BY GAYLEEN GINDY

Until she died in 1936, Flora Hubbard West owned Lot No. 8 of the Hubbard’s Addition subdivision, and the large 1.997-acre parcel that ran behind Lots No. 1 thru 8.  In Sylvania’s earliest days this land is where our founding fathers operated our first cider mill. After she died, this land transferred into her husband’s name, Ray West. They originally owned all the land along the south side of Monroe Street that was developed into Hubbard’s Addition.

Mr. West built a house on Lot No. 8 in 1925, which appears to be rented to various families through 1944. A 1926 Sylvania post office list shows A.C. Goble as a tenant. The 1930 census shows Peter Haynes and his family renting the house. He was 40 years old and employed as a chef at the country club. His wife, Nettie was 36 years old. Their children included Clarence, 14; Wilson, 11,  and Rosemary, 5 years old.

 Mr. West used the rear acreage for his horses and animals, which he bought and sold to the area residents. 

In 1944 Mr. West sold the house and rear acreage to Albinus and Anna O’Connor. On Nov. 30, 1944 a classified ad appeared in the Sylvania Sentinel under “Lost and Found” as follows: “LOST – Black and white short-haired dog with brindle head. Answers to name of Spotty. Reward of $5 for return to Mrs. O’Connor at 6385 Monroe St.” 

In 1946 Edgar and Ethel Bigelow purchased the home and acreage to the rear. They had been  married in 1931 in Lucas County. 

A classified ad appeared in the July 28, 1949 Sylvania Sentinel newspaper that reads: “FISHING – license, tackle, worms, craws, leeches, minnows. Sylvania Bait Shop, 6385 Monroe Street.”

The 1950 census shows Edgar, 41, employed as a printer at a printing shop, living with his wife Ethel, 41, daughters Ethel 16, and Shirley, 13, and sons Robert, 14,  William, 11, and James, 9 in their Monroe Street home.

In 1955 the Sylvania Sentinel newspaper reported that an out-of-court settlement had been reached between Edgar and Ethel Bigelow, 6385 Monroe Street, and the village of Sylvania for a 4,875 square foot plot of ground needed for a proposed sewage disposal plant. The Bigelow’s included the provision that they would be allowed an ingress and egress 50 feet wide from their property line to the creek for as long as they reside there. 

Edgar passed away in 1980. His obituary said that his nickname was “Whitey.” He was 71 years old and worked for 55 years for various printing firms in Toledo and Detroit as a bindery man, retiring in 1968. Surviving were his wife, Ethel; sons, Robert, William, and James; daughters, Mrs. Jean Mersereau, Mrs. Mark Larzelere, Mrs. Ethel Brooks and Mrs. Shirley Pinkelman.

Ethel sold the house in 1989 and moved to the Waterford Commons. A demolition permit was granted in June of 1989 to demolish the house. Today this property is part of the road known as River Crossings.