March 27, 1980
Today we continue to explore the history of the north side of East Tiffin Street, beginning with Photo No. 1 which shows it as it is today.
Where parking meters shows in the photo, there once was a hitching post for a horse and buggy.
The Daryl Margrafs own and reside in the house shown in the left of the photo. Next door is the Clarence Huss property. Where those two houses are there once were billboards, shown on the left in Photo No. 1, and the three-apartment house on the extreme right, just as it was many years ago. The photo was provided by Robert Fruth, who is in it with his younger brother Franklin.
The house shown in Photo No. 3 once was located where Jac & Do’s Pizza Shop is now. It was the Wickerd Family’s home. Older Fostorians will remember Bertha M. Wickerd. The accompanying photo of her was taken from the booklet “Fostoria,” published shortly after the turn of this century.
WICKERD PROMINENT FOSTORIAN
The following excerpt lauds Wickerd for proficiency as a business woman in our town nearly 100 years ago.
“…Bertha M. Wickerd, Fostoria’s leading business woman. She was a clerk in W.A. Gibbon’s Music Store at 233 N. Main, and after three years served as a traveling saleswoman with marked success. “Returning to Fostoria, she opened up a little music store in one-one half room at 114 N. Main St. (where Pizza Villa is now, next to the theater) and with a limited stock and hard work made a success of it. In April 1907, she moved into her own block on E. North St. where she is conducting a remunerative music business, having a complete stock, including a $1,000 grand piano.”
Starting with only $50, Wickerd displayed remarkable ability, eventually owning much real estate and her own dray-line. She was the only local member of the National Piano Dealers’ Association and a member of the board of directors of the Seneca County Fair.
The location of her building on East North St. was 112-114. Today that would be the office of Attorney Lester Huth and the Retreat Lounge.
I remember the Wickerd home on Tiffin street, and presume it was demolished or moved, but I have not been able to verify which.
On the northeast corner of Tiffin and Poplar, where the Mid-Town Motors used car lot is now, there was once a Standard Oil service station.
REMEMBER THESE NAMES AND PLACES?
According to Bob Fruth, years earlier, when he was a boy, that location was just a vacant lot where Abe Peter, son of John, pitched a large tent in the summer and staged shows. My only recollection of Abe was when I was a boy. He had a shoe store in the Alcott Block, which once stood where the Park & Shop lot is now. It burned in 1962.
The house at 210, next to the used car lot, was the home of George Schwab family for many years. Schwab had a saloon in the building on North Main which was demolished last year. Clyde, their son, was in the plumbing business in Fostoria for many years.
Photo No. 4 shows the present residential area starting at the Schwab house, extending eastward. Three houses east was the residence of Russ Smith, who had the livery stable, mentioned in an earlier article in this series.
“LIB” CADWALLADER PROPERTY STILL STANDS
The large brick, with unusual architecture, at the corner of Tiffin and Cadwallader (Photo No. 5) was built by Ira Cadwallader Sr. for his sister Elizabeth “Lib,” who never married. The house was a gift for her faithfulness in taking care of a member of the family during illness. The house is still owned by the Cadwallader Co.
The house at 300, across the street from the Cadwallader house, was the George Rodier home when I was a boy. Chalmer McDonald lived there. Rodier was his stepfather. His father, Chalmer McDonald Sr., was a brother of Mrs. George M. Fink. Chalmer Jr. was a Fostoria business man, died in 1966, and is survived by Anne Noble and Jean Pingle, Fostoria; Margaret Wolery, Arcadia; and Thomas McDonald, Fostoria.
Next to the Rodier house lived the E.P. Huss family. Photo No. 6 shows the Huss family as it was years ago, and essentially as it is today, with three of the daughters on a sled. Reading left to right they are, Alma, now Mrs. L.E. Kinn; Margaret, now Mrs. O’Rourke; and Augusta, now Mrs. Robert Young. Justine Leutz, a neighborhood girl, is pulling the sled. Mr. Leutz had a bakery on South Main St. The photo was furnished by Mrs. Kinn. She and this writer spent some pleasant moments recently, reliving days of the past and recalling names and incidents of East Tiffin St.
MRS. KINN RECALLS MANY THINGS
She recalled the Cadwallader family, back then; the Younker family, with boys Harry and Dick; Russ Smith’s daughter, Dorothy, and her tricycle, the envy of the neighborhood kids. We both remember how kids would wash up old medicine bottles and sell them to doctors for 2 cents each.
Mrs. Kinn showed me the photo of the Huss family orchestra, made up of six members, including Mrs. Huss. That’s a story of another time. She also recalled how the circuses unloaded from the trains on East Tiffin.
In fact, Mrs. Kinn could have written the East Tiffin story…perhaps better then this writer, because her memory of events is so great.
For many years the house where the Huss family lived was owned by W.R. Ash, and his family resided there. Mrs. Patrick (Helen) Burden, now owns the house and resides there.
The residential area of East Tiffin St. has weathered the economic storms and changes of this century. Vacant lots now have houses on them, and older houses have been kept in fine shape.
In the listing below, No. 150 shows it to be the residence of Bertha Sheldon, which was after her husband, Dr. Sheldon, had died. That is where the family lived for some years. Many readers will remember the doctor because he treated many Fostorians and brought a lot of babies into this world. The Sheldon children were Thelma, Clifford, Don and Anne. Living are Clifford in Texas and Anne in California.
DIRECTORY LISTING
N. SIDE OF E. TIFFIN ST.
YEAR 1915
(Two vacant lots)
156–C.O. Allison (resident and well known barber
158–Mrs. S.W. Baker (resident)
160–A.J. Rawson (resident)
164–O.D. Wickerd (resident)
Vacant Lot
210–George P. Schwab (resident)
214–James Deckard (resident)
220–Mrs. S.F. Eissler (resident)
230–“Lib” Cadwallader (resident)
300–George E. Rodier (resident)
304–E.P. Huss (resident)
310–T.M. Boyd (resident)
320–G.A. Free (resident)
YEAR 1930
By this time the vacant lots with billboards had houses on them
150–Jacob D. Jones (resident)
154–Clarence Huss (resident)
156–Mrs. Emma Allison (resident)
160–William Strange (resident)
162–National Refinery Service
200–Standard Oil Service
210–George Schwab (resident)
214–Leon A. Yearick (resident)
220–Chas. W. Eppler (resident)
230–Mrs. Fresia L. Smith (resident)
300–George Rodier (resident)
304–Mrs. Luella (resident)
306–Joseph Calmes (resident)
310–Clarence Lamb (resident)
314–Walter Boyher (resident)
320–Ira Craley (resident)
YEAR 1950
150–Bertha Sheldon (resident)
154–Clarence Huss (resident)
156–Harvey C. England (resident)
158–Albert Wybensinger (resident)
160–Chas. A. Heckathorn (resident)
162–Horner’s Shell Service
204–Droll Brothers Sohio
210–Sophie Schwab (resident)
214–J.B. McCullough (resident)
220–Leonard Walker (resident)
220 1/2–Paul Gase (resident)
228–Albert “Wishey” Sertell (resident)
230–David Shearer (resident)
232–Leroy Shultz (resident)
300–Fostoria Window Cleaning
304–Ross Ash (resident)
304 1/2–Nieta Ash (resident)
306–Joseph Calmes (resident)
310–Vacant
314–Raymond Reese (resident)
320–Minnie Snyder (resident)