The First Federal Land Office (1801) is one of the oldest surviving federal government buildings in the United States. It was here that the government sold the public lands of the Northwest Territory to settlers — the first systematic public land sales in American history. The small brick building has been restored and is open to visitors as a historic site, with exhibits on the land survey system and the mechanics of frontier-era land sales.
The building is modest to the point of being easy to miss, but its historical significance is considerable: the administrative system it inaugurated determined how millions of acres were parcelled, sold, and settled over the following century. The staff can explain the township-and-range survey system that emanated from this office and still governs property boundaries across much of the United States.