A MESSAGE FROM THE WEBMASTER
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earliest property owners in darrtown
While creating the “Notable Sites in Darrtown” section of this website, I thought about the growth of the village, after Conrad Darr founded it in 1814. I wondered... how quickly did the lots sell? Which lots sold first? Do any of the earliest-built structures still stand?
It seems reasonable to conclude that at least one original home still stands - given the log exterior of the house located at the corner of Main Street and Shollenbarger road.
Unfortunately, no records have been found to reveal the construction dates of Darrtown houses or outbuildings.
HOWEVER... the Butler County Recorder’s office provides records of when land was purchased.
Using the results of my search, I created THREE SPREADSHEETS, (available at the links, below) which display the results by: (1) the lot number; (2) the name of the person who received (purchased) the lot; and (3) the year of the conveyance.
Click the links below to access the SPREADSHEETS.
The diagram opens in a separate window, so that you may switch views between a spreadsheet and the diagram of numbered lots.
Do other buildings in the village have log walls - that are hidden by advancements in siding? If so, then, where are those structures located?
The probability of another log cabin being located on Darrtown's south main street is verified in a Dale Bufler memory below.
DALE BUFLER MEMORY CONFIRMS LOG STRUCTURE ON LOT 108
In July 2023, while conversing with the webmaster about the existence of log structures in the village established by Conrad Darr, Darrtown native, Dale Bufler shared the following memory.
Back in 1954 or 1955, the house at 4233 Hamilton-Richmond Road (i.e., south Main Street in Darrtown), which was owned by Mr. and Mrs. William Bufler, Dale Bufler's parents, was struck by a car that was driven by a man who had been "over served" to use Dale's terminolgy. In fact, the inebriated driver struck a total of three homes.
Traveling north, on Ohio state route 177, the car first struck the Snavely home - which stood in the southwest corner of the Main and South street intersection. Then, the car crossed to the east side of Main street and hit the Lester Brooks home, which was the second house north the Main and South street intersection. The car continued on, crossing Main street one more time to slam into and stop at the Bufler home on the west side of Main street.
Dale recalls that his father employed Clyde ("Poonst" or "Junior") Wagonfield to repair the damage to the Bufler home. In the process, it became evident that the car had been stopped by a hand-hewn corner post that measured approximately 10 inches by 10 inches - evidence that the Bufler home, at its core, is indeed a log structure.
I limited my search to transactions that occurred from 1814 (the year that Conrad recorded his platted village, at the Butler County courthouse) up to 1832 (the year of Conrad's death).
Knowing that Conrad Darr originally owned all the land that comprises Darrtown, I searched the Butler County Recorder’s website for records that revealed WHEN lots in Darrtown were conveyed - FROM Conrad Darr ... TO someone else.
I included some Conrad Darr conveyances that occurred two to three years after his death in 1932, because they were performed by executors of Mr. Darr’s estate. Such transactions are marked with the term “Darr by exr.”
There are some blank spaces in the lists that I compiled. These represent lots that were purchased three or more years after Conrad Darr's death.
Controls at the top of each spreadsheet allow you to adjust the size of the text. Also, a print button appears at the top of each spreadsheet.
Click the white "X" in the upper-right corner of the spreadsheet to close and return to this page.
A diagram of Darrtown lot numbers appears at the link below.
Bufler home hit by car
