more jacob scholl properties

NCSC Urban Center, N. Main Street

 



The 1882 map of Mansfield shows these two buildings and one behind them owned by Jacob Scholl, and undoubtedly built by him.  (see the previous post about 320 Altamont)

9/10/2013 Correction to the above caption:  Peggy Mershon has brought to my attention a notice in the Mansfield Herald of Dec. 4, 1879 which states that Jacob Scholl has purchased these N. Main Street buildings from Senator John Sherman.  Scholl was in the process of erecting the brick warehouse in the rear, but assuming he built these two buildings is very doubtful.  Sherman partnered with Jacob Emminger in a sash factory business across the alley to the rear of this location.  Emminger was an engineer and a builder as well. 

320 altamont avenue

The Richland County Historical Society reviews proposed demolitions prior to their being submitted to the Ohio Preservation Office for Section 106 Review, which determines whether the property is historically significant and may require remediation.  If our review warrants comments, they are included with the city's submission to Columbus.  The property at 320 Altamont was recently singled out for demolition, and the following article is our commentary on its significance.  Hopefully this will help forestall the loss of this house, and others built by Jacob Scholl in the mid 19th Century.

Commentary

 

320 Altamont is a 1 1/2 story, gabled brick house located in an addition to the city that was platted in 1863.  The street name was originally Cemetery St. and the house number was 9.  At the time the house was built and still today it is on the short street that approaches the entrance to the Mansfield Cemetery.   It is one of a number of similar houses built on the South side of the city by Jacob Scholl (Shull), a German immigrant stonemason.   

 

Jacob Scholl was born in Bavaria in 1808 and immigrated in 1840 after the death of his parents.  He married in Mansfield in 1844 and practiced the trade of stonemason.  He is mentioned in Graham’s 1880 History of Richland County, OH as the successful bidder in 1846 to construct fire cisterns in the city.  In 1850 he went to the gold fields in California, apparently with little luck, and returned.  He and his wife had nine children, 7 of whom survived.  Brothers John and Peter Scholl partnered in the oil and gas business.  Brothers Joe and Jacob Jr. partnered in the drug business.  

Jacob Scholl acquired a large amount of property in the city.  His obituary mentions “business blocks” and dwellings.  An existing building at 215 N. Main Street on lot 310 is the “Scholl Block”.  He made his home at 111 S. Diamond St. which today is a house within the complex of buildings of the Diamond View assisted living facility.  On parallel streets, S. Franklin and S. Adams, there are 9 other examples of the 1 1/2 story brick houses built by Scholl.  All are modest sized consisting of a 26 x 16 front gabled body with a 16 x 16 side gabled wing.  Additional examples may be uncovered with additional research.

 

His obituary mentions that he contracted for street improvements and was a building contractor.   Some of the houses he built on Franklin and Adams St. would appear to have been kept as rental properties.  Perhaps most were rentals, but further research into the titles of each one would be necessary.  At least on the 1882 map, Jacob Scholl’s name is on multiple of these houses.

Jacob Scholl died in 1902.  The Mansfield News mentioned on May 28, 1902 that the meeting of the Pioneer Society on June 7 at the Madison Grange Hall would include a “general obituary of all the pioneers who have died in the county during the year”, naming Jacob Scholl as one of the subjects.  His newspaper obituary appeared in the Mansfield Shield on April 3rd of that year. 

 

The modest brick houses built by Jacob Scholl on the city’s south side are significant in being the craftsmanship of German immigrant tradesmen of the mid-19th Century, representing one of the many nationalities of people who made up the population of Mansfield.  The houses are very similar to the houses built by German immigrants in German Village Historic District in Columbus, Ohio.

 

Judging by the 1882 map these little houses have had a very high survival rate, and their historic integrity seldom marred by modern work.   They are all of a size that is within the ability of the individual homeowner to maintain or restore. 

Gallery of Houses Built by Jacob Scholl on S. Adams and S. Franklin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

documenting 147 w. first st.

The following is documentation the Historical Society developed relating to 147 W. First St. which has apparently been torn down by the city without historical review. 

The house at 147 W. First Street is located on the west half of lot 2310 in a group of several lots just to the west and at the SW corner and outside of the original city boundary laid out in 1808.  The area is designated as Sturges Subdivision, originally owned by E. P. Sturges.  The ground was within the old Methodist graveyard according to the 1853 map of the city.  Adjacent, and within the city boundary was the Presbyterian graveyard, later to be occupied by the First Ward School, shown on the 1882 map of the city.  By that time the Methodist graveyard had also been removed and the area developed into lots. 

