The Southern Ohio Museum in Portsmouth serves southern and southeastern Ohio from the former Security Central Bank Building, a Beaux Arts structure completed in 1918. The building began as the Security Savings Bank and Trust Company, developed by shoe manufacturer George D. Selby, and became a museum in 1979 after the bank relocated. Its first permanent collection grew from an artistic bequest by Dr. Russell Leiter, with major early financial support from Edmund J. Kricker. The museum holds works by Portsmouth native Clarence Holbrook Carter, a large collection of prehistoric Native American objects, rotating regional exhibitions, and spaces for performances, reading, and art studios.