The Henshaw House
The Henshaw HouseThe house at 196 Vine Street was built by the Sosmans in 1923 on lot 2 of their plat of Out Lot 173. The house is associated with the history of the Sosman family and the development of the neighborhood around it. Research into Ross County deeds, tax records, and available Chillicothe maps and city directories has revealed its history.
The story of 196 Vine Street, Chillicothe, Ohio, begins in 1796. In that year Nathaniel Massie plats the town of Chillicothe. The plat has smaller "In Lots" at the center, and larger four-acre "Out Lots" on three sides. The Out Lots are intended to be usable for crops and available for future expansion of the town. Out Lot 56 is on the northwest corner of the plat. In 1821, the designation of O.L. 56 is changed to O.L. 173 to eliminate duplicate numbers.
In 1830 or 1831, George Sosman acquires the north half of O.L. 173 from William McDowell. For the next 68 years that approximate parcel will be owned by the Sosman family, who will live in a house somewhere on it for probably the next 101 years.
Chillicothe is a booming canal town by 1843, when a carefully surveyed map is made of it by a Willam Wesson. Additions to the northwest edge of the town have reached Out Lot 173, and Vine, Plum, and Chestnut streets have already been platted. George Sosman is indicated as owning O.L. 173. Tax records imply he has a house on it by 1835. George Sosman is a partner in the grocery and baking company of Sosman & Burns at the old address of 12 Water Street. He dies sometime between 1860 and 1869.
In 1888, Frank Sosman is listed as a hardware dealer at 22 East Second Street in the city directory, and is living at 338 Chestnut Street. This must be George Sosman's former house and outbuildings on the north half of O.L. 173, with trees along Chestnut and Plum streets, visible in an 1889 bird's eye view map of Chillicothe.
In May of 1893, the Sosmans subdivide the north half of O.L. 173 into nine lots. The plat is not officially recorded until spring 1899. The owners listed are Frank A., Mary E., and Merril C. Sosman.
In 1893 the Sosmans build the house on Lot 1 of the north half of O.L. 173 (204 Vine Street), which is probably the reason for platting the property. This is the first Frank Sosman House. In 1894, Frank Sosman is listed as the county treasurer in the city directory, living at 204 Vine Street. Mary E. and Samuel H. Sosman live there too.
In 1899, and from 1905 to 1907, lots 3 to 9 of O.L. 173 are sold off by the Sosmans. They retain Lots 1 and 2. In the 1909 city directory Frank A. Sosman at 204 Vine Street is listed as an insurance agent in the Chillicothe City Directory, with offices at no. 8 and 9 Union Block, 15 West Second Street. By the time of the 1914 city directory, Francis and Nettie Sosman appear to be "empty nesters," since no children are listed as living with them. By the 1923 city directory, 204 Vine Street houses Francis and Nettie Sosman, as well as four residents of the Chillicothe Hospital Nurse's Home.
By the time of a May 22, 1923 deed, apparently the Sosmans have finished the house at 196 Vine Street, the second Frank Sosman House, to which they move. In the deed the house and its lot at 204 Vine Street is sold by the Sosmans to the Chillicothe Hospital. (The Sosmans are four married couples: Francis A. And Nettie M., Robert B. and Sarah N., Frank W. and Amanda G., and Merril C. and Arline A.)
On March 17th, 1924, the back part of Lot 1 is sold by the Sosmans to Roman Gerber. Oral history states that a dairy barn stood there, and its pasture having been the Western School lot.
The house at 196 Vine Street first appears in the Chillicothe tax records added into the 1924 book with a building value of $5,500 (which is about $63,000 in 2006 dollars). The owners are listed as Robert B., Frank W., and Merrill C. Sosman. The Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Chillicothe shows the house at 196 Vine Street in October 1925.
