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HISTORY OF NORTH SIDE OF
EAST TIFFIN
March 13, 1980
PIX #1 - No. 1
PIX #2 - No. 2
PIX #3 - No. 3
PIX #4 - No. 4
PIX #5 - No. 5
PIX #6 - Frank Engstrom
PIX #7 - M.B. Waldo
The north side of East Tiffin Street is colorful, maybe more so, than
the
other side of the street 50 to 75 years ago.
From before the turn of the century, it had a great variety of business
es-
tablishments...hotel, clothing store, livery stable, doctor, veterinarian,
grocery, many saloons, automobile agencies, filling stations, and more...with
many fine old homes farther east
For the years 1915, 1930, 1950 they are listed below. And in between
those
periods there were others, but space does not permit other listings.
PETER CLOTHIG AND THE FAMILY
Let's start at the corner of Main and look backward through words and
pic-
tures. First, there was the clothing store at the corner, shown
in Photo No.
1, where Preis store is now. Many readers remember it as Peter
Clothing or
Peter Bros. Started by Peter and Fruth before 1900, and it was
originally
called The Red Star Clothing Store.
Mr. Peter, one of the original founders, was the great-grandfather of
the
present Carl Peter Jr. Later, the business was sold to Peter's
two sons,
John and Phillip, who conducted the business for many years under the
name of
Peter Bros.
After the death of Phillip and John, the business was operated by Carl
Peter
Sr, and son Carl Jr. Still later, Carl Jr. moved the business
to the south-
west corner of Main and Tiffin, whre it remained until 1967 when it
closed.
In the earlier days of Peter Bros., they also operated a store at North
Bal-
timore.
I remember being outfitted for winter at Peter Bros. when a lad.
One of
these winter items was fleece-lined underwear, which were warm for outdoor
wear, but in the schoolroom it was unpleasant.
A stairway access on Tiffin led to quarter above the store where the
labor
union hall was. And, in later years, the back part of the Peter
store was
partitioned off and "Pete" Odenwiler's furniture store occupied
it in about
1924.
"112" WAS GROCERY AND SALOON
Another Tiffin location that has been prominent since 1894 is at "112".
To-
day it is Doug's Tavern. In 1894, Charles G. Histe opened the
Earl House
saloon there. He was known around town as the "Judge"
and operated a busi-
ness considered as respectable.
For a period of a few years, The Basket Market (see Photo No. 2) had
a gro-
cery store there, and it was after then that Doug Weimerskirch opened
Doug's
Tavern, now owned by David Faber and Michael Smith. The building
is still
owned by Weimerskirch.
OLD HOTEL CLAIMS LONG LIFE
The business with the longest life in that area was the hotel, which
in more
recent yers was The New Ohio, owned and operated by Dick Abowd, deceased.
Originally it was The Earl House and was part of a hotel chain, according
to
Robert Fruth, whose father worked there. The original hotel must
have been
established in the 1800s, since in 1893 it was purchased by Frank Engstrom
and M. B. Waldo and completely refurnished. How long it was operated
by
them is unknown, but by 1915 it was listed as the Hays Annex.
Older Fostorians will recall that Carl Ghaster married Mr. Engstrom's
daughter; also that the Ghaster family was involved in outdoor advertising
for many years in the Fostoria area.
That period of time is when The Hays House Hotel on Main was owned by
Charles
Bevard, so it is presumed that Bevard also acquired the Earl House and
re-
named it the Hays Annex. The rear of each property abutted, separated
only
by an alley.
The nextowner of the hotel was Dick Abowd, purchasing it in 1919 and
renaming
it The Ohio Hotel, (see Photo No. 3). In about 1934 Abowd assumed
active
management of the hotel, remodeling, refurnishing it and calling it
The New
Ohio. He sold it in 1973 to C.G.D. Realty of Fremont.
Today, approximately 100 yearsold, the old hotel building is owned by
Mr. and
Mrs. Lloyd Doe and is known as the Doeshire. It has been remodelled
to pro-
vide apartments and rooms but is not operated as a hotel for transients.
The
Does also operate the Book Store in the building and the lunch room
where
Kelly's Hot Dog stand was for so many years.
Photos No. 4 and 5 show the area covered by today's story, showing the
only
places of business...Doug's Tavern, Fish's Ceramics, Doeshire property
and
Touch of Class Beauty Salon...all others are vacants except the rear
of the
property on the alley which is used as a warehouse by The Review Times.
OTHERS AND RECOLLECTIONS
There were many other busiesses having loctions on Tiffin from Main
to the
first alley. Many of them in the list below, but here are a couple
comments:
One older Fostorian told me when I was researching this story that the
glass-
workers hung out at "Big George" Gerlinger's saloon where
they got the biggest
beer in town, as well as free lunch with limburger.
One of the directory listings that caught my attentin was for the saloon
at
"114," operated by Cloyce Yerger. Those of my age will
remember him and his
daughter Dorothy. The family lived in an apartment in the Botto
Block on
East North Street.
DIRECTORIES LISTINGS
North side of Tiffin (from Main to first alley)
YEAR 1915
110--Peter Clothing Co. (side entrance)
110 1/2--Labor Union Hall
112--Earl House Saloon ("Judge" C.G. Histe)
114--Cloyce Yerger Saloon
116--Hays Annex Hotel
118-122--Smith & Shuman Garage
122--Fostoria Transfer Co.
124--Gerlinger Saloon
YEAR 1930
110--Peter Clothing Store
112--Basket Market
114--Star Lunch and Pool Room
116--(No listing)
118--H.L. Miller Restaurant
120-122--Geller Buick Co.
124--(rear) Trafalet Machine Company
YEAR 1950
112--Doug's Tavern
114--New Ohio Hotel
118--Brent's Dry Cleaners
120--Kelley's Hot Dogs
122--Little Folks Shop
124--Horner & Pell Barbers
126--Myer's Cleaners
128--Bus terminal
(Continued next week)
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