The Riley Home

The Riley Home represents six generations of the Riley family in Mercer County. The first Riley to arrive was Captain James Riley, who surveyed the area in 1819 after it was opened to American settlement following the Treaty of Saint Marys in 1818, and he was elected to the Ohio General Assembly in 1823. His son, James Watson Riley, platted Celina in 1834, served as Mercer County's Clerk of Courts, and represented the area in the Ohio General Assembly beginning in 1843. James Watson Riley's son Calvin began the family's involvement in banking and built the Riley Home in 1896. Leadership of the Commercial Bank then passed from Calvin to his son Ashley, grandson Roscoe, and great-grandson David K. Riley. Another of Calvin's sons, James Zura Riley, led an expedition to Alaska during the gold rush of 1898-1900. James Zura's daughter Lena, who died in 1974, was the last Riley to live in the house. The Mercer County Historical Society obtained the residence in 1975, and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

Celina, Ohio · United States