Author Archives: Don in Westerville

NOTE: This blog contains quite a few pictures so give it several minutes to download. The pictures download haphazardly.

This blog showcases the known designs of Columbus architects Joseph Warren Yost & Frank Lucius Packard in the region of Auglaize, Darke, Miami, and Shelby Counties of Ohio. These two architects were in partnership during the years 1892-1899; each practiced separately before and after this period of time. The history of these structures has not been studied. The blog’s purpose is to generate local appreciation of these treasures, inspire research/promotion of them, and save/value those that remain. The Yost & Packard firm, nationally recognized, would likely be considered one of Ohio’s most significant.

Three designs are being singled out for a bit more description beyond the captions that accompany their photos:

• Grand Opera House of St. Marys. A bit of advance work prior to driving to St. Marys paid off. Had I not done so, I would have concluded this building had been raised. Contact with Beth Kenneke at the library in St. Marys resulted in two pictures being sent…an old one clearly showing a 3-story structure and the current appearance which clearly looked 2-story covered by a modernized remuddled front. The roof lines with a small raised section in the middle looked mostly like a match. More back and forth with Beth and her patience solved the mystery. Of all things, the street had been raised thus putting the first floor basically underground. During my later visit to St. Marys to take pictures, I spoke with the owner of the jewelry store across the street. His basement has a front door…and it opens into the street fill (soil and gravel) pictured in this blog. Mystery solved. A fund-raising campaign is currently underway to restore the Grand Opera House. Jason Clark, whose house was designed by Yost & Packard and is pictured in this blog, is a member of the advisory committee for this project.

• Darius William and Anna Weddell residence of Elizabeth Township. Yost & Packard’s hardbound promotional publication Portfolio of Architectural Realities lists a residence for “D. Weddell…Casstown.” I’ve driven through tiny Casstown in Elizabeth Township of Miami County several times looking for a house that I could guess was a Y&P design. No such luck. When I was putting this blog together I decided to search for a list of graves in the Casstown area. There was no D. Weddell, but there was a Weddell spelled Weddle. Turned out to be a person who could easily afford to build a large house designed by an architect…Darius William Weddle. Mystery solved. This isn’t the first misspelling in the publication that has thrown me off course.

• Mrs. George Nickolas Zeigenfelder residence of Piqua. Portfolio of Architectural Realities lists a residence for “Mrs Ziegenfelder…Piqua.” There are a number of Ziegenfelders in Miami County and without a name other than “Mrs” I eventually hit a dead end. Recently to the rescue came fellow Otterbein University graduate and Piqua resident Jonna Stewart Raffel. She had previously found me on Facebook perhaps from a comment I made on the Piqua-Caldwell Historic District Facebook page. Her email: “I believe I figured it out. I believe it is 714 W. Ash St. My next door neighbors! Mrs. Ziegenfelder, a widow, had the home built between 1892-93. She remarried to W.W. Tice in 1893, and then she died in March of 1894. The home then transferred to her son, Robert Ziegenfelder. Researching was a bit of a mess because they spell their name all kinds of different ways, but I have enough newspaper clippings to back it up, and I confirmed the address with the 1900 census. The main clue that caught my eye was the one that says she would be Snyder’s neighbor to the west. (My home at 704 W. Ash St is the A.G. Snyder residence). The other is in her funeral clipping. It says she had a beautiful home built for them.” Along with the Facebook coincidental meeting, both the Ziegenfelder and Snyder houses are directly across the street from old Piqua High School built by Henry Karg of Westerville who is the subject of my very first blog (which may be accessed on my website doninwesterville.com). 😊

I wish to thank the following individuals for their generous and thorough assistance in contributing to the blog: Kevin Accurso, owner of the Weddell house in Elizabeth Township; Jason and Andrea Clark, owner of the Bamberger house in St. Marys; Mary Beth George and Ben Sutherly of the Elizabeth Township History Society; Patrick Kennedy, Archivist at the Troy-Miami County Public Library; Beth Kenneke, Adult Services Coordinator at the St. Marys Community Public Library; Jonna Stewart Raffel, Piqua historian; and Sharon Watson and Yuri Denny of the Local History and Genealogy Department of the Piqua Public Library.

Published 9/10/2021 by Don Foster. donfoster73@gmail.com

Auglaize County

Darke County

Miami County

Shelby County

9/10/2021 donfoster73@gmail.com

The Campus Center dining hall at Otterbein University overlooks a large grassy mall on its northern side. Ever since my freshman year there, I’ve gazed out at that area and wondered why it was sunken. It held standing water after a rainstorm although the lay of that piece of land has had an adjustment in recent years which improved the drainage. A couple years ago while searching old microfilm issues of the Westerville Public Opinion for a project, I wondered no more. The answer was on the front page of the May 29, 1919, issue. And recently, while scanning old issues of the student newspaper Tan and Cardinal for the Otterbein Digital Commons, a similar article was published. So this blog is a combination of discoveries ranging from surprise luck to a sad jolt to an entertaining reflection on life by a humble millionaire…3 different stories that, surprisingly, all tie together.

The discovery of the construction year of a house a century or more old is pretty much reduced to luck when (1) street numbers have not been assigned which means a city directory, if there is one, is of little use, (2) there is no blurb in the local newspaper announcing so and so is building a new house, and (3) the county auditor’s records only go back to 1920. Such was the case with the house that is the subject of this blog.

Architects Joseph Warren Yost and Frank Lucius Packard formed a partnership in 1892 that lasted until 1899 when Yost relocated to New York City. At some point during that span (and very fortunately for historians), they published a promotional portfolio of their collective designs. Only three copies are known to exist, and they are housed at Columbia University, Kenyon College, and the Ohio History Connection. In the portfolio is a design for “Prof. W. J. Zuck”…Westerville O.”

William Johnston Zuck, Otterbein University Class of 1878, taught English at his alma mater from 1884 to 1903 and also served an additional role as secretary-treasurer of the institution. As described in my blog Architects Joseph Yost and Frank Packard: Westerville Legacy (linked below), their Westerville work included several projects during the 1890’s.  Among them were the redesign of Philomathean Hall at Otterbein, construction of the Christian Association Building at Otterbein, and construction of Vine Street School of which Zuck was chairman of the building’s dedication ceremony (Public Opinion 3/19/1896). Professor Zuck, as Otterbein secretary-treasurer and as secretary of the Westerville Board of Education, would have had a business association with the firm. Thus their selection as the architects of his house is a natural.

https://doninwesterville.com/2021/05/06/architects-joseph-yost-and-frank-packard-in-ohio-westerville-legacy/

As described in my blog Otterbein student achieves highest score and becomes Westerville’s first mail carrier in 1912. (linked below), houses and buildings in town had no address numbers assigned until late in 1912. While I found a number of articles in the Public Opinion about people building new homes in the early 20^th century, only a couple issues of the newspaper exist that were published earlier than that. The photo archives of the Westerville History Center & Museum at the Westerville Public Library include a house at 98 West Home Street that is described as having been built circa 1900, designed by Frank Packard, and owned by Frederick N. and Emma B. Thomas. Could this actually be the Zuck house, but sold to a later owner?

https://doninwesterville.com/2020/12/08/youve-got-mail/

In bits and pieces over 3 years, the year of construction and location of the “Prof. W. J. Zuck” house were confirmed as follows. Of the Museum’s two archived photos, one clearly shows a house with an unpaved road along its side. The Sanborn Fire Insurance Company map of 1913, available online, confirms the corner location. The Columbus Dispatch routinely reported on news in surrounding towns including Westerville. A word search of “Zuck” of the digitized Dispatch on the Columbus Public Library website led to a June 21, 1901, lucky surprise item that came before the Village Council: “A petition signed by W.J. Zuck and eight others, asking that Grove Street be extended north to the corporation line, was presented and referred to the street committee.” A year or so later while scanning old issues of the student publication Otterbein Aegis for the University’s Digital Commons, I came across these two conclusive lucky surprises. The May 1887 issue states “Prof. Zuck is building an elegant new house on the corner of Home and Grove streets.” The May 1903 issue states “Professor Zuck has had his house repainted, and also made some other improvements at his beautiful home, corner Home and Grove streets.” Finally it dawned on me that conclusive evidence might be just down the hall from the scanner in an Otterbein Archives file cabinet…and indeed it was. The file of Mary Burnham Thomas, Otterbein Class of 1928 and daughter of Frederick and Emma, contains a reference by Mary to growing up in a house on “the alley, which was an extension of Grove Street.” It also contains a reference that would become the title of this blog.

Headlining the May 29, 1919, issue of the Public Opinion (mentioned in the opening paragraph of this blog) is this tragic announcement: “Boy Is Drowned In Pond in Gravel Pit…GLOOM OVER UNIVERSITY.” Arthur Spessard, the only son of Professor and Mrs. Arthur Ray Spessard, had slipped into a water-filled pit that was being excavated for gravel to be used in the construction of a new science building for Otterbein. Playmate and neighbor Glen Grant Grabill, Jr., himself the son of an Otterbein professor, attempted to save him. Arthur’s body was carried next door to the Thomas (Zuck) house. Mary would have been 13 years old at that time. When I retrieved her file from the Otterbein Archives, I wondered if it might contain information about this tragic accident. Indeed it did…in a typed autobiography Mary read when she was guest of honor at the 1977 annual meeting of the Westerville Otterbein Women’s Club.  Here is what she said:

“It was a joy for me to be introduced by Agnes Buchert Hoover. I grew up in a house which stood more or less where the east end of the Campus Center is now. During many of those years Agnes and her family lived across the alley, which was an extension of Grove Street, in a house belonging to the Clements family, to whom they were related. She and I share many memories of this particular place, most of them happy, some tinged with sadness……Sometimes I stand by the windows here in the Campus Center and look out at the graceful green hollow to the north. Much further back than I can remember it was dug out as a gravel pit. During my early childhood it was wildly overgrown, and there was a ramshackle building where someone lived. It was mysterious and scary, and I was forbidden to go there. Later on the area was cleared, and some gravel excavated for the construction of McFadden Science Hall. This left a deep pit on the east side which filled up with water. In it the eight-year old son of one of the music professors fell and was drowned on a day which Agnes and I will never forget.”

Young Arthur Spessard is buried in an unmarked grave at Otterbein Cemetery. There is no mention of him in the obituaries of his parents who retired to their native Maryland and are buried there. A second son, Dwight R., was born to the Spessards the same year Arthur died. He and his wife Agnes are buried at Denison University Cemetery. There is no mention of Arthur in his brother’s obituary either. The Public Opinion article of the drowning has been provided to the City of Westerville which owns the cemetery. Perhaps the City could erect a marker naming those buried in unmarked graves. Or perhaps Otterbein could place a memorial boulder with bronze tablet behind the Campus Center…and name the grassy open space Arthur Spessard Memorial Commons. “Possessed of a lovable disposition and little traits that made him loved by all who knew him” (The Tan and Cardinal 6/2/1919), Arthur is lost to history.

In 1908, the Thomas family purchased the Professor Zuck house at 98 West Home Street and moved to Westerville. Mary, age 2 at that time, would spend the rest of her life within steps of Otterbein University. Her later residence at 80 West College Avenue was just two doors from Clippinger Hall and next door to the parsonage of Church of the Master United Methodist. She and her mother Emma purchased and donated the land on which the parsonage was constructed in 1937. Mary’s reflections (more an autobiography) at the end of this blog are 10 pages in length which might be a bit much for some readers. If that’s the case, at least read the humorous short first page. 😊 A stock market wizard as described to me by a friend, she left her estate of $6.3 million to Otterbein at her passing in 1999…after having donated her house to Otterbein in 1979. The endowed Thomas Academic Excellence Series annually provides a book to each first-year student which is then studied by the entire first-year class. It also funds bringing the author to campus.

