This house was built in 1897 while the property was owned by Margaret Shaffer. Ms. Shaffer purchased other lots on Summit Street that same year, and this was one of the first houses that she built. She owned it until 1914 and then sold it to Ethel Cooke. Ethel’s husband was Dr. Uriah Cooke, Sylvania’s local medical doctor. Continue reading SYLVANIA THEN & NOW
This house, built in 1887, was owned by Rebecca Chapple, the widow of Robert S. Chapple who had served in the Civil War. Military records show he was discharged on March 16, 1864, and death records show that he died that same day. Their children, Julia Chapple Heath and William Chapple, who also lived in Sylvania, inherited this house after their mother passed away. Continue reading SYLVANIA THEN & NOW
Howard Hine and Elsie Comstock were married in 1904 in Sylvania and in 1906 they purchased the home located at 5937 Summit St. That home was built in 1887 and will be discussed in the next article. It was in 1913 that the Hines split off a parcel to the north of their home and constructed our subject home. From 1913 until 1949 they rented this house to tenants. Continue reading SYLVANIA THEN & NOW
This house was originally built in 1895 at 5926 N. Main St. by Thomas Gibbs. He owned a hardware store in downtown Sylvania and his daughter, Julia Gibbs, married Alberti R. Chandler, who took over the hardware business after Gibbs retired. Continue reading SYLVANIA THEN & NOW
This Summit Street house was built in 1950, and while not 100 years old, it is important to our history because it is an example of a pre-fab residential home known as a Lustron House, which was invented to answer the postwar housing shortage. These were developed to meet the housing needs of GIs returning from World War II. Continue reading SYLVANIA THEN & NOW
he 6039 Summit St. property was purchased by Nancy Buck in 1883, who, as mentioned in the last article, was married to Enoch Buck and lived in the house across the street at 6000 Summit St. In 1897 this house was built for their daughter and son-in-law, Adriance and Ida (Buck) Mallett. Enoch Buck died that year and in 1899 Nancy Buck transferred this house and property to the Malletts. The property consisted of eight acres, extending all the way to where Long Street would later dead end. Continue reading 6039 Summit
In 1910 Dana G. Chandler built this house on Lot No. 5 of Briggs Place subdivision. Chandler owned and operated a cement block manufacturing business on the south side of Monroe Street, along the west side of the railroad tracks. His business was called the Sylvania Building Supply Co., and he started it shortly after the Toledo & Western Railway built their new headquarters just east of Chandler’s business, located where Sautter’s is today. Just about every house in Sylvania, built before the 1930s, has a foundation built of Dana Chandler’s cement blocks. Our subject house was built by Chandler entirely of the block that he manufactured. Continue reading 5848 Summit St.
This property is somewhat near and dear to my heart as this is the house where I grew up. This house has that wonderful wraparound front porch, and back in the 1960s and 70s there was constant foot traffic past our house. The post office and church were across the street, the Sterling Milk store and Medic Drug Store were to the north, and downtown Sylvania to the south. Just about once or twice a week we would set up a Kool-Aid stand in our front yard, and had never ending customers. We went through lots of Kool-Aid and made enough money to take a trip down to Seitz Bakery, Lindau’s Soda Fountain, or Sterling’s for their large selection of penny candy. Remember? Continue reading Sylvania Then & Now – 5723 Main Street, Part 1
This house was built on Lot No. 4 of the Briggs Place subdivision in 1910 by George and Lottie (Chandler) Cook. They were married in 1894. Lottie’s brother was Dana Chandler who owned and operated a cement block manufacturing company in Sylvania. In 1910, each brother-in-law built the exterior of their homes on Summit Street entirely of “Chandler” block. These blocks were made to give the effect of cut stone, and just about every house in Sylvania, built before 1930, has a foundation built of this Sylvania-made block. Continue reading Looking Back – 5840 Summit Street
This article is written in memory of Christmases past in Sylvania. Up until 1982 there was a large double house on the southeast corner of Monroe Street and Harroun Road, where the Kroger gas station is today. Each generation over the years has had a different memory of this old house. What I remember from my childhood in the 1960s and 1970s, was purchasing live Christmas trees there each year. The Christmas trees would be in front of the house and spanned east on the vacant land where there was once the Sylvandale Poultry Farm. Continue reading Sylvania Then & Now – 6235 Monroe Street