Francis (a.k.a. Frank) Sosman dies, and his will is probated February 7th, 1927. In June, his property, including 196 Vine Street, is divided between Nettie Sosman, and Robert, Frank W., and Merril C. Sosman. On March 14th, 1934, Nettie Sosman dies, and on January 8th, 1936, the property is transferred to Robert B. Sosman.
In the 1936 city directory, the residents of 196 Vine Street change to Louis C. and Muriel C. Haughey. Louis is an assistant comptroller at the Mead Corportation. Apparently Robert Sosman is renting out the house; no Sosmans are listed in Chillicothe. In the 1938 city directory, the residents of 196 Vine Street change to C. Stahr and Emily E. Hamm. Stahr is an analyst at the Mead Corportation.
On November 1st, 1946, Robert B. Sosman transfers 196 Vine Street to Walter E. and Sarah E. Kramer. Walter is a physician and surgeon at 39 West Main Street.
On November 1st, 1951, the Kramers transfer 196 Vine Street to Doris E. Beeler. Her husband Waldo E. is the treasurer (and later president) of the Chillicothe Newspapers Inc. and publisher of the Chillicothe Gazette.
On July 8th, 1963, the Beelers transfer 196 Vine Street to W. Joseph and Joan F. Hess. Joseph is part of the Hess Construction Company, and president of the Chillicothe Bowling Lanes. About 1965 the Hesses add the rear party room to the house.
On January 11th, 1966, the Hesses transfer 196 Vine Street to Frederick E. and Patricia M. Hatmacher. Frederick owns Dairy Queen No. 2 at 543 E. Main Street. (In the same year, 204 Vine Street is no longer listed as the Chillicothe Hospital Nurse's Home.)
Frederick Hatmacher transfers 196 Vine Street to Patricia Hatmacher on July 21st, 1976. While Patricia is still listed at 196 Vine Street in 1978, Frederick is listed at 622 Allen Avenue; Patricia is working at the F.E. Hatmacher Dairy. And, on April 30th, 1986, Patricia Hatmacher transfers 196 Vine Street to John R. and Bartow K. Henshaw.
The house is Colonial Revival styled. The Colonial Revival, still active today, has gone through several phases since beginning in 1876, changing about every generation. The Henshaw House is transitional from the second, the National, to the third phase, the Academic. The predominant theme of the National Colonial Revival is free interpretation of original elements, while the predominant theme of the Academic Colonial Revival is "faithfully and carefully rendered" reproductions or quotations from eighteenth century originals.
National Colonial Revival details include the six- and eight-over-one window sashes, triple windows (a borrowing from the contemporary Tudor Revival style), shutters with crescent moon cutouts, and lunete dormer windows. The cutout shutters and lunete dormers lend a somewhat "cartoonish" quality that was prevalent in the 1920s.
Academic-period quotations from colonial architecture on the Henshaw House include the side-gabled, rectangular form with the center hall floorplan, and with an even, balanced facade. The trabeated doorway, with both sidelights and transom, is an unusual quotation from the mid-nineteenth century, after the colonial period.
In its neighborhood, the Henshaw House illustrates the change in house styling from the 1890s and 1900s, as exemplified by its neighbors on either side, to the 1920s of the Henshaw House.
Although there is no evidence the house is a catalog house, such as purchased from Aladdin, Lewis, or Sears, it is similiar to some of their designs; in fact, the cover of the definitive book on Sears houses (Houses by Mail: A Guide to Houses from Sears, Roebuck and Company by Stevenson and Jandl) sports a model similar in many elements to the Henshaw House. The 1918 illustration also shows the landscaping and feel of the period.
The c1834 George Sosman HouseAn addendum to the story of the Henshaw House / 1923 Francis A. Sosman House
The story of the 1923 Francis A. Sosman House at 196 Vine Street, Chillicothe, Ohio, is preceded by a house nearby that was built by a previous generation of Sosmans. The only remnant of this habitation appears to be a little brick outbuilding in the backyard of 184 Vine Street.
