The Joseph Ferris House

 

Joseph Ferris House

    For most of my life, I have known that this is the oldest existing structure in the village of Fairfax. An elderly friend who grew up in Fairfax recently told me that it was a stop on the Underground Railroad. I suppose this could be true, but hasn’t, to the best of my knowledge, been authenticated. My mom, sister, and I heard that this building once housed a school, but can’t remember who might have told us. In case you were under a similar incorrect impression, here is the true story.

     So, let’s get the dry historical stuff out of the way first. In the late 1780s, a New Jersey judge and congressman named John Cleves Symmes and his associates formed a company to purchase land in the Northwest Territory between the Great Miami and Little Miami Rivers. This became known as the Symmes or Miami Purchase.

     In 1799, brothers Eliphalet (age 25), Joseph (23), and Andrew (20) Ferris of Greenwich, Connecticut purchased 480 acres in Fractional Range 2, Township 4, Section 15 of the Symmes Purchase. This area includes much of modern-day Fairfax and Mariemont and is pictured in the maps below:

 Image accessed from https://recordersoffice.hamilton-co.org/helpful_information/map_of_symmes_survey.pdf

Image accessed from https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4083h.la000633/?r=0.62,0.296,0.236,0.112,0

    The Ferris brothers were farmers and millers. At first, they worked in partnership. Later, however, they divided their property and Andrew took his share in cash. Andrew purchased land and built his home on Madison Road in the western section of what would become Madisonville.

     Eldest brother Eliphalet and his family built their brick house in 1802 on what is now Plainville Road in Mariemont. Although the Betts House in Cincinnati’s West End, built in 1804, claims to be Ohio’s oldest brick home, the Eliphalet Ferris house may be older. A check of the Hamilton County Auditor’s website shows that the Eliphalet Ferris house was built two years prior to the Betts House.

Eliphalet Ferris House

    Joseph Ferris initially constructed and lived in a log house. In addition to farming and milling, Joseph pursued distilling, possibly the reason he was able to build a larger house than his brother Eliphalet. As of 1898, the house still contained bottles of brandy that Joseph distilled back in the 1820s. Joseph’s estate ultimately included 700 acres.

     Joseph began construction of his brick home in 1807 at what is now the intersection of Dragon Way and Wooster Pike in Fairfax. The bricks were hauled by barge up the Little Miami River. The house was first occupied in 1808 with additions made in subsequent years. On August 25, 1811, Joseph married Priscilla Knapp, also of Greenwich, Connecticut. Joseph and Priscilla had eight children. He established a school for his and other neighboring children near the current location of Harvard Acres in Mariemont. Only two of their children, Mary and Sarah, ever wed, marrying brothers John Brooks Jewett and Eri Leonard Jewett. The remaining Ferris children continued to live in the family residence.

    Joseph Ferris died in 1831. Priscilla was a 38-year-old widow with eight children. She and the children continued to work the farm. At some point, possibly after Joseph's death, a porch running the length of the building was added to the back of the house. 

Porch at the rear of the Joseph Ferris House, accessed from digital.cincinnatilibrary.org

    Priscilla died in 1872, having outlived four of her children. Phebe, the final surviving Ferris child, died in 1896. The Ferris family cemetery is next to the Mariemont Community Church Memorial Chapel. There, you can find the gravesites of the Ferris brothers and their wives and children.

Ferris Family Cemetery

Joseph and Priscilla Ferris Gravestones

    Phebe’s will left most of her estate to her Jewett nephews. She left instructions, however, that the house and a large collection of books and family relics should be preserved as the Joseph Ferris Memorial Library. She established a trust for the library’s operating funds. The intention was that this would be a reference library, not a circulating library.

