Campus Martius was the fortification erected by the Ohio Company when the first settlement in the Northwest Territory was made at Mariette in 1788. This house was one of the dwellings in Campus Martius and stood next to the southeast blockhouse. It was built by General Rufus Putnam, who made it his home until his death in 1824. It then became the property of Judge Arius Nye, from whose daughter Minerva Upper Nye it was purchased in 1919 by the State of Ohio.