There’s a special piece of history you may have passed by without realizing it in North Ridgeville. The city’s oldest standing structure, the Cahoon House, was constructed in the late 1830s by Samuel C. Cahoon.
The land is adjacent to Center Ridge Road, which was once an Indian trail, later an official stagecoach line, then one of the first roads used by automobiles. Materials to construct the house were farmed from its own lot of land, bricks were fired in the home’s kiln, and the wood was chosen from its poplar grove. 
Through the years, the house and land found its purpose as a working farm, home to farm equipment innovator John Cahoon (who purchased it from Samuel in 1849), and even as a rumored slave hideout. At one point the Cahoon House served as the office and manufacturing shop of Amidon Engineering Co. Afterward, it took turns as a gift shop, a private residence, then home to the North Ridgeville Historical Society.
Today the home commonly known as Cahoon Place is owned by the R.W. Beckett Corp., a North Ridgeville manufacturer of oil and gas burners for residential and commercial markets. In 1987, as part of the company’s 50th anniversary celebration, Beckett lovingly and accurately restored the home to its original splendor. In this way, the company was able to give back to the community and preserve this important part of the area’s history. 
Now a registered national historic landmark, the Cahoon House graces the Beckett property, serving as a residence for overnight guests as well as a facility for meetings, special luncheons and other corporate events.