The East Second Street Historic District is a

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...

in the city of Xenia,

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Created in the 1970s, it comprises a part of what was once one of Xenia's most prestigious neighborhoods.

Prominent houses

Five of the leading houses in the district are located at 183, 204, 209, 235, and 272 East Second:Historical and Architectural Tour
, City of Xenia, 2009-08, 29-30. Accessed 2012-12-24. Xenia's first banker, John Hivling, once lived at 183 Second, which was built circa 1880.

Eastlake Eastlake may refer to: Places ;Australia * Kingston, Australian Capital Territory, formerly called Eastlake ** Eastlake Football Club, an amateur Australian Rules Football Club named after that location ;United States * Eastlake, Lake County, C ...

details on this house include decorations above the door and the windows as well as a round window in the

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

. Among the features of the first floor are an entrance on the side and tall

sash window A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned window (architecture), paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double gla ...

s. Built around 1880, 204 Second is a two-story brick building that mixes the Italianate and Eastlake styles. Among its details are decorations over the entryway and its stone

lintels A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented structural item. In the case of w ...

. The first residents of 209 Second were the family of

John B. Allen John Beard Allen (May 18, 1845January 28, 1903) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Washington from 1889 to 1893. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the United States represent ...

, a

state representative A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United Sta ...

. A three-story brick building constructed around 1881, it features an elaborate bracketed front porch, three

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the s ...

led chimneys, and a two-story side porch. Abraham Hivling erected 235 Second around 1840. Three stories tall, it features a large front and side porch with an

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

and pillars. Visitors enter through a grand door with

sidelight A sidelight or sidelite in a building is a window, usually with a vertical emphasis, that flanks a door or a larger window. Sidelights are narrow, usually stationary and found immediately adjacent doorways.Barr, Peter.Illustrated Glossary, 19th ...

s and

transom Transom may refer to: * Transom (architecture), a bar of wood or stone across the top of a door or window, or the window above such a bar * Transom (nautical), that part of the stern of a vessel where the two sides of its hull meet * Operation Tran ...

. The interior is divided into forty-two rooms: ten in the basement and thirty-two in the rest of the house. Known as "Eden Hall", this house was later purchased by John Allen and his wife and given to their daughter and son-in-law, Mary and

Coates Kinney Coates Kinney (November 24, 1826 – January 25, 1904) was an American lawyer, politician, journalist and poet who wrote ''Rain On The Roof''. Biography Coates Kinney was born in 1826 near Penn Yan, New York. He was partly educated at Antioch Co ...

. A later owner, Evelyn Cozatt, used the property to house a huge antique collection. In the 2000s, it was opened as a bed and breakfast. As of May 2017, it has reverted to a private home. A Mr. King was the first inhabitant of 272 Second, which was built circa 1885. A banker and industrialist,Owen, Lorrie K., ed. ''Dictionary of Ohio Historic Places''. Vol. 1. St. Clair Shores: Somerset, 1999, 538. King operated a munitions plant at the community of Kings Mills. His house is a

weatherboarded Clapboard (), also called bevel siding, lap siding, and weatherboard, with regional variation in the definition of these terms, is wooden siding of a building in the form of horizontal boards, often overlapping. ''Clapboard'' in modern America ...

2½-story structure in the Queen Anne style; it features an asymmetrical floor plan and multiple large

s. Sidelights and a transom surround the recessed main entrance, and a

screened porch A screened porch, also known as a screen room, is a type of porch or similar structure on or near the exterior of a house that has been covered by window screens in order to hinder insects, debris, and other undesirable objects from entering the ...

is accessible from the second floor.

Preservation

In March 1973, the houses at 209 and 235 Second were designated the East Second Street District and listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

, and six years later the district was expanded to include part of the 100 block and most of the 200 block. The neighborhood was judged important because of its ability to depict wealthy

Gilded Age In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and Weste ...

society and because of the high degree of preservation that the houses have experienced.

References

{{NRHP in Greene County, Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Greene County, Ohio Xenia, Ohio Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio