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Physical Development and Expansion (1.2.5)

While growth and development were slow but steady during the town's early years, activity quickened somewhat after the canal was opened in 1805. Only three buildings remain from the structures erected before 1820 within the original town limits: the original ca. 1798 Federal style, two-story, single-pile portion of the Grice-Fearing House (200 South Road Street); a small transitional Georgian-Federal style kitchen or office (ca. 1800, behind 404 East Church Street); and the ca. 1819 core (remodeled 1858) of the Cluff-Pool Store (100 South Road Street). After the Baptist church erected a meeting house just west of the town limits in 1805-1806, the city's boundaries were extended in 1807 to include the Baptist property. At the same time, the northern and southern boundaries were extended to Poindexter and Tiber creeks, respectively, just beyond the original lines; the two creeks were in the vicinity of present Elizabeth and Grice streets, respectively. Another expansion occurred to the south in 1816, when the boundary was extended to Rum Quarter Road, now Ehringhaus Street (Griffin 1970, 54-55).