The
business district, as we know it now, was just beginning to locate on the west
side of the Black River. This 2 ˝ story wood frame Greek revival was built in 1828 for Judge Reuben Washburn, the house was part of a large homestead which consisted of nearly all of the land along Pleasant Street from Depot Street to Elm Street and up South Hill to the railroad tracts. The business district, as we know it now, was just beginning to locate on the west side of the Black River. This house is probably the oldest intact building in the historic district.
The dominant feature of this house is the front portico, which has four unusual columns with round bases, slightly tapered round columns with round bases, slightly tapered round columns, and round capitals. The off-center front doorway contains a six-panel front door, and there are regularly spaced one-over-one replacement windows except for the Chicago windows flanking the front door. There is a two bay Colonial Revival porch at the east, with Tuscan columns, and a separate entrance to the house.
Reuben Washburn was a prominent member of Ludlow, an accomplished lawyer and a Judge in Vermont. Reuben Washburn was born in Leicester, MA in 1781. At age four, his family moved to Putney, VT. In 1808 he graduated from Dartmouth College. After teaching for several years he became interested in the law and went to Boston to study. After passing the bar, he moved to Ludlow with his family in 1825 to practice law. The house remained in the Washburn family until 1924. It was sold to the Dorsey’s and after two generations of Dorseys living there it passed to Eleanor Williams, to Raymond Mathews, to Tonsa Jorde and finally to Fred Glover. The house has served as a law office for the past twenty or so years.