office was built here around 1822, a year or so before his death in 1823. Sullivant, founder of Franklinton, was a surveyor by trade and was given thousands of acres at the conffluence of the Scioto and Olentangy Rivers in payment for surveying in the area; he sold land to settlers from this little one-story office. In the early days, Sullivant was desperate to attract new settlers to the village and gave away lots along Gift Street to those who would build a dwelling there. Ironically, this building was moved to Gift Street behind the Harrison house (570 West Broad Street) in 1986 to avoid demolition.