Published 7/16/2021. Don Foster, Otterbein Class of 1973. donfoster73@gmail.com

Blog update 12/2022: The above blog became a reality and was published on 12/26/2021. The house is still suspected of being a Yost & Packard. But what still remains buried in the backyard today is what is stunning about this property at 32 W. Home St. In 2023, it may become a private boarding house for Otterbein students. Here is the link:

https://doninwesterville.com/2021/12/26/craze-brings-national-roque-tourney-to-westerville-in-1934/

Mary Thomas 1977 delightful speech and autobiography. If 10 pages is too much, at least check the humor of the first page. 🙂 Thanks to Stephen Grinch, Otterbein University Archivist, for providing this document.

7/16/2021 donfoster73@gmail.com

This blog showcases the known designs of Columbus architects Joseph Warren Yost & Frank Lucius Packard in the region of Champaign, Clark, Logan, and Union Counties of Ohio. These two architects were in partnership during the years 1892-1899; each practiced separately before and after this period of time. The history of these structures has not been studied. The blog’s purpose is to generate local appreciation of these treasures, inspire research/promotion of them, and save/value those that remain. The Yost & Packard firm, nationally recognized, would likely be considered one of Ohio’s most significant.

I wish to thank the following individuals for their generous and thorough assistance in contributing pictures and documentation for the blog: Natalie Stone Fritz of the Clark County Historical Society, Sue Mattinson of the South Charleston Ohio Heritage Commission and author of Edward Edwards: The Man Who Built South Charleston, Ohio, Todd McCormick and Beth Marshall of the Logan County History Center, and Bob Parrott of the Union County Historical Society.

Published 6/30/2021 by Don Foster. donfoster73@gmail.com

Champaign County

Clark County

Logan County

Union County

6/30/2021 donfoster73@gmail.com

This blog covers the circa 1880’s-1907 Westerville design work of prominent Columbus architects Joseph Warren Yost and Frank Lucius Packard. The firm known as Yost & Packard was formed in 1892 and ended its run in 1899 when Yost moved to New York City. Each had his own firm before and after their partnership. Described here are (1) Y&P designs that have been confirmed via paper trails from various sources, (2) two that seem likely Y&P designs, (3) several that could be their designs, and (4) a personal association Packard had with Westerville. The search for confirmation of the “likely” designs and the “could be” designs continues…frustrating because it may never pay off…fulfilling because it just may, with some help. PLEASE NOTE: This blog contains quite a few pictures so give it several minutes to download. The pictures download haphazardly.

Published 5/6/2021 by Don Foster. donfoster73@gmail.com

1886/87, designed by Yost: Westerville M.E. (Methodist Episcopal) Church, 51 North State Street.

This church first began meeting in a log structure erected in 1818 near where the Westerville Community Center stands today on North Cleveland Avenue at County Line Road. As membership grew it was decided in 1838 to relocate on land donated by church trustee Matthew Westervelt, one of the three Westervelt brothers (Peter, William) after whom Westerville takes its name. In that year a brick structure was built at the southwest corner of what is now the intersection of North State and West Home Streets.

Continued growth led to the need for a larger place of worship. According to a supplement of the Public Opinion published Friday, December 23, 1887: “When it was decided to build a new church, the pastor, Rev. R.D. Morgan, was authorized to visit other churches elsewhere and to gather such information as would be helpful in selecting a plan for the new church. He was much pleased with the audience room of a church he saw at Granville but did not like the Sunday school department. When he was at Dayton he was especially pleased with the Sunday school room but not so well with the audience room. If these two desirable things in the two churches could be combined in one he would have a church which would be what the people needed. The building committee endorsed his views and Mr. J.W. Yost, an accomplished architect from Columbus, very completely and satisfactorily worked out the suggestions of the committee. The plan was adopted and work commenced. The building has been completed and will be dedicated on Christmas.” Between Yost and Packard, they designed over 70 churches throughout Ohio which includes over 30 in the Columbus area. One particular unique set of designs is featured in my blog Annual Trek for Annuals Yields Frank Packard Pink Sandstone Churches.

In 1958, the current Church of the Messiah United Methodist replaced the 1887 edifice. Credit church historians with saving the blueprints to which the architect’s name is affixed. Also saved was the cornerstone which has been placed in an interior courtyard.

1889/90, designed by Yost: Holmes Building, North State Street at West Main Street.

On April 24, 1890, the Holmes Building welcomed an invitation-only gathering of 150 to a grand opening evening celebration. Designed for Thomas Holmes by Joseph Yost, this three-story structure with two large basements initially housed the following: hotel of 30 guest rooms, dining room, 2 storefronts, barber shop, tailor shop, and livery stable/blacksmith shop at the rear. The initial storefront occupants were Beatty & Linabary, “Cash Grocers” and The Knox Shoe House, “Tennis and Bicycle Shoes a Specialty.”

Various tenants have occupied the Holmes Building over the years, but one family has a record of longevity that likely will never be broken…54 years by the descendants of current Westerville resident Judge Alan E. Norris. In 1912, Edward Jackson Norris moved his family to town, purchased the shoe store, and announced E.J. Norris “The Shoe Man” is open for business. His son J. Russell joined the business upon his 1924 graduation from Otterbein and the store became E.J. Norris & Son. Its run ended in 1966. In between that span of years, Ida Bauer Schrader purchased the hotel/restaurant operation and moved into the building with her sons and daughter Dorothy…all of whom worked the business during the Schrader run which ended in 1931. Eventually Dorothy married J. Russell Norris, parents of Judge Alan E. Norris.

Joseph Warren Yost’s eastern Ohio roots and his early career in eastern Ohio are the subject of a separate blog linked below.

https://doninwesterville.com/2023/09/05/architect-joseph-warren-yost-in-ohio-1870-1899-his-early-designs-and-a-selection-of-those-that-followed/

1890/91, designed by Packard: Remodel of the Philomathean Literary Society Hall, Towers Hall, Otterbein University.

