Jim Brown House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Jim Brown House
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 Location in Ohio
Location in the United States
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| Nearest city | Peninsula, Ohio |
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| Area | 3.5 acres (1.4 ha) |
| Built | 1845 |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 79000299 |
| Added to NRHP | March 2, 1979 |
The Jim Brown House, also known as the Brown-Bender House, is located in Peninsula, Ohio, United States. It was built in 1840. This historic house sits on a hill, hidden from the main road by a winding driveway.
The house is built in the Greek Revival style. This means it looks a bit like ancient Greek temples. It has a "four over four" layout, meaning four rooms on the first floor and four rooms on the second floor. This style was very popular in the 1800s in America. The house is white, like the marble buildings of Greece. It also has a gently sloped roof and a wide frame around the front door. This two-story house has two chimneys and nine windows with green shutters.
The property also includes other buildings. A large barn was built in 1886. This barn, the house, and Jim Brown's grave marker are all listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A greenhouse, built in 1930, is also nearby. There's even a small orchard with fruit trees and grapevines. The property includes 35 acres of farmland, much of which is in the Cuyahoga River flood plain. While the fields have flooded many times, the house sits much higher and has not been affected.
Who Was Jim Brown?
The house is famous because of its original owner, Jim Brown. He was known for making fake money. He would sell large amounts of fake bills for a smaller amount of real money. This was a problem because, at the time, many different banks printed their own money. It was hard to tell which bills were real.
How Jim Brown Made Fake Money
To make fake money, Jim Brown needed special printing plates and expensive equipment. He came up with a clever plan to get the money he needed. One night, he took five horses from his stables. He rode towards Pittsburgh, leaving horses at different spots along the way.
In Pittsburgh, he went to a bank with fake papers. He tricked the bank into giving him money. Then, he quickly rode back home, switching horses at each stop. When he got home, he immediately started chopping wood outside his neighbor's window. His neighbor's wife came out to see what the noise was. From her, he learned it was 7:30 AM.
Later, investigators thought Brown might have tricked the bank. But when the neighbor's wife said he was home early that morning, the investigation stopped. They thought he couldn't have been responsible if he was already home. Jim Brown used this same trick many times, even at banks far away, like in Boston.
Jim Brown's Later Life
The sheriff of Summit County, Sam A. Lane, tried to arrest Jim Brown. However, it was hard to prove anything. Brown would tell people his money was fake, so he couldn't be charged with passing bad money as good. He also rarely handled the fake money himself.
Eventually, he was caught in the nearby town of Boston. This happened after he returned from New Orleans with goods to sell. However, at the time, people often preferred to have any money, even fake money, rather than no money at all. Because of this, his crime wasn't seen as very serious by everyone. In 1834, he was even elected as a justice of the peace. He continued his schemes but was elected to office two more times.
Jim Brown was arrested and tried many times, including twelve times between 1837 and 1840. Finally, in 1846, he was sentenced to ten years in prison. But his sentence was reduced to just three years for good behavior. This was because he helped many sick people during a cholera outbreak in the prison. Still, he spent the next few years going in and out of prison for making fake money.
Jim Brown passed away in December 1865. He had a bad fall while walking on a canal boat. There's a story that Jim hid some of his wealth somewhere in the Cuyahoga Valley. The legend says he died before he could get it back.
Images for kids
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The Jim Brown House
