John Battles

Battles House

It was built just after the Civil War by John Battles, one of the earliest settlers of the Niles area, who at one time together with John Ward owned almost all of the south side.

John Battles was already a major land owner when in 1839 he acquired more than 200 acres of land on which this house was built. It extended from South Main Street to the salt springs and from Evansville Road to the Mahoning River.

Joshua Stow, from whom John Battles purchased the land, was a resident of Middletown, Connecticut, and one of the original land speculators in the Connecticut Western Reserve.
The land once was a good farm, but most of it now is owned by the Standard Slag Company and is used as a slag dump.

The original house was extensively remodeled several times.

1918 map showing the location of the John Battles home on Fifth Avenue.