Literary societies at religious-affiliated colleges and universities were the forerunners to what eventually became a system of fraternities and sororities. Otterbein had two societies for men and two societies for women. Each had a meeting room in Towers Hall, constructed in 1870 to replace the previous main structure destroyed by fire. These rooms were used for debates, speaking engagements, music, and other activities. The men’s Philomathean Literary Society, founded in 1851 and the oldest of the four societies, underwent a high-quality remodel in the spring of 1891 designed by Frank Packard. Additional changes were made in later years including the addition of electric lighting in 1899. The Philomathean Room is the sole survivor today, and its restoration is a combination of the remodels over its long existence. Fortunately, the significant Packard additions are still there…the woodwork, the heavy front doors with transom above, the tin ceiling, and the cathedral glass windows. Towers Hall was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

A reporter for Westerville’s newspaper had this to say in the 9/3/1891 edition: “The PUBLIC OPINION is an eager disciple of progress, and an ardent admirer of her works; so that it was with more than ordinary interest that the representative of this paper, not long since, visited the newly furnished home of the Philomathean literary society. He had heard much of the pains and expense that had been employed by enthusiastic Philomatheans, to beautify their beloved hall, but the astonishment and wonder which attended a visit cannot be expressed in words. It is gratifying to know what Westerville possesses, (by leave of the boys) a hall than which there is none more beautiful in the state. It is indeed an honor to all who bear the name “Philomathean.”

1892/93, design by Yost & Packard: Christian Association Building (aka Y.M.C.A. Building), Otterbein University.

On June 6, 1877, Otterbein sent student Ethelbert Alpheus Starkey to the International Y.M.C.A. Convention in Louisville, Kentucky. Upon his return, the first college men’s “Y” association in the state was formed. Five years later on the Otterbein campus, the first women’s “Y” association in the state and only the third in the United States was formed. As indicated previously in this blog, students raised the funds to erect a building in 1892 to house these organizations making it the first college Christian association building in the state. The first floor consisted of a reception hall, reading room, parlor, fireplace, and gym at the rear. The second floor was for devotional meetings. The tower housed the secretary’s office. Lavatories, locker rooms and a ball cage were located in the basement. When Alumni Gymnasium opened in 1929, the “Sosh” building became the home of the women’s health and physical education department and was also used by music and other organizations. It was razed in the summer of 1975 to make way for Roush Hall.

1895, designed by Yost & Packard: exterior addition to and interior redesign of Garry Waldo Meeker house, 313 North State Street.

Garry Waldo Meeker was the driving force in bringing the electric interurban (“trolley”) from Columbus to Westerville, the first Franklin County suburb connected by rail. The tracks started in downtown near the State Capitol, followed Cleveland Avenue to today’s Minerva Park suburb, turned east at that point, and then followed Westerville Road (Rt 3) through the center of Uptown Westerville. At the time operations began in September of 1895, Meeker purchased the Westerville Fairgrounds at the eastern edge of town to increase patronage for the Columbus Central Railway Company (owner of the CCRC interurban line) of which he was an officer.

Meeker’s large brick Westerville residence was located on North State Street on land today that is occupied by Saint Paul Catholic Church. He was not the original owner as he previously resided in Columbus where his father George had served one term as mayor. Around 1895, architects Yost & Packard did an extensive redesign both inside and out including construction of a three-story brick turret as shown in the picture further below. Meeker was familiar with this firm as it had previously designed structures for the CCRC interurban line in 1894/95 and the Holmes Building for neighbor Thomas Holmes who lived across the street.

During this flurry of activity, a son born to the Meekers in March of 1894 died the following November. His obituary states that four neighborhood boys were pallbearers one of whom was Jamie Holmes, son of Thomas and Nancy Holmes.

1895/96, designed by Yost & Packard: Vine Street School, 44 North Vine Street.

By the 1890’s, Westerville had grown to the point where a much larger building was needed to house its students. This would be the fourth bigger and better move, and Thomas Holmes was behind the urgent push for construction. He likely influenced the decision to choose Yost & Packard as architects.

There was a grand celebration on “Westerville Day” March 19, 1896, when Vine Street School was dedicated. The ceremony began with a mass meeting at the Otterbein University chapel, several blocks from the new school. From there a procession formed, and a march proceeded through a nasty snowstorm to 44 North Vine Street. Governor Asa S. Bushnell arrived via the new interurban line and announced “I am glad, though, to be privileged to stand for a few moments in your presence, especially since the sunshine in your faces is at so great contrast with the lack of it out-of-doors.” Among his remarks was “At fourteen years of age, I left the public schools of Cincinnati to battle with the world. I had the advantages of the lower grades only. It is but natural that I have great love for the common schools.”

In 1975, Vine Street School was added to the National Register of Historic Places. It is amazing that Westerville City Schools has cared for this building for over 125 years and has continuously operated it as a school, now called Emerson.

1897, designed by Yost & Packard: Dr. William Johnston and Jessie Zent Zuck house, 98 West Home Street.

William Johnston Zuck, Otterbein University Class of 1878, taught English at his alma mater from 1884 to 1903 and included serving an additional role as secretary-treasurer of the institution. Prior to the construction of his house in 1897, he would have had a business affiliation with Yost & Packard through their work on the Philomathean Hall remodel, the construction of the Christian Association Building, and the construction of Vine Street School (Zuck was secretary of the Board of Education). While it is not known who resided in the house for a handful of years after Zuck left Otterbein, the Frederick Nichols Thomas family arrived in Westerville in 1908 and purchased the house. During their ownership, the house became connected to a tragic accident that left a mark on young daughter Mary. The history of this house, the tragedy, and an insight into the life of Mary Burnham Thomas will be the subject of future blog Otterbein University’s “Graceful Green Hollow” a Source of Sorrow in 1919. When Mary passed away in 1999, she left her estate of $6.3 million to Otterbein (from which she graduated in 1928). Lambda Gamma Epsilon Fraternity was the last occupant of the William Johnston Zuck house which was purchased by Otterbein in 1935. It was razed in 1964 to provide parking on the east side of the newly-constructed Otterbein Campus Center.

