JOURNEY DOWN
PERRY ST. CONTINUES
October 5, 1978
PIX #1 - No. 1:
Early Perry Street gardner gardeners
PIX #2 - No. 2:
Perry Street House, a hotel
PIX #3 - No. 3:
The site of today's library
PIX #4 - No. 4:
The site of today's library
(EDITOR'S NOTE:
Today we continue our journey down Perry Street to see the change made
through the years.)
When I was a boy,
and for some years after high school, there was a one-story frame house
on the northeast corner of Perry at Fremont. I do not know who all had
lived there, but at that period of my life Mrs. Alta Hearst Greene and
her two sons "Bud" and "Babe" resided there. That house was demolished
when the Sunoco gasoline station was built on the site.
Photo No. One
(provided by Julie Di Cesare) was taken from the present site of the
Kaubisch Library, when it was just a vacant lot. In the foreground of
the picture, reading left to right, are Helen Botto, later to become
Mrs. Boulboulle; Florence Botto, later to become Mrs. Weimerskirch;
Frank Di Cesare; Mr. Botto, builder and original owner of Botto block,
at corner of North and Main; Angelo Di Cesare, brother of Frank and
father of Julie.
Minnie Wade, a
long-time resident of Fostoria, says an old rag-picker who used to go
about town picking up whatever he could to salvage and sell, had a little
shanty on the site...the building in the extreme right of the photo
may be it.
The two-story
frame house shown in the photo no. one was next to the corner. A partial
view of the Perry Street House is also shown...a hotel that was a landmark
for many years, during a time when Fostoria must have had six or eight
hotels. (That's another story). The house was occupied by a couple generations
of the George W. Might family, then later purchased and occupied by
the Pete Tsantle family who also acquired the old hotel property.
When the old hotel
and house were demolished, Jim Tsantles, son of Pete, operated a used
car lot on the site for awhile and eventually The Commercial Bank purchased
all of the land where the new bank was built.
A complete view
of Perry Street House is shown in Photo No. Two.
The whole east
side of Perry Street from Fremont to High was known as the "McDonel
Block" in earlier days, according to W. H. "Bill" Ellis, who obtained
the information from Myra Ebersole...her family were pioneer settlers
in Fostoria. More about her next week.
North of the old
Perry Street House was a house occupied by Ellen "Grandma" McDonel at
222 Perry. It was purchased by a Mr. Sommers, a local painting contractor
who later disposed of it to the Commercial Bank, to become a part of
their site for the new bank.
Next to Ellen
McDonel's house, at 230 Perry, lived her son J.W. McDonel in the house
which still stands. He was connected with the electric interurban business
in Fostoria and also operated the McDonel Clothing Store with his brother
James, who resided in the next house north at 236, on the corner. Bill
Ellis Jr. purchased the corner property in 1928 and still resides there.
Bill is the son of Ellis the tailor, deceased for many years, who is
credited with teaching many Fostoria youth the finer points of basketball.
Many of Ellis' proteges later became high school stars and went on to
have winning pro teams.
According to Ellis,
as related by Myra Ebersole, deceased many years, the site of the present
library was one time a livery stable. In later years, the Hale building
was constructed on the site. Photo No. Three shows the rear of that
building. Information is not easily available as to when the Hale Building
was constructed, or for what purpose. According to one old directory,
tenants at one time were Geo. M. Fink, electrical supplies; Buckeye
Plating Works; Greer Shoe Repair Shop...and perhaps others at various
times.
Presumably the
Hale Building was demolished in about 1916 to make way for the McLean
Library, as it was originally known. (The library is still another story
for later).
For those who
can't remember, Photo No. Four shows the original library.
Wood Street was
unimproved then, as can be noted by Photo No. Three.
Next week we will
continue our travel through the past years, looking at Perry Street
from High to Elm.
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