This story also begins in 1796. In that year Nathaniel Massie plats the town of Chillicothe. The plat has smaller "In Lots" at the center, and larger four-acre "Out Lots" on three sides. The Out Lots are intended to be usable for crops and available for future expansion of the town. Out Lot 56 is on the northwest corner of the plat. In 1821, the designation of Out Lot 56 is changed to O.L. 173 to eliminate duplicate numbers.
In 1830 or 1831, George Sosman acquires the north half of O.L. 173 from William McDowell. For the next 68 years that approximate parcel will be owned by the Sosman family, who live in a house somewhere on it for probably at least 101 years.
Chestnut Street appears to originate as a driveway for the c1812-1820 Walke House, now surrounded by urban growth at the northeast corner of Western Avenue and Locust Street. The driveway ran from High Street to the gate of the property probably at what is now Plum Street. 
The styling of the house at 309 Chestnut Street indicates it was probably built before 1830; its fine styling and original context imply it was built as a suburban house on the edge of the city, perhaps sharing the driveway of the Walke House or fronting on the new street. By 1832 Chestnut Street exists as a street. Vine Street appears to exist by 1839, though without a name; its name is indicated by 1842.
Chillicothe is a booming canal town by 1843, when a carefully surveyed map is made of it by a William Wesson. Additions to the northwest edge of the town have reached Out Lot 173, and Vine, Plum, and Chestnut streets are clearly shown. George Sosman is indicated as owning the north half of O.L. 173.
Tax records imply he has a house on it by 1835. It is valued at $350 (which is about $6,800 in 2006 dollars). Another increase between 1846 and 1847 implies further improvement to the property, probably more to the site than the house. Another improvement is made to the house or other buildings between 1851 and 1855, though the value drops again almost by the same amount by 1860.
By 1858 George Sosman is a partner in the grocery and baking company of Sosman & Burns at the old address of 12 Water Street. George dies sometime between 1860 and 1869. An increase between 1870 and 1871 implies further improvement to the property, probably more to the site than the house.
Chillicothe historian John Grabb features George Sosman and his bakery in his 1985 book The Canal--Its Rise and Fall in Ross County. Sosman's bakery was in the building that housed the Herrnstein auto dealership and now houses "CARRS," and Sosman wrote a description of the first "bots" coming into Chillicothe on the canal from his bakery's doorstop. He also rode the canal in 1833 with his wife, the former Miss Elizabeth Troutner. Sosman's bakery - before it burned down in the łGreat Fire˛ of 1852 - is pictured in the 1839 or 1840 engraving of Water Street by Charles Foster, featured in Grabb's book.
In 1888, Frank Sosman lives at 338 Chestnut Street. This must be George Sosman's former house on the north half of O.L. 173, visible in an 1889 bird's eye view map of Chillicothe with outbuildings behind it, and trees along Chestnut and Plum streets. The house appears to be a four-bay I-House, either two storeys tall or one storey with a raised basement. It appears to have three extension or additions in back (facing the viewer). Two small outbuildings are west of the back yard, and one is east.
The eastern outbuilding probably survives currently as a small split-level brick building in the backyard of 184 Vine Street. The building is a few feet from the side alley, while it would be expected to be adjacent to the alley. In 1885 the north nine feet of the south half of Out Lot 173 was added to the former George Sosman property; if the outbuilding were built at the back line of the property, this added strip of land may explain why it is a few feet away from the current alley, which was presumably laid out along or atop the lot line.
In May of 1893, the Sosmans subdivide the north half of O.L. 173 into nine lots (illus. 3). In 1893 Frank Sosman builds his first house, the second Sosman house built on the property, on Lot 1 of the north half of O.L. 173 (204 Vine Street), which is probably the reason for platting the property. Once the new house was complete, the old George Sosman House and most of the outbuildings were likely demolished.
Other houses were built on the subdivided north half of Out Lot 173, the second-to-the-last being the the 1923 Francis A. Sosman House. This is the third and last Sosman house built on the property.
