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1977197819791980198119821983198419851986198719881989

EAST NORTH STREET MEMORIES CONTINUE
February 21, 1985


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Pix #1 - Three houses east of Poplar on the north side of the street down to the midblock alley. They are No. 304, 310, and 316

Pix #2 - East North Street No. 322 and 326 are east of the midblock alley.

Author's Note: This is the fifth in the East North Street series, is drawing the series to a close, but it is not possible to terminate it with today's article. There's still more to tell about the changes east of the railroads next week.

The two photos with today's article show the houses that remain on the north side of East North Street in the 300 block.

BUSINESS MEN LIVED IN THIS BLOCK

No. 304 - The house at the far left is the former Newton Mohler home. Mohler was a well-known tailor in Fostoria and also active in civic affairs. The Mohlers daughter, Mildred, was interested in education and drama when she was young. Later she became sister Charles and spent the rest of her life in the Toledo area, active in Catholic school and church activities. She died about a year ago. According to the 1984 directory, Mary Burel now lives there.

No. 310 - Back in the early 1900's before city directories listed streets and house numbers, the Tom Wade family lived there, Mr. Wade was one of the brothers in Wade Bros. Clothing Store in our town. The other brother was Harry, father of Harry Jr., Liberty Street. Mr. and Mrs. Tom Wade had two children, Margaret and Joseph "Joe", Margaret Wade, Mildred Mohler, Mildred Serfoss and my older sister, Ruth were all playmates. Mildred Serfoss (Mergenthaler) is the only one living of that group, and still lives in the family home at 118 N. Poplar Street. The middle house in the photo is where the Wades lived.

Others to live there in later years were: Fred Brumley and Albert Woessner, at the same time; Alexander Manecke; Sarah Manecke, Ella Harrison; the Seever family and son "Jakie" who in later years was secretary of Ohio Savings and Loan, Jakie and I were boyhood friends.

Mrs. Seever in the summer season always chaperoned the neighborhood kids on a kike to the creek southwest of Fostoria, where we spent the day fishing, wading, and eating. That creek was beyond Lakeland Golf Course...quite a hike both ways.

KIDS WATCHED SAYRE ASSEMBLE MACHINES

No. 316 - When I was boy, living on McDougal Street, I often played with Walter Good, grandson of Mr. and Mrs. E.E. Good, who lived in that house. In fact, Walter and his parents lived directly across the street where I lived years before. Mr. Good the grandfather was a farm implement dealer in this area and used a large barn directly behind their house on McDougal Street, as a warehouse and place to do assembly work on equipment. The barn had all kinds of farm equipment of that era, including steam engines, threshers, etc.

Several of us neighborhood kids liked to watch Robert Sayre, a mechanic who worked for Good, as he assembled the machinery. The Goods had some nice fruit trees in the backyard which we liked to sample in season.

I don't know when the property passed out of the Good family, but Mrs. Good was still living there in the 1940's. Currently, the house is a duplex occupied by Monroe Dillon and Frances Dillon. It has always been a nice property.

ISRAEL STAHL HERE....HAD PONY

No. 322 - Currently Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Hottenstein live there...they have for a number of years. He is a retired contractor and she from The Review Times.

When I was a young boy, Israel Stahl and wife occupied it, I remember Israel because he had a pony that pulled a wagon. There was a small building on the rear of his property where the pony was kept. We neighborhood kids liked to look in the building at the pony, but we were cautioned it wasn't gentle and might bite.

In later years the Stahls moved to 826 N. Main Street, where Mrs. R.W. (Elizabeth) Slosser now lives. In fact, Mr. Slosser's mother was the Stahls' daughter.

Others to live in that house after the Stahls were: Mrs. Louise Nusser and Emma Kisabeth.

WELL-KNOWN FOLKS LIVED HERE

No. 326 - As early as 1915 perhaps earlier, that house was occupied by the G.H. McDonel family, also their daughter and husband Mr. and Mrs. G.M. Fink. Mrs. McDonel was an invalid and in the summer spent much time in her wheel- chair on the large front porch. When I delivered The Review there, I always walked up on the porch and handed her the paper. She was a friendly kind lady and always remembered me at Christmas. Incidentally, that big front porch that was there back then is still there.

