Located at the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio Rivers, Marietta, Ohio, holds the distinction of being the first permanent American settlement in the Northwest Territory. In 1788, a frontiersmen named Rufus Putnam led a few dozen settlers down the Ohio River on a flatboat known as the Adventure Galley. Putnam and his band were part of the Ohio Company of Associates, a group of Revolutionary War veterans and investors who had purchased land from the Continental Congress under the auspices of the Ordinance of 1787. Their goal was to establish a foothold in the newly opened Northwest Territory, and they chose the site of modern-day Marietta due to its fertile fields. Named in honor of Queen Marie Antoinette of France (recognizing France’s support during the American Revolution) Marietta was laid out in a New England-style grid, complete with common areas and a fortified settlement known as “Campus Martius.” While the fortification itself was originally meant to protect the settlers from potential conflicts with neighboring Native America tribes, it emerged as the central social hub for the entire community. Due to its secure defenses and proximity to the Ohio River, Marietta became an important waypoint for other pioneers eager to explore further into the Northwest Territory. In fact, the acting governor of the region at the time, Arthur St. Clair, momentously elevated the town as an administrative capital just a year after it had been founded!  

Flatboats, barges, and later steamboats increasingly ferried goods and people downstream, which gradually transformed Marietta into a prominent port. The heightened economic opportunities convinced many more people to move to Marietta, ultimately growing it in size by the beginning of the American Civil War. This affluence also gave Marietta more political importance, with civic leaders often deeply involved in greater statewide issues. Perhaps the best example could be drawn to the city’s widespread participation in the Underground Railroad, specifically serving as a station for escaped slaves seeking freedom in the North. Local activists used the nearby waterways as a route, and several homes in the area were closely affiliated with the clandestine network. But Marietta’s mounting prosperity affected other areas of its community, too, such as education. For instance, Marietta College, founded in 1835, became a respected liberal arts institution, as well as a renowned architectural landmark. Still in operation in the present, the school attracted all kinds of celebrated intellectuals in the years following its opening.  As the 19th century progressed, Marietta continued to evolve, although its earlier prestige waned somewhat with the rise of other cities connected to the Ohio River. Still, it retained its charm and historical authenticity. Victorian-era homes, brick streets, and riverfront parks contributed to the town’s picturesque atmosphere well through the 20th and even 21st centuries.  

Today, Marietta is a living museum of American history that cultural heritage travelers have adored discovering. The Campus Martius Museum has been a particularly popular attraction, housing exhibits on the settlement of the Northwest Territory, Native American cultures, and the Ohio Company of Associates. The museum includes General Putnam’s home and rare artifacts that illuminate the daily lives of his fellow settlers. Nearby, the Ohio River Museum chronicles the golden age of local riverboat travel. Its centerpiece is the W.P. Snyder Jr., the last intact steam-powered sternwheel towboat in the United States, which offers a tangible link to Marietta’s formative heritage. The Castle, a stunning Gothic Revival mansion built in the mid-19th century, provides guided tours and seasonal events that showcase the city’s Victorian life. Its architecture and furnishings provide insight into the tastes and lifestyles of its leading residents during the pre-Civil War era. Historic Harmar Village, meanwhile, is a charming district with cobblestone streets, antique shops, and preserved buildings that evoke the spirit of 19th-century Marietta. The adjacent Harmar Railroad Bridge, a pedestrian walkway, connects the village downtown and offers scenic views of the river. Finally, the Anchorage Mansion, an Italianate villa built in 1859, is open for tours and managed by the Washington County Historical Society. It stands as a testament to Marietta’s architectural legacy and the prosperity of its historic community.  

The Lafayette Hotel possesses a unique architectural style that can best be described as “eclectic.” Dating to the mid-19th and early 20th centuries, historians today consider “eclecticism” to be part of a much larger movement to fuse together a variety of historical designs. Earlier in the 1800s, architects, particularly those in Europe, decided to rely upon their own loose interpretations of historical architecture whenever they attempted to replicate it. Such a practice appeared within styles like Gothic Revival, Italianate, and Second Empire architecture. But at the height of the Gilded Age, those architects decided to use historic architecture more literally when developing a building. A few architects went a step further by combining certain historical styles together to achieve something uniquely beautiful. And in some cases, those individuals felt inspired to add a new historical form onto a building that they were renovating. Nevertheless, the architects felt that joining such architectural forms together would give them a new avenue of expression that they otherwise did not have at the time. But they even believed that they had stayed true to the earlier forms, so long as their designs perfectly replicated whatever it was they wanted to mimic.    

In Europe, this approach first appeared as a rehash of Gothic Revival-style known as “Collegiate Gothic.” The European architects then used such a mentality to influence the unfolding philosophies of both the Beaux-Arts school of design, as well as the emerging Renaissance Revival-style. Many architects in America followed suit, the most notable of which being Richard Morris Hunt and Charles Follen McKim. The American architects who embraced “eclecticism” were at first interested in the country’s colonial architecture. Much of the desire to return to the period was born from the revived interest in American culture brought on by the Centennial Exposition of 1876. More specifically, pride in preserving the nation’s heritage inspired the architects to perfect the design principles of their colonial forebearers in new and intriguing ways. This interest gradually splintered into other revival styles though, like Spanish Colonial and Tudor Revival. Some Americans even infused the approach with the popular Beaux-Arts aesthetics of France, such as Hunt and McKim. However, the birth of Modernism in the 1920s and 1930s eventually ended the worldwide love affair with “eclecticism,” for architects throughout the West becoming more enchanted with the ideas of modernity, technology, and progress.