1903/04, designed by Packard: Saint Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church, 4686 East Walnut Street.

When the pandemic of 2020 forced hunkering down, I headed to the desktop computer in my storage closet of an office. There I began weeks of searching “Yost” and “Packard” in the digitized issues of The Columbus Dispatch spanning the years 1882 (Yost’s first year in Columbus) through 1923 (the final year of Packard’s life). Of the many finds, the most unexpected was Saint Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church. The congregation was formed in 1852 and initially met in homes. (Services were conducted in German until 1885 at which time a second service in English was started. That eventually led to dropping the German service in 1916.) By 1855 a church of log and stone was built on East Walnut Street to serve Westerville. On Sunday, October 2, 1904, a replacement edifice designed by Frank Packard was dedicated. As this was quite a jaunt from town (4 miles), the congregation opened Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in 1910 at 43 East Home Street in the Uptown. The same pastor served both locations until each parish became independent in 1933. Today Saint Paul looks different as it has been sided and expanded…and Hoover Reservoir put a big chunk of East Walnut Street under water. Grace Lutheran has since moved to the corner of Otterbein Avenue and Schrock Road. The vacated church on East Home Street, a frame structure, was encased in brick in a major 1936 remodel. It has been occupied by various enterprises and today houses The Harrison Company Real Estate Group.

1907, designed by Packard: memorial tablet honoring composer Benjamin R. Hanby, Otterbein University.

Searching the digitized Columbus Dispatch for Yost & Packard designs was a heckuva lot easier task than the same goal searching 40 years worth of murky microfilm of the Westerville Public Opinion. While there were no major discoveries, an announcement that Frank Packard had designed a bronze wall tablet in honor of Benjamin Hanby was a fun surprise. I wonder if a busy architect got a kick out of such a major change of pace. I wonder if he told the alumni association of Otterbein University “no charge.” The verse on the tablet is from “Darling Nellie Gray” of which most people today likely have never heard. Years ago, though, it was nationally known and has been referred to as the Uncle Tom’s Cabin of song. The tablet was unveiled at Commencement 1907, the 50^th, and Benjamin Hanby’s widow came from California as guest of honor for the ceremony. There were only two graduates in that first Class of 1857, both women, and Mary Katherine “Kate” Winter Hanby was one of them…and the only survivor by 1907. When the Carnegie Library opened a year later, the tablet was mounted on a lobby wall where it has remained since.

1907/08, designed by Packard: Carnegie Library, Otterbein University.

Industrialist Andrew Carnegie provided grants to help fund almost 1,700 libraries in the United States between 1893 and 1919. While the vast majority were purposed to serve the entire community, 109 were considered “academic” and built for use by students on college and university campuses. Of the 111 Carnegies built in Ohio, Otterbein’s was 1 of 7 “academic” Carnegies built in the state…all of which still stand. Selected as the library contractor was Westerville’s Henry J. Karg. First his crew had to raze the former Otterbein president Dr. Lewis Davis house that stood on the site and had been part of the Underground Railroad. Frank Packard designed 9 of the 111 Ohio Carnegie libraries including a second “academic” library on the campus of Miami University. Coincidentally, Karg was the general contractor for that one as well. His significant builds across Ohio are described in my blog Henry J. Karg: A Prolific Builder Who Called Westerville Home.

Today, the former Carnegie Library houses the Office of Admission and the building is renamed Clippinger Hall after Otterbein’s longest serving president, Dr. Walter Gillan Clippinger, who served from 1909 to 1939. Clippinger Hall was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2021, and its history is described in detail in the blog linked below.

https://doninwesterville.com/2021/02/03/iron-master-makes-gift-carnegie-library-at-otterbein-university/

1908, designed by Packard: Vine Street School 2-story 4-classroom addition, 44 North Vine Street.

A headline in the 4/2/1908 edition of the Public Opinion proclaimed “Architect Packard Plans to Push the Work With All Possible Speed.” There was an urgency for a Vine Street School addition to begin and finish over summer vacation. A week later the headline read “Henry Karg Wins” in reference to bidding on the construction contract. Karg had just finished up the Packard-designed Otterbein Carnegie Library. The addition included moving toilet facilities indoors and the first drinking fountains in town. Superintendent L.W. Warson announced in the Public Opinion of September 3, “The commodious new $16,000 addition erected by Contractor Karg is all in readiness for the opening and the entire building has been renovated.” Karg’s son Rollin built a home for his family next door to the school (south side) that still stands today.

All of the structures shown below are SPECULATIVE. They may or may not have been designed by Yost & Packard. No documentation could be located to confirm who designed them. But there is reason to suspect they might be Y&P designs, and the reason is stated for each. Listing them in this blog may lead to answers from readers.

SPECULATED to have been designed by Yost in 1884: Thomas Holmes house, 372 North State Street.

Thomas Holmes hired Joseph Yost to design his hotel, but did he also hire him to design his house approximately three years prior to Yost’s 1887 design of the Methodist Episcopal Church?

