Restaurant Description
The historic building you are in was built sometime around 1850. Some books show that is was built as early as 1848 and others as late as 1856. There are many folk tales about the occupancy of the building at that time. On the first floor (currently the Market Street Grille) there was originally a hardware store and a coal shop. The second floor was housed a buggy shop. There are remnants of an elevator in the back of the building that was used to lift the buggies up to second floor. The elevator shaft is now used as a stairway to the basement. Downstairs is a large basement and an adjacent Sub-basement. The Sub-basement has stonewalls with an arched stone ceiling and a dirt floor. Many think that a brewery once existed in the sub-basement area, and as the rumor goes, the equipment was completely covered with a mud during one of Harrison's floods. We have dug down about 3 feet, and have been unable to validate this version of events. The Sub-basement is actually part of an underground tunnel system that once some buildings in downtown Harrison with the Whitewater River. The tunnels were used in earlier times to bring in supplies and other products from the Whitewater River. The tunnels may also have been used as part of the underground Rail-road during the civil War. Supposedly all of the tunnels have all been closed up and ours has been stoned shut. In 1893, the Independent order of odd fellows (I.O.O.F.) purchased the building and occupied it for approximately 75 years. The odd Fellows is a civil group that was established to help the community in a discreet manner. In that same year, (1893) the odd fellows undertook a major renovation of the building. They changed the main stairway to the second and third floors of the building and raised the roof so the third floor would have 16-foot ceilings. The third floor was used as a ballroom and as special events hall.
Best Known For...
Jambalaya, Steaks, Seafood
Reviews and Awards
Best of the Taste of Cincinnati 2007
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