Bancroft House (subject file) | Archives and Special Collections Catalog
Ashley A Bancroft built his home between 1832 and 1834 using sandstone quarried from Rose Quarry in the hill behind the house. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The style is Early Federal with a simpler roof, and the coupled windows are an unusual feature, found in only one other Granville home. The Bancroft House has been owned by Denison University since 1917. That acquisition, arranged by Edward A Deeds increased the size of campus by five, and included the land now occupied by the east quad, the Physical Education Center and playing fields, the north quad and Sorority Circle.
"[The Bancroft House] was the boyhood home of one of Granville's most distinguished sons, H. H. Bancroft who won national fame as historian of California and the West. ... Just prior to the Civil War, a barn, long-gone, on the Bancroft Property was the scene of the Anti-Slavery meetings that drew their attendance from all over the state." (Historic Homes of Granville, William Utter)