From 1781 to 1788, General Rufus Putnam lived in this house. He was a soldier of the Old French War, engineer of the works that compelled the British Army to evacuate Boston, engineer of the fortifications of West Point, and founder and father of Ohio. In this house he planned and matured the scheme of the Ohio Company, and from it issued the call for the convention that led to its organization. From this threshold he went to lead the company that settled Marietta on April 7, 1788. Under God, it is owing to him that the Great Northwest Territory was dedicated forever to freedom, education, and religion, and that the United States of America is not now a great slaveholding empire.