In the early 1800s, the development of the Sandy and Beaver Canal linking Pittsburgh and Cleveland brought prosperity to Hanoverton, a tiny town in northeast Ohio. The canal wound its way from the Ohio River near Pittsburgh west through Hanoverton, to the Ohio and Erie Canal, which connected to Cleveland. To serve the increased business that came with the canal's development, prominent Hanoverton resident Will Rhodes built an inn and tavern called the Spread Eagle in 1837. Architectural elements, including carved linters above the front door and windows and raised paneling throughout the interiors, are believed to have been taken from pattern books by Asher Benjamin, the prominent late 18th- and early 19th- century American architect.

In 1854, the opening of the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad, which bypassed the town, led to the closure of the canal. Hanoverton returned to the sleepy town it had been before the boom. The inn closed in the late 1800s and became a private home, which it remained until Peter Johnsonther., bought the structure, at auction, in 1988.