Market Street Grille and the Tunnels of Harrison, Ohio

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The building that currently houses the Market Street Grille in Harrison, Ohio was built in 1856 as a brewery and 100,000 bricks were used in its construction. The bricks were made at the Singers Brickyard in Harrison at a cost of $300.00.
In 1893 the building was sold for $9750.00 to the Harrison Independent Order of Odd Fellows. The group immediately started a renovation on the building raising the roof on the second floor to a height of 16 feet inside so that they could have ball room dancing. Below on the first floor was a hardware store. The building went through several owners over the years until 1996 when it was purchased by Adam Walter, Brenda Leonard & Paula Eggleston who turned it into the Market Street Grille.
At one time there was a series of tunnels under Harrison to carry goods from the canal up to the merchants in town. The Market Street Grille is one of two buildings to still have their tunnel intact and it's shown in this video.
GPS Location: 39°15'43.4"N 84°49'06.2"W

[@stephanie8361]

Im from Harrison ohio and Its the best place to raise a family! I want to move back sooo bad!!! I went to harrison high school and Crosby elementary!

[@pagerhoads1531]

I'm from Harrison too. They have no clue what that tunnel really is and how old it really is. Arched doorways in an underground tunnel system with brick walls is not an easy thing to accomplish not to mention the time and effort involved for constructing and the manpower needed to construct the tunnel system not to mention the engineering involved and planning needed and it was probably done at the time of the buildings construction and I can tell by old pictures it was a mud flood building which means that the building was there long before anyone ever lived in Harrison it was from the old world known as the Tartanian world. Everything you have learned in school is a lie. People in Harrison have no clue about their real history.

[@pagerhoads1531]

Tartarian mud flood building and underground tunnel system

[@pagerhoads1531]

Also 1862 was during the Civil War

[@troybenson1955]

Awesome! I'd love to visit this place!

[@eli-channn7791]

I used to live there for 13 years. It's nice there.

[@SOLOLUCKY1]

VERY COOL WEBSITE, THANKS.

[@ikemyzon]

I've learned a lot!

[@pagerhoads1531]

Tartarian mud flood building and tunnel system

[@johnwoa]

Even my mom, who was born and raised in Harrison in the early 20th century did not know about the tunnel system beneath Harrison, and mom is very familiar with the building where the Market Street Grille is at Harrison Av. and Walnut St.. If her parents (my grandparents) had known about those tunnels, I know that they would have shared that knowledge with her.

[@sicariusveritatis306]

+johnwoa Been in the Tunnels literally hundreds of times both on the Ohio and the Indiana side. And on more than one occasion prior to Market Street there were quite a few interesting times down below when it was Mary's. Suffice it to say Ollie had a Wild Side and when the late, great and legendary Jimmy Greer (RIP) was Head Chef that place was the Place to Be. Harrison has a lot of History no one has a clue about and if you're interested "The Mansion" in the Meadows (area squared-off by Campbell Rd. and State St.) is Awesome.

[@johnwoa]

+Sicarius Veritatis Thanks for the note. Nice to hear from Harrison! I did not recognize the names you mentioned in your note, so I ran them by my Mom when I talked to her. Four generations of her family lived in Harrison. My Mom and my grandparents moved to Price Hill in the 1940's but we still had many relatives living in Harrison. I grew up in Delhi Hills but made countless visits to Harrison visiting family and relation and friends on Thomas Ln., Hill St., Harrison Pike, State St., etc.... Mom remembers the Market Street Grille when it was owned by the IOOF, but she does know of a Mary Alice (Rolfes) Sauntry that was involved with the building when it later became a restaurant. Mom does not recognize the name, "Ollie" or "Jimmy Greer" that you mentioned. Mom told me that she remembers hearing that the restaurant was very popular in Harrison. MANY stories have been told to me about Harrison by family over the years. Regarding the "Mansion in the Meadows", Mom knew the house very well and says that she remembers either the Duell family or the Warburg family owning it when she lived in Harrison, but she can't remember which family it was. My grandpa was a Township Trustee way back then and he went out to that "mansion" on business one evening. Mom went with him in the car. One story that I bet you never heard was about the ghost lady dressed in flowing white down along the banks of the Whitewater River that my grandpa and his friends saw one night when grandpa was a teenage boy. That was around 1914---- or 101 years ago! Grandpa told the story to me in great detail when I was young. It was not a ghost, but an explainable phenomena together with a series of coincidences that initially spooked grandpa and his friends who were down at the river that night!

