Shelby House

Shelby House has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 by the United States Department of the Interior. , This building served as the railroad station hotel for villages in Shelby and Auglaize counties until 1900. Its structure consists of hand-hewn beams with mortise and tenon joints held together with wooden pins and is typical of the large plain frame hotels that served early travelers in this part of Ohio. , On December 5, 1863, prominent Botkins businessman Philip Sheets purchased lot #7 in Botkinsville for $40 and by 1865 the front half of Shelby House was completed. It was located just west of the Dayton and Michigan Railroad that was established in 1858 on right-of-way land donated by the village’s namesake, Richard Botkin. The original building contained large sleeping rooms upstairs where patrons could lie down for the night on the floor, many to a room. Around 1875 the back part of the building was added with small individual rooms upstairs. Many guests were traveling salesmen who used the hotel for an overnight stay as they journeyed to other towns in the area, using liveries down the street to rent a horse and buggy. , By the turn of the century better roads, mail order catalogs, a trolley system, and finally the automobile led to the end of the hotel business. The hotel then became a rooming house until world war two and after that was used for storage. , By 1975 thought was given to the demolition of the deteriorated structure. The Botkins Historical Society was formed at that time and purchased the building to house their museum. Work began to repair siding, the roof, interior walls, floors, and ceilings. Over time. interest in the society faded and by 2015 the future of the building was again in doubt. However, renewed community interest arose and further restoration of the structure’s interior and exterior has permitted preservation of the society’s collection for future generations. , The effect of the Sheets family is still felt today by the Botkins community through the Louise Sheets Fund of the Community Foundation of Shelby County. The Shelby House has benefited greatly from this fund.