A young Thomas Holmes came from England to the United States to live with his aunt Mary Holmes shortly after she became widowed in 1869. In the summer of 1884, Thomas built a brick house on North State Road (now Street). God’s House, Our Home, the history of First Presbyterian Church of Westerville, includes brief histories of members who were considered Westerville’s early civic leaders. Thomas Holmes was one of those leaders. There is reference in God’s House, Our Home to his North State Road residence as being a “palatial home” which suggests the work of an architect. If it was, how would an immigrant from England know who to select? The genealogy of Thomas’ wife Nancy reaches back to Belmont County, Ohio…the same as does Yost who settled in Bellaire of Belmont County and opened an architecture practice there. Over time his name may have become well known in this area due to numerous designs of significance throughout the county (courthouse, churches, schools, opera house, jail, hotels, and more). Nancy’s mother married William L. McConaughey who was originally from Guernsey County, contiguous to Belmont County, where Yost designed the courthouse, county children’s home, a school, and a hotel. So Nancy’s father William may have been aware of Yost. A third possible familiarity with Yost may have come from Aunt Mary. She was a member of the First Congregational Church of Columbus…a structure Yost redesigned circa 1884. There were just nine architects listed in the Columbus City Directory in 1884. At that time, Yost had a very impressive resume.

While a paper trail confirming the work of an architect has yet to be discovered, the house does not seem to be out-of-the box. The front porch may be an indication of an architect’s design work. Note the difference between the original look and the look of today. Supporting speculation that it was an architect’s design (and that of Yost) are these two additional pieces of information. (1) Carole Bean, great granddaughter of Thomas and Nancy Holmes, made this statement regarding a conversation she had with her mother, Eleanor Louise Holmes Bean: “I believe that the house on State Street was designed by the same architect (Yost) who designed the Holmes Hotel. I remember my mother and I talking about it and she had found some information about the architect at the time.” (2) The real estate news section of the 2/29/1884 Columbus Dispatch reported on a building being designed in Toledo by Yost. The article ended with: “Mr. Yost also has numerous other smaller contracts on hand, some of them out of the city.” As previously mentioned, the Holmes’ house was built in the summer of 1884.

SPECULATED to have been designed by Yost & Packard in 1895: Columbus Central Railway interurban car barn, 268 North State Street.

The Columbus Central Railway’s interurban line to Westerville ended at a car barn constructed at the corner of North State and County Line Roads. At the Columbus starting point of the line, Yost & Packard designed the Railway’s electric power plant…the exterior of which was red terra cotta brick…and likely an adjacent office building in similar architecture. The Westerville car barn was made of the same red terra cotta brick (now covered by a different finish) and had similar window and door trim. Due to the Y&P design work at the Columbus starting point, their redesign of Garry Meeker’s house across the street from the Westerville car barn (Meeker was an officer with the CCRR), and Y&P employee (and Otterbein University graduate) Laurence Barnard’s design work on Meeker’s Westerville Fairgrounds (all in 1894/95), it seems a reasonable to speculate that the Westerville car barn was a Y&P design as well. Perhaps Laurence Barnard himself designed it!!

https://doninwesterville.com/2023/06/29/architects-joseph-yost-and-frank-packard-in-ohio-columbus-homes-l-z/

https://doninwesterville.com/2021/12/26/craze-brings-national-roque-tourney-to-westerville-in-1934/

Frank Packard’s Personal Association with Westerville

The 11/1/1923 issue of the Westerville Public Opinion reported the following (Packard died unexpectedly of a stroke at age 57):

Noted Architect Did Work in Westerville. “The death of Frank L. Packard, noted architect of Columbus, recalls to many Westerville people the fact that he was the architect for the Vine Street school building. Mr. Packard was also developing the Otterbein College building program. He was well known by many Westerville people.”

Delaware (OH) native Frank Packard was born in June of 1866, graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1887, and then settled into the family home on the eastern edge of downtown Columbus where his parents had relocated. He married Eva Lena Elliott of Sunbury. It’s likely that visits by the couple to Eva’s parents’ house were by train which ran from Columbus through Westerville to Sunbury…thus establishing or continuing a familiarity with Westerville. This beautiful country Elliott family home just south of Sunbury is coincidentally owned by a 1968 graduate of Westerville High School. It’s pictured in my blog Frank Packard’s Architecture Left Mark on Delaware linked below.

https://doninwesterville.com/2020/11/21/packards-architecture-left-mark-on-delaware/

In the Spring of 1891, Otterbein University’s student Philomathean Literary Society did a remodel of their meeting space designed by Frank Packard. Edgar L. Weinland, a student graduating in June of that year, was president of the organization. While it is not known how Packard may have been recruited as architect, his father Alvaro was well established in a downtown Columbus real estate practice. Weinland’s family moved from Westerville to downtown Columbus where his father Jacob had a successful fire insurance business. It’s likely Alvaro and Jacob knew each other…and perhaps that is how Frank became hired for the design. Regardless, Frank Packard and Edgar Weinland had an association that continued long afterwards.

Less than a year after the Otterbein project, Frank Packard and Joseph Yost formed a partnership (Columbus Dispatch 1/23/1892). On June 8 of 1892, Otterbein University broke ground on the Christian Association Building designed by Yost & Packard making this one of the earliest efforts of their new firm. Students had been wanting a meeting space for the YMCA including a gymnasium, but the University was struggling financially and unable to provide funding. Students initiated and completed an aggressive successful fund-raising campaign with subscriptions announced in issues of the Otterbein Aegis. There was a two-way tie for the top gift of $250 (equates to $7,000 today). It’s not surprising that one source was an alumnus (David L. Rike of Rike’s Department Store in Dayton), but the other source certainly is: Yost & Packard…a gift that certainly speaks of some kind of affinity.

Among sporting news items in the 9/22/1894 issue of The Columbus Dispatch was this statement: “Lawrence Barnard, Otterbein’s famous full-back, is in Columbus studying architecture with Yost & Packard.” It’s likely he met Packard during the Philomathean Room remodel of 1891. As previously mentioned, Garry Meeker purchased the Westerville Fairgrounds located on East College Avenue hoping to draw customers from Columbus via the interurban line. He hired Laurence (his name was misspelled as Lawrence by the newspaper) to design additions and improvements to his new entertainment venue in 1985. The interurban car barn on North State Road was constructed in this same year and is speculated to have been a Yost & Packard design. It’s possible Laurence Llewellyn Barnard had a hand in that work as well.

