Robert G. McEwen House
79 W. Franklin St.
 

Date:  1834

 
Features:  The four-bay limestone cottage originally had double front doors.  The doorway to the west has been filled in to create a window.  The windows are 1/1 D.H.S.  Keystone arches with radiating voussoirs highlight the four openings.  There is graduated recessed paneling in the remaining doorway.  Victorian gables were added in the 1870s.  The roof is patterned in slate with inside end chimneys.  The chimneys are corbelled.  The stonework is unusual.  On the façade, all the openings, as well as, the front edges are margined.  The stones are also laid so that long stones alternate with shorter ones, similar to Flemish bond brickwork.  The larger stones are worked with a chisel vertically while the smaller stones are worked horizontally.  These chisel marks create a pattern on the façade.

 

Owners:  The house was built by Robert G. McEwen.  He had married Elizabeth Morris in 1833 and this was probably their first house.  McEwen was one of the best educated men in the township, attending a select school in Springboro, then finishing his education at Oxford College, now Miami University.  He served as the first clerk of Centerville when it was incorporated in 1830.  He was also the clerk of Washington Township from 1829 to 1832.  By 1838 he was elected Montgomery County assessor, serving one term.  Then in 1859 he was elected Representative to the Ohio Legislature.  A debater and a Jacksonian Democrat, he would travel any distance after a hard day of teaming to debate political issues.

The building has been a dentist office since 1966.