Oldest House in Greenwich – circa 1845

Hiram Townsend’s Farmhouse in 1896. From the Picturesque Huron

The 1845 Hiram Townsend Farm house on Townsend Street in Greenwich. this photo was taken in late April 2015

The 1845 Hiram Townsend Farm house on Townsend Street in Greenwich.

The first settler was Henry Carpenter who came to the area in 1817. There was no one living in the area prior to Carpenter’s arrival. Henry died in 1818 from over exertion at a house raising. His child Abner was the first born in the township. E.F. Barker was the second family to arrive. His place of residence was on an 8.75 acre lot which is now (2012) owned by the village of Greenwich. It was located in the south west corner of the lagoons farm just north of the village. (p.81)

In 1821 Hiram Townsend bought 132 acres in what is now Greenwich. The Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad was chartered in 1836 and the process of purchased right-of-ways started in the early 1840s. Early landowners, such as the Kniffins, Hiram Townsend and others fought the coming railroad with several lawsuits for a time but in the late 1840’s Hiram Townsend sold ten acres to the Big Four Railroad for a roadbed, depot, and a park. This is the area bounded by North Railroad Street, South Railroad Street, the east boundary of section 6 (about 250 feet west of Maple Street) and the east-west section line road (now U.S. 224). This cut his farm buildings off from the rest of his farm. Hiram build a lovely house (now the Church of Christ parsonage) in 1845, the oldest house in section 6 (p.82) On February 21, 1851 the first train ran from Columbus to Cleveland, through Greenwich. By 1853 the railroad was in fairly flourishing condition and there was talk of a double track. (p.20)