Early in my research of Yost & Packard I came across an article in the Westerville Public Opinion of 1/8/1903 indicating that J.R. Williams was buying back the Avenue Bakery owned by Samuel H. Rownd. I set that aside while wondering if Samuel was related by marriage to Cora Linnie Packard Rownd, Frank’s sister (Cora married Harry Lester Rownd whose father Robert was Columbus postmaster). A genealogy search revealed that Samuel and Robert were brothers. I also came across an article in the Public Opinion of 8/4/1904 announcing that Margaret B. Rownd of Westerville had married Henry Clinton Verbeck. Verbeck rang a bell as I recalled the late Lt. Col. Morris Briggs, my former boss at Otterbein, had once mentioned a relative by the name of Robert K. Verbeck who was a retired Ohio State University professor and a nationally recognized authority on American Indian lore and silent movies. A genealogy search revealed Robert was the son of Margaret and Henry. I contacted Lt. Col. Briggs’ son Alan who sent me a picture of Margaret taken by an Urbana, Ohio, photography studio…which I thought was odd. I set that aside as well. During the first few slow months of the pandemic, I did a search of the digitized issues of The Columbus Dispatch for anything Yost and anything Packard. Of the many hits, one was a 1/4/1890 society page mention of Cora visiting friends in Urbana for the holidays. I set that aside. When libraries began offering limited hours in late spring of the pandemic, I checked to see if the Urbana library was open as I planned to stop there on my way to a visit to Miami County. I noticed on the library website that the Urbana newspapers were digitized. That was a surprise followed by an even bigger surprise when I searched “Rownd” in the Urbana newspapers due to the picture Alan Briggs had provided. Turns out Samuel Rownd, his wife and daughter Margaret lived in Urbana circa 1884 to 1896. (That search also led to discovering that the town of Uhrichsville, Ohio, was named after the grandfather of Samuel’s wife.) The final piece of this puzzle is a light-hearted 8/16/1911 article in The Columbus Dispatch describing Rownd family matriarch “Grandma Rownd” (mother of Robert and Samuel) being taken on a 90^th birthday drive around Columbus by “Frank Packard, architect.” Thus the Packard’s had a family connection with Westerville.

As mentioned, the paths of Westerville native Edgar Weinland and Frank Packard likely crossed many times after Weinland’s 1891 graduation from Otterbein. Packard designed Weinland’s South Sixth Street residence near the Ohio State University campus. Among Westerville designs by Yost & Packard that followed 1891 was Packard’s design of Otterbein’s Carnegie Library constructed in 1907. Weinland was chair of the library building committee. In 1922, Otterbein embarked on a multi-year Diamond Jubilee Campaign to raise money for endowment and campus buildings. Weinland was chair of the Columbus committee of this campaign. Packard’s obituary mentioned he was “developing the Otterbein College building program”, but his unexpected death in 1923 ended his Otterbein affiliation. Both of these men were among the early leaders of Columbus and their contributions (Weinland as City Attorney and Packard as a visionary and driver for a purposeful downtown waterfront) have not been forgotten. As recently as 2016 the Ohio State University Retirees Association newsletter stated of Packard: “In Columbus he saw the beauty developing the Scioto riverfront into a grand civic center for the capitol city. That plan evolved over time into our Civic Center and Scioto Mile.” Weinland’s passing included these words of gratitude as published in The Columbus Dispatch of 8/18/1959: “Columbus will miss the ripe wisdom which for more than 50 years has contributed to its upbringing…he was one of the nation’s leading authorities on municipal government.” Weinland Park, a neighborhood east of the Short North and named after Edgar, is today the focus of a major rebirth…and future blog Weinland Park of Columbus: Namesake Edgar Is Missing.

5/6/2021 donfoster73@gmail.com

This blog is intended to accompany Otterbein’s former Carnegie Library being listed February 5, 2021, on the National Register of Historic Places. Due to that, due to my interest in its architect, and due to one discovery leading to another…this thing got out of hand. So my apologies for long windedness. Press on to the pictures if you prefer. There will be some future blog offshoots to this Carnegie one based on what I dug up, but they will be kept shorter. 😊 PLEASE NOTE: This blog contains almost 100 pictures so give it a few minutes to download. They download haphazardly. The Packard mausoleum is the very last picture.

About Carnegie Free Public Libraries

Andrew Carnegie once said “the man who dies rich, dies disgraced.” And thus, the self-made Scottish immigrant who built Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Steel Company into the largest steel manufacturer in the world proceeded to give away his vast wealth.

The first free public library funded by a Carnegie grant opened in Fairfield, Iowa, in 1893 (still standing). Over the course of the next approximately 30 years an additional 1,688 libraries opened including 111 in Ohio (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Carnegie_libraries_in_Ohio). Of that total, 70% were built in towns with populations of 10,000 or fewer and for under $20,000 in cost. Grant amounts were based on $2-$3 per resident. Requirements to receive a grant included demonstrating need for a public library, providing a building site, and an ability to provide support and maintenance at an annual amount of 10% of the grant. At program’s end, there were 3,500 public libraries in the U.S. with half of those funded by Carnegie grants. Over 800 additional buildings were constructed in other countries.

When Carnegie’s grant program began, there were no architectural restrictions. Communities designed buildings that had excessive waste (at the expense of the intended use) such as grand entry halls, colonnades, marble trim, vaulted domes, rooms devoted to art or other non-library purpose, etc. By 1904, Carnegie’s private secretary James Bertram began reviewing blueprints to ensure functional library layouts that avoided such waste. Later, he prepared a pamphlet suggesting 6 floor plans for small libraries housed on a main floor including a partially exposed basement with large windows and a flight of steps leading up to the front door. State library associations picked up this effort of restraint. The most common resulting façade design used by architects became referred to as the Carnegie Classical. About a fourth of all Carnegies are of this design.