[@sicariusveritatis306]

I've heard the legend of the "Lady in White" but there are a few other creepy ghost stories around Harrison even with the Mansion. I knew a lot of Rolfes' including "Ham" who was Mayor of Harrison for Decades and I think Mary Alice may have been his Sister although his Wife's name was Allie. Ollie was long-time editor of the Harrison Press and his last name is Roehm and before Market Street his Wife Mary had a Bar & Grill ft. Live Music on the Wknds. The Family ties I have are Patton, Boggs, Arnold (Owned State Street when it was a Toll Road) but got connection to Sacksteder, Roudebush, Ratenheimer and a few others. The videos were neat to watch but there is so much more history to Harrison. I am sure your Mom remembers the old Frisch's that became Zaraco's (which sadly they recently tore down), the 5-H Truck Stop (where the Dog Track was), Stout's Root Beer Stand and Ball Fields (where the City Pool was), the old Movie Place next to where Market Street is (then became Cully's Pharmacy then/now a Salon and then moved to State St.), Gay Land (when Gay only meant Happy LoL), Dair Inn, Maple Leaf, The Greek's (Restaurant), etc. Many of that was far before my time and a few were still around from my Youth but I'm sure your Mom will remember some and get a kick out it. Anyway I'm 41 my Friend and sadly my life has been a tale of two Harrison's. While I know progress occurs and things change Harrison in the last 30 yrs doubled in size and the progress was left unchecked for a longtime and sadly much of the Soul that made Harrison was sacrificed so some pockets could get lined. But I have my memories/experiences of growing-up in a bona fide All-American Small-Town and I have the stories passed-down to me through 3 prior Generations (Mother, Grand & Great) so when I do get back that way I like to just ride around town and remember but I guess that's the beauty of history. Well let me know what your Mom has to say about anything I mentioned and it's been a pleasure talking to you.

[@johnwoa]

+Sicarius Veritatis I hope you received my reply from two days ago in its entirety with that Harrison KZbin link. I noticed that my most recent reply to you DOES NOT appear in the "COMMENTS" section of the Market Street Grille video unless I am logged onto KZbin. I can only guess that the "History in Your Own Backyard" people do not want me to engage in an ongoing conversation within their video. I read your note to my Mom and it was truly the highlight of her Mother's Day! She was very interested in what you wrote. Mom is in her 89th year and she started telling me all kinds of stuff about the Harrison of old that you might be interested in. Maybe send me a personal message with your e-mail address and I will pass Mom's comments along to you.

[@eli-channn7791]

+Sicarius Veritatis My mom calls it the Addams Family House.

[@KnotSnappy]

it's a good restaurant

[@pagerhoads1531]

So they built the tunnel in 1856🤔 I wonder if town records of the population size in 1856 would support this claim and if the population consisted of adequately skilled laborers to accomplish such a task 🤔 and the resources and knowledge. What was the landscape like in the 1850s in Harrison would it have been possible to transport all the materials to the sight in the time provided for constructing

[@pagerhoads1531]

Strange how I spoke with Harrison historical society on Sunday about origins of our towns history and now the Harrison historical society is temporarily closed. They must be worried about people finding out about our towns true history.

[@pagerhoads1531]

I wonder if the international order of odd fellows has any skeletons in their closets?

[@ChloeWurtz]

I can hear the beginning song but not the voices of the people in this video

[@pagerhoads1531]

So they managed to build this in 1862 and build the tunnel also during the Civil War which took place from 1861 1865 ok. Do you believe that

[@swisschalet1658]

Nope, I don’t

[@pagerhoads1531]

Tartarian mud flood building and underground tunnel. Now I know I am right

[@pagerhoads1531]

Arched tunnels are very difficult to construct I doubt very seriously anyone in Harrison in 1860 had the skills necessary to construct a an Arched tunnel