Temperance Row on the National Register of Historic Places

The National Park Service recently named Westerville's "Temperance Row" to the National Register of Historic Places.

In its monthly newsletter, the Westerville Historical Society announced the honor saying, "The Temperance Row Historic District joins 16 individual sites in and near Westerville on the Nation Register..."

According to WHS President Bill Merriman, Purley Baker and Howard Russell moved to Westerville in 1909, bringing the national headquarters of their Anti-Saloon League of America from Washington and publishing interests from Chicago. Baker bought 11 acres south of Otterbein College (then Otterbein University), sold a large lot to Russell and then half of the remaining tract to Ernest Cherrington, who subdivided his land into lots soon occupied by colleagues.

On its website, the National Park Service said of the district, "Within this leafy enclave, the Anti-Saloon Leaguers lived their lives, raised their families, and by 1919, won their crusade for national Prohibition."

Park Service historian Patrick Andrus said the Park Service recognized the district as nationally significant, a designation given only to 10 percent of districts, buildings, structures and objects on the National Register.

Click Here to view a map of the Temperance Row Historic District.