This article appeared in the Lancaster Eagle Gazette in Feb 1964 as part of a series on historic homes of Fairfield County. It mentions that the Federal style house was built by Dr. Simon Hyde in 1830 and was used for many years as a meeting place for the Rushville Masonic Lodge and was also used as a stop on the Underground Railroad in Rushville in the years leading up to the Civil War. Dr. Hyde was a staunch abolitionist and provided medical care for many runaway slaves traveling through Rushville to Canada. Fugitive slave Joseph Selby, who was the inspiration for the song Darling Nelly Grey by Benjamin Hanby, died in this house in 1842. The house remained in the Hyde family until 1949.