Like many houses in that district, 147 W. First Street is predominantly a Queen Anne style house.  It has the asymmetrical massing and irregular floorplan that are common elements of the style. A square tower or turret rises to a third story height between the main front gable and a prominent gabled side bay. Fishscale shingles cover the upper face of the gables and narrow clapboard siding covers the balance of the exterior walls.  Windows on the second floor of the turret and front gable are topped in a Gothic fashion. Eastlake elements predominate otherwise in bullseye motifs on the trim beneath the third floor level of the turret, incised carving of large brackets holding up the eaves of the bay gable and of gable trim elements, and the turned porch posts. 

 

Architectural historian Craig Bobby has given the opinion that the house and its neighbors are derived from plans by Palliser, Palliser & Co. shown in their 1878 catalog, Plate. 14. 

 

 

147 W. First Street was built c. 1885 along with two houses to the east identical in floor plan, form and roof line.  The trim elements of the three houses are different. It was first occupied by Harry Orwig, a travelling salesman, whose residence is first listed there in the 1886-87 city directory and numbered 44 at that time.

The existing residential neighborhood that includes W. First Street and W. Second Street out to Sturges Avenue was identified in the city’s Preservation Plan in 1985 as a priority for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places.  Little has changed in that area until the recent spate of vacant properties, blight, and demolitions have threatened it.  The eminent demolition of this house, and its neighbor at 143 W. First street, would create a large gap in an otherwise unbroken block face. 143 and 147 are two of three side by side houses that are identical, save for the trim elements. A large imposing brick house at the east end of this block face has been inappropriately gutted by its owner and will be unlikely to survive.  The proposed demolition of 143 and 147 will leave two occupied Victorian era houses isolated from the neighborhood on the east end of this block.  Across the street demolitions have begun to seriously encroach, already isolating houses on the edge of the neighborhood nearest St. Peter’s School. 

147 W. First Street is RIC 0228-11 on the Ohio Historic Inventory.

The house has architectural qualities that would make it eligible for the National Register of Historic Places and is part of an area that Judith Williams, the author of Mansfield’s Preservation Plan, identified as a potential National Register Historic District, of which Mansfield has none established at this time.

 

 

update on 147 w. first st.

147 W. First St.

In 2009 at the worst juncture in the Historical Society's struggle with the city over Section 106 Review, this house at 147 W. First St. came up for a Council vote to be demolished.  At that time HUD had suspended NSP funding to the city because of the administration's ongoing disregard for the review process, and for not recognizing the Historical Society as a consulting party.  I spoke up at the Council meeting urging them not to vote on this because there had been no Section 106 Review of it, and it's being on the Ohio Historical Inventory and in a potential Historic District.  Mayor Culliver, however, urged Council to take the vote but that the demolition would be held up until the review had been completed.  Council voted 5-4 to demolish. 
In the 3 years since that time no further action was taken by the city.  Brian Dormaier and I secured the board-up and mowed the property.  Home Depot donated materials and Worner Roofing put a patch on the roof at one point.  Our ongoing efforts were made to keep the property from attracting further city attention, as long as nothing was moving forward. 
Unfortunately last month we became aware that the city has torn it down.  I've contacted Community Development and they have been promising to give us the review documents or Ohio State Preservation Office approval, but we are coming up on 1 1/2 months now with nothing forthcoming.  I'm assuming at this point that no review was done.  This is disheartening considering all the work that has gone into reviewing hundreds of demolitions for over three years now.  Out of all of those properties, the Historical Society had spoken up for this house, its neighbor at 143 W. First, and 331 Prescott.  143 W. First had dropped off the radar because it had a new owner. 
Another situation that we are in right now is that the city has not exercised a proper Programmatic Agreement with the SHPO, and with the Historical Society signed on as a consulting party.  We are now dangerously close to the same situation we were in in 2009 when NSP funding was suspended.

laundry building at the county home (dayspring)

This is the last remaining Richland County building from the 1870s era, which once included the Courthouse, Jail, Infirmary, and Children's Home.  All of these were brick with the banded stone pattern.  I've posted this here for a link from the I Love Mansfield facebook page.  This building, being north of the city and out of its industrial and coal-burning atmosphere is cleaner and brighter that the memories people have of the buildings in town. 

Central Park Cut Through

Bill Sharp and I were on Doug Theaker's show at WMFD on the 11th, talking about the effort to eliminate the cut through of our Central Park here in Mansfield.  You can watch it here .

 

My vision of a restored Central Park is to reestablish the original design as much as current conditions allow (the original sidewalk pattern), and to halt future encroachments that eat up green space.