Mr. Fink has a plumbing and heating business on North Main Street in the office building is next to the Elks.

The Finks had one daughter, Carlotta, who married Clarence Brown, and they lived with her parents there too. Clarence Brown was an officer and manager of The American Railway Signal Co. He was also active in city affairs and is credited with giving the major push to legislation that resulted in getting the city's updated system filtration in 1927.

At that time, visitors from many cities in the U.S. and abroad came to Fostoria to inspect the new facility.

All of the Brown family are deceased, including Barret, the only son.

Currently, the Clifton Risner family owns the building and lives there, having purchased the house about 12 years ago. Mr. Risner is employed at Allied Automotive, Autolite Division and provides also landscaping services.

The other three houses that once stood between No. 326 and the corner of Cadwallader Street were purchased by Gray Printing Co. and demolished to make a parking lot for employees and visitors.

No. 325 - This was the residence of the D.W. (Daniel Webster) Nederhouser family for many years. They were listed in the 1915 directory but I know they lived there prior to that because I carried The Review to them.

Zenith, their only daughter lived there with them. The family had previously lived and farmed on what is now Ohio 12. Zenith married to Don Hanover, is the only survivor.

The Charles Bangert family resided at No. 326 after the Nederhousers, followed by Harvard O. Fry, and later by John H. Kline.

ZUBER...HARNESS MAKER LIVED THERE

No. 332 - Another one the demolished houses was the residence of Mr. and Mrs. W.D. Zuber. He had a harness shop on East Center Street, across from The Review Times, when that area looked different from today. Zuber was also a city councilman.

The Zubers lived there prior to 1915 and Mrs. Zuber still lived there after his death in the 1940's. Mrs. Zuber was an aunt to Elwood Kauffman, 321 E. Fremont St., who remembers going to their house when he was a boy.

No. 336 - A family by the name of Hall lived there as long as I can remember, going back to 1915 or earlier. Mr. Hall, a carpenter, may have even built the house. I recall that for many years the house had only an outdoor toilet.

The Hall's had one daughter Lettie, who never married. At one period in her life, she worked at Gray Printing Co.

MRS. HALL KILLED BY N.Y.C. TRAIN

Mr. Hall died leaving his wife and Lettie in rather poor circumstances. When Mrs. Hall reached advanced age, her mind was affected and she often wandered away from the house. One day she wandered over to the railroad tracks close by and was killed by a New York Central train.

When Lettie got old, a friend residing in the south end of town, took her in and looked after her until death.

HOTEL BECAME FACTORY AND APARTMENTS

No. 400 - On the northeast corner of North and Cadwallader there once stood a large two-story frame building that originally was a hotel, when Fostoria was a growing and busy town. Fostoria had eight or nine hotels at that time. When the "boom" was over, many of them folded. The building at the location was used by Cory Manufacturing Co. in 1915-16, maybe before then too. They manufactured overalls. Howard Cory, the manager lived at 957 N. Union St.

Later the building was used by Auto Truck and Storage. Ross Steiger was the name of the man who had that business. I remember that it was general knowledge he could pick up and move a piano by himself, although I never saw him do it. According to Jo Gehring a long-time resident on Cherry Street, Steiger lived at 717 Cherry. Martha Anderson (Derricotte), Steiger's office secretary, is still alive living in Defiance, according to Calvin Roberts, 623 Cherry St., relative of the Andersons.

Later the building at No. 400 was made into living quarters. Some of those living there were Richard F. Vanderhoff, Clayton R. Powell, Elizabeth De Trow and family, Charles F. DcWeese, Benjamin F. Mankin, Clarence Z. Lamb, Ella M. Sewell, James Gordon, Foster A. Clark, Robert E. DeCamp, Frank S. Rust and Jeremiah Stone.

That corner where the old building stood became part of the Gray Printing parking lot.

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