Chillicothe Properties

Chillicothe is located mostly in Scioto Township, Ross County, Ohio, USA. The courthouse is located at about UTM Zone 17 329131E 4355639N (WGS84/NAD83), viewable on a USGS topographic map or in an aerial photo in the map frame of the county auditor's website.

Chillicothe is sited on a second terrace of the Scioto Valley, framed by bedrock hills to the west and south and the river to the north and east. The town has grown across the hills and river, but its core is still readily identifiable in its scenic setting. The Scioto River flows north-south, and with the Paint Creek joining it just south of town, the two valleys form rich agricultural areas and smooth corridors for travel.

Chillicothe was founded in 1796 in the newly opened part of Ohio made safe for settlement after the treaty of Greenville in 1795 removed Indian threats. Partly because of its location and partly its ambitious young leaders, it became the capital of the last part of the Northwest Territory (after the Indiana Territory and all west was separated) and then the capital of the new state of Ohio in 1803. It remained the capital except for two years until 1816.

The Ohio & Erie Canal construction and opening arrived 1829-1831, and greatly rejuvenated Chillicothe. Several fired reshaped the downtown, the most dramatic being the "Great Fire of 1852" which burned out a quarter of the town at that time. The first railroad arrived in 1851-1857, running east-west between Cincinnati and Marietta, which also gave the town a huge economic boost. The second, running north-south and overpowering the canal and stagecoach line in the Scioto Valley, arrived 1876.

By the late nineteenth century, Chillicothe, had many industries and was a prosperous regional center. Another railroad arrived in the 1870s, and a streetcar system was begun about that time. The First railroad enlarged its railyard in 1892, boosting the growth of the "East End" of Chillicothe. Severe floods occured in 1896, 1907, with the worst ever in 1913, but none caused extensive damage to the town. An inturban railrad arrived from Columbus to the north in 1903?. During World War II, a US millitary training camp was built just north of town, tremendously increaing the population and economy of the town. After it was rapidly depopulated after the war, the area became a series of public institutions.

Chillicothe's architecture appears to wane after 1900, though there is charming residential architecture from the 1910s and1920s.