National Register of Historic Places

Breese, Griffith, Farm

Lima, Allen County, Ohio
Listed
January 11, 1983
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
83001942

About this property

The Griffith Breese Farm is a historic farmstead in southern Allen County, Ohio, United States. Established in 1840, the farm is one of the oldest white settlements in a formerly Native American area of northwestern Ohio, and it has been designated a historic site because of its unusually good degree of preservation. The son of John Breese, Griffith was a native of Wales who immigrated to the United States in 1798. He married a Pennsylvania native, Mary Mowen, who bore him a son George in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, before they moved to Ohio. Breese bought six sections of land in present-day Shawnee Township, on lands that had once been part of the Hog Creek Indian Reservation. Moving his family to Section 10 of the township in 1834, they found that their new home was a former apple orchard: eighty apple trees and seven cabins of the Shawnee former residents occupied the site. During their first winter, they lived in the reservation's former council house, and Breese was elected to the first group of trustees of the Shawnee Township. By 1840, Breese had grown sufficiently prosperous that he was able to establish the present homestead. The first of the four Federal buildings on the property were erected in that year, and he bought additional land in northwestern Allen County's Marion Township five years later. Breese continued to live on the farm until his death in 1848. Today, the Griffith Breese Farm is a major historic site in Shawnee Township. With the decline in Lima's economy, Shawnee Township has become a suburban area; small shopping malls and modern housing developments surround the farm, and no other pioneer homestead in the township has been so well preserved. In recognition of its historic architecture, the Griffith Breese Farm was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. Four buildings, spread out over an area of 65 acres (26 ha), qualified as contributing properties.

Location

2875 Fort Amanda Rd.
Lima, Allen County, Ohio
40.70343, -84.15805

Categories

ARCHITECTURE
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Native Heritage
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Nearby Historic Sites

West Market Street Boulevard Historic District
Listed
2.8 mi
Neely-Sieber House
Industrial
3.3 mi
MacDonell House
Industrial
3.4 mi
Armory-Latisona Building
Industrial
3.5 mi
Lima Cleaning and Pressing Company
Industrial
3.5 mi

Questions about this property

When was Breese, Griffith, Farm listed on the National Register?

Breese, Griffith, Farm was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 11, 1983.

What type of historic resource is Breese, Griffith, Farm?

Breese, Griffith, Farm is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Breese, Griffith, Farm?

The period of significance for Breese, Griffith, Farm is recorded as the industrial era.

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