DCHS 'MEEKER HOUSE' - 2-13-2012

The Meeker House was erected in 1812 by Forrest Meeker, the year after he bought the 624 acre farm and grist mill from John Beard. After moving west from his birth state of Vermont in 1797, he tried settling in Pennsylvania, Southern Ohio, and Kentucky, before finally choosing the partially cleared land along the Olentangy River, just south of a new settlement called Delaware. As a result of the war with England that our new nation had just become embroiled in, traffic along the river road was busy, as it was one of several practical routes to Sandusky, Detroit and western Lake Erie where much of the interior conflict with the British and their loyalists took place. Meeker had his grist mill working day and night to supply the army with flour, and he and Moses Byxbe, founder of Delaware in 1808, became major suppliers of provisions to the war effort. Meeker served with an army light horse raiding company for periods during the war, eventually attaining the rank of colonel. After a bout with malarial fever, he was appointed to General William Henry Harrison's staff, and placed in charge of transportation for the entire northwestern army. He witnessed Admiral Perry's battle of Put-In-Bay Island and boarded the victorious fleet with General Harrison when the conflict was won.
The two story brick house he built overlooking the river is an excellent example of an early Federal style "I house", a simple form that was a rectangular two story house with a gabled roof. They normally had two rooms down and two rooms up, with the entrance hall and stairs in the middle, and chimneys at either end. The front, main body of the house was built first, and a two story rear "ell" was built ca. 1830, adding two large rooms downstairs, each with a fireplace, and four bedrooms upstairs. Newer single story frame additions were added to the inside corner of the ell at different times during the second half of the twentieth century, and a basement extension was added off the south end for office space.
The 200-year-old house remains in a remarkable state of preservation, inside and out. The windows and doors are mostly original to the construction, and the interior woodwork is walnut, painted in the formal parts of the house. The recesses surrounding the fireplaces have original wood cabinetry with paneled doors and trim, and the floors in the old portions of the house are original ash planking.
The Colonel Forrest Meeker House, one of the oldest and most prominent historic homesteads in Delaware County, will make a fine educational museum of the early settlement period of the Ohio country. The Delaware County Historical Society looks forward to sharing this wonderful piece of our heritage with the community in the coming years.