What You Didn't Know About Ft Ancient, Ohio

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In 1804 College Township Road, later known as Chillicothe, Lebanon, Oxford Road was built and crossed the little Miami River at this location. In 1802 a stone farmhouse was built at this location by Richard Thomas which would later become the Cross Keys Tavern. The walls here are 22 inches thick. It was purchased in 1809 by Benjamin Rue who turned the house into a tavern.


In 1820 a new road was built between Cincinnati & Chillicothe known today as Route 22 & 3 which bypassed Ft. Ancient. Hence less business.


In 1821 the home ceased being a tavern and sold to a family in the area who owned the house until 1909. In 1912 it was purchased by the Dayton YMCA and was still owned by the organization in 2016 when this video was produced.


Ft Ancient was a vibrant town in the mid 1800s. In 1844 the Little Miami Railroad was built through here and in the same year a post office was established. By 1850 a man by the name of Francis Howe bought the nearby hotel which could accommodate up to 100 people who were visiting the nearby earthworks and trying to escape the smog of Cincinnati. Other businesses in town included a railroad station, a Methodist Church, a distillery, a blacksmith shop, a tannery, a general store, a school, a seamstress, a physician and a warehouse to store the products being shipped into the area.


Clifford Anderson was an amateur archaeologist who amassed a huge collection of artifacts from the area. Anderson built a museum which operated from 1925 until 1944 at which point his collection was sold to the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society.

GPS Location: 39°24'25.4"N 84°06'11.4"W