Downtown Second Street may have the greatest variety of architecture and history in Chillicothe, Ohio.

Learn more about this in Kevin Coleman’s photographic preview this Sunday, of “Chillicothe Celebrates: Second Street.”

Kevin will showcase what’s all along the street.This will include the annual meeting of the Chillicothe Restoration Foundation, which is producing this third annual “Chillicothe Celebrates.”

It’s a heritage festival the weekend of May 16 and 17 that will have open houses, house and garden tours, talks and tours in the Majestic Theatre, a 5K run walk, musicians, historical presentations – and more – that will span Mulberry Street to Western Avenue.

What is on Second Street?

From snug little side-hall houses dating to the first decades of the town, to soaring Victorian near-skyscrapers…from one of the busiest corners of the downtown, to one of the grandest residential blocks…from the sites of two half-timbered buildings reminiscent of the middle ages, to two cast-iron-fronted Victorian commercial buildings, to a World’s Fair modernistic steel-framed restaurant that has been moved three times…

– The home of the Bennetts, two brothers and one sister famous in art, education,  and culture
– Shops offering art, photography, food, furnishings, healing, antiques, and more
– Some of the best examples of the Greek Revival and the Gothic Revival in Chillicothe
– What may be the oldest continuously operating theater in the United States – a downtown landmark, architectural and engineering exemplar, busy performance center…and paranormal hot-spot, marked by a rare surviving street arch
– The site of the first Ohio home of Thomas Worthington; the famous Madiera House tavern; and the start and main route of the Great Fire of 1852
– A focus of early 20th century medical facilities…and tall tales about a Camp Sherman temporary morgue
– An architect’s office and home, and several of his designs
– Two buried streams and the site of a documented escape tunnel
– The oldest surviving bank building in town and another grand columned example
– Five halls, auditoriums and theaters

Learn more at <facebook.com/ChillicotheCelebrates>, and by emailing Kevin at <IHS@HorizonView.net>.