Joseph Ferris Memorial Library, accessed 6/13/2021 from http://www.mariemont.com/mariemont-preservation-foundation-takes-students-back-to-pioneer-days/ferris_library_fairfax_john_nolen_photo-2/

    A May 8, 1898 article in the Cincinnati Commercial Tribune described the Joseph Ferris house as follows:

About one mile south of Madisonville, between Plainville and Red Bank, in Columbia Township, there stands a fine old residence, surrounded by a well-kept garden with magnificent old trees crowding closely up to the stately building. It is a substantial structure of brick and stone, strong and solid enough to defy the gnawing teeth of time for another century. Broad steps lead to a column-flanked portico in front and a spacious covered verandah, extending the entire length of the house, on the opposite side. A wide hall leads straight through the building, from the heavy front door to the lighter rear entrance. A broad stairway leads to the hall of the upper floor, which is just as wide as the lower hall and also runs through the whole building. The rooms on both floors are arranged on both sides of the two corridors. . . . The rooms are high and large, the walls thick and well built, the woodwork is strong and solid, showing but little the effects of age.

     Following Phebe’s death, the house was occupied by caretakers, including the James and Clara Hunt family and later the family of Dr. Charles Metz, a physician, Ferris family friend, and trustee of the library. The Joseph Ferris Memorial Library was not successful and by 1930 the library’s trustees returned it to the Ferris heirs.

     The Ferris House fell into disrepair and stood empty for several years. The red brick was even painted white at one point. In 1935, the house and three surrounding acres were purchased by Rose Agerter and Marjorie Vance. Miss Agerter was dean of girls and assistant principal and Miss Vance a domestic sciences teacher at Withrow High School. The ladies had often driven by the old house and discussed what they would do to rehabilitate it if they were the owners.

     Misses Agerter and Vance worked to return the home to its former glory. The red brick was restored and the grounds improved. The ladies entertained at their home, hosting meetings, teas, and picnics for groups they were associated with, including the Hyde Park Literary Society and Monnett Club of Ohio Wesleyan University (Miss Vance) and the deans of girls of the Cincinnati area (Miss Agerter).

     The ladies sold the Joseph Ferris House and adjoining acreage in 1962 to Columbia-Wooster Building, Inc. Derek Hoxby, the vice-president of Columbia-Wooster, said that the house would be maintained as a museum, with office suites, a drive-in bank, stores, and possibly a supermarket planned for the surrounding area. Well, we got the bank and the office suites. I could have really gone for a nice grocery a couple of minutes away, though!

     The Eliphalet and Joseph Ferris houses were listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1975. In the past 60 years, the Joseph Ferris House has housed various businesses, restaurants, retail establishments, and an art gallery. It is currently home to Old World Restorations and Vesper Alliance. I’m looking forward to seeing what the future holds for this lovely old building.

     If you are interested in the architecture of the Joseph Ferris House, the Library of Congress has a 1933 building survey with drawings of the house, floor plans, and architectural details at https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.oh0264.sheet?st=gallery.

     Be sure to read next month’s post to learn about the restaurants that occupied the Joseph Ferris House in the 1960’s.

Sources

“Symmes Purchase”, Ohio History Central, https://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Symmes_Purchase, accessed May 3, 2021

“Map of Symmes Survey”, Hamilton County, Ohio Recorder’s Office, https://recordersoffice.hamilton-co.org/helpful_information/map_of_symmes_survey.pdf

“The Ferris Houses: Treasures in Mariemont and Fairfax”, Cincinnati Enquirer, December 6, 2018

“The Joseph Ferris House”, Mariemont Town Crier, November 2011

“Ferris Library”, Cincinnati Commercial Tribune, May 8, 1898

 “Cincinnati Landmarks: Wealth of History in Background of 126-Year-Old Ferris Home”, The Cincinnati Post, July 16, 1934

“Teachers Revive Romantic Atmosphere of Stately Old House on Wooster Pike”, The Cincinnati Post, December 25, 1935

“Shop Center to Preserve Ferris Home”, The Cincinnati Post, October 1, 1962

Updated November 11, 2024