Jonathan Sprague House

Jonathan Sprague House
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Front of the house
Nearest city	Lowell, Ohio
Coordinates	39°33′34″N 81°34′13″W / 39.55944°N 81.57028°WCoordinates: 39°33′34″N 81°34′13″W / 39.55944°N 81.57028°W
Area	3 acres (1.2 ha)
Built	1800
Architect	Jonathan Sprague
Architectural style	Federal
NRHP Reference #	83002067[1]
Added to NRHP	January 11, 1983

The Jonathan Sprague House is a historic residence in northwestern Washington County, Ohio, United States. Located atop a bluff above the Muskingum River, it is one of Washington County's most significant houses, due to its age and method of construction.^[2]

Joshua Sprague and his sons William and Jonathan migrated to Marietta in 1788, less than a year after it was founded as the first white settlement in the Northwest Territory;^[3] there, they soon signed a contract to contribute to the construction of Campus Martius.^[2] After living in Marietta for a time, the three men moved to the vicinity of present-day Waterford; Joshua and William later left the area, but Jonathan remained where he had settled.^[3] Here, he farmed, pursued the trade of carpentry, and operated a gristmill.^[2]

At the age of thirty-three, Jonathan constructed the present house. Built in the Federal style of architecture, it is three-and-a-half stories tall and built primarily of large blocks of sandstone. When it was completed in 1800, it was the first stone house to be built anywhere in Washington County.^[2] Sprague's barn, completed in 1803,^[4] is also historically significant as one of the oldest extant barns in the county.^[2]

In 1983, the Jonathan Sprague House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, along with the barn.^[1] Key to this designation was the property's nature as a rare survivor of Ohio's earliest architecture: architectural historians have seen the house as a fine example of the Federal architecture, and the barn — while architecturally undistinctive — is nevertheless an important survivor of the earliest years of Washington County's history.^[2] Located west of Lowell across the Muskingum from State Route 60,^[1] it is close to two other historic sites: the Mason House and the Coal Run Historic District, both located in the community of Coal Run,^[1] lie approximately 0.75 miles (1.21 km) to the northwest.^[5]

References

1. National Park Service (2009-03-13). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
2. Owen, Lorrie K., ed. Dictionary of Ohio Historic Places. Vol. 2. St. Clair Shores: Somerset, 1999, 1399.
3. Andrews, Martin R., ed. History of Marietta and Washington County, Ohio and Representative Citizens. Chicago: Biographical, 1902, 480.
4. Sprague, Jonathan, House, Ohio Historical Society, 2007. Accessed 2011-01-22.
5. DeLorme. Ohio Atlas & Gazetteer. 7th ed. Yarmouth: DeLorme, 2004, 71. ISBN 0-89933-281-1.