James Sr. and Rebecca (Junkin) Galloway moved with their family from Kentucky to Greene County in 1798 and first built a small log cabin. Around 1799, Galloway built the present log house near a bend in the Little Miami River near what is now Goes Station on U.S. 68. James Sr. had served as a hunter during the American Revolution, procuring game for the army, and in Ohio became Greene County's first treasurer, while his son James Jr. served as the first county surveyor. In 1936, the Greene County Historical Society moved the house to the corner of Second and Monroe streets and then moved it again to its present site in 1965. On April 3, 1974, at 4:40 p.m., a devastating mile-wide tornado touched down here and tore through the southwest quadrant of Xenia, destroying a large portion of the city before lifting after demolishing hundreds of homes, schools, and commercial buildings. Thirty-four lives were lost, including two National guardsmen in a building that caught fire, hundreds of people were injured, and property losses exceeded $100 million. The 1974 Xenia Tornado seriously damaged the log house, and for weeks afterward trucks carried away the remains of homes, schools, churches, and businesses throughout the city.