In 1919, the grant program funding construction of Carnegie libraries ended. By the close of World War II, these buildings were 40 to 50 years old and their demise had begun. Suburbs developed and city centers decayed as population shifted outward. Carnegies were converted to other uses, demolished for parking needed by adjacent businesses, replaced by one-story buildings without basements, or razed by the urban renewal movement of the 1960’s. A major handicap to these buildings was the flight of steps that limited access. The remedies lead to severely altering the original facades. Fortunately, the preservation movement born after the urban renewal movement has saved many Carnegies in their original exterior appearance though the use and thus the interiors have changed.

About Carnegie Academic Libraries

Most of the above information was obtained from Theodore Jones’ book Carnegie Libraries Across America, published in 1997, which is an extensive history of the Carnegie libraries built in this country. Oddly, there is no mention of a second category of Carnegie libraries…academic libraries. Carnegie Library (now Clippinger Hall) at Otterbein University is 1 of 7 academic libraries constructed in Ohio. The other college and university libraries are located at Cedarville, Heidelberg, Marietta, Miami, Oberlin, and Wilberforce. All still stand. The library at Athens was opened as a free public library and was shared with Ohio University. In the cities of Marietta and Tiffin (Heidelberg), both an academic and a public library were Carnegie-funded.

Per Wikipedia, 109 academic libraries were constructed in 32 states plus the District of Columbia. Pennsylvania has the most at 9 followed by Iowa, Kansas and Ohio at 7 each. Of the 109, 19 have been razed while 14 have been added to the National Register of Historic Places including the libraries at Heidelberg and at Wilberforce. Only a handful of those remaining retain either their original library use or a new specialized library use. Andrew Carnegie had a preference for African-American academic institutions, and 16 received grants including Wilberforce. No information has been found regarding the purpose of grants awarded to academic institutions.

Otterbein Site Prior to Carnegie Library

A two-story brick house occupied this site prior to the construction of Carnegie Library. It was the residence of Dr. Lewis Davis, a founder of Otterbein and president of the University from 1850 to 1857 and then again from 1860 to 1871. Prior to its demolition, the structure housed the Davis Conservatory of Music. The conservatory was relocated directly across the street to the new Lambert Memorial Music and Art Hall that opened in 1909.

Westerville was part of an Underground Railroad trail leading north to freedom. Among those who assisted escaping slaves was Dr. Davis. In his Mysteries of Ohio’s Underground Railroads published in 1951, Wilbur Henry Siebert writes that the Davis family “hid wayfarers back of cornstalks hanging from their attic rafters” at various times from 1848 to 1854. In 1854 another Otterbein founder, Reverend William Hanby, moved to Westerville and settled next door. Hanby constructed a barn at the back of his house for his harness and saddle-making business. In it, he and Davis hid slaves in the haymow with oldest son Benjamin R. (Otterbein Class of 1858) keeping guard before guiding those hidden there to the next stop. Church of the Master now occupies this site. The Hanby house was moved to 162 West Home Street (the area between the Otterbein football field and North West Street) where it deteriorated to the point of demolition. It was saved by Dacia Custer Shoemaker, Otterbein Class of 1895, who as a child lived two doors east of Lambert Hall at 89 West College Avenue. Darcia was delivered at birth by Dr. William Otterbein Hanby, son of Reverend Hanby. (Her father was Dr. Isaac Newton Custer, a prominent dentist who as a child lived in the same eastern Ohio house as first cousin George Armstrong Custer of battlefield fame.) Moved again, the Hanby House is now located at 160 West Main Street across from Otterbein’s Science Center. It’s owned by the Ohio History Connection, operated as a museum by the Westerville Historical Society, and recognized by the National Park Service Network to Freedom as a significant Underground Railroad site.

Today’s Church of the Master opened in 1916 as First Church of the United Brethren in Christ. The congregation had previously been meeting in the chapel at Otterbein, the first collegiate institution established by the United Brethren denomination.  A headline on the front page of the April 8, 1915, edition read “CHOOSE GRAY BRICK. New U.B. Church to Be Matched in Color with Carnegie Library.” In its early years the pastors assigned to the church rotated among Otterbein faculty and staff. Students attended chapel services, and commencements were held in the sanctuary. Obviously these two parcels of ground spanning West College Avenue to West Main Street share a rich history and association.

The Westerville Public Opinion newspaper follows the progress…

• Public Opinion April 6, 1905. Headline reads: “CARNEGIE LIBRARY. Iron Master Makes Gift of $20,000.” President Lewis Bookwalter announces that the previous day the following letter was received: “Dear Sir: Mr. Carnegie desires me to say that he will be glad to pay for the erection of a library building at a cost of $20,000 provided that the amount of $20,000 new endowment is raised toward the upkeeping and carrying on of the library. Respectfully yours, James Bertram, Secretary.”
• Public Opinion November 1, 1906. Announcement is made that the library will be located at West College Avenue and Grove Street and that construction will begin summer 1907. Also reported is that Dr. Erwin S. Chapman, “distinguished orator…personally acquainted with many of the leaders of the nation”, will give a lecture in the chapel for the purpose of raising funds for books. He will match the amount raised as he “is so deeply interested in the Otterbein library.” Chapman was Superintendent of the Anti-Saloon League of California and once spoke to 600 ministers in October 1906 about “liquor trafficking.” Also speaking at that event was Reverend Howard Hyde Russell, Superintendent of the Anti-Saloon League of New York and founder of the League. Russell later moved to Westerville and built a stately residence at 79 South Grove Street that is now owned and occupied by Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity.
• Public Opinion January 17, 1907. Announcement is made that a hall of music and art will be built across the street from the new library. “The sites for these two fine buildings are the very best that could be secured as they face the front campus of the university.”
• Public Opinion January 31, 1907. The architect is announced with a headline reading “Architect Frank L. Packard Has Prepared a Most Satisfactory Set of Plans…”. The architecture will be Doric.
• Public Opinion July 25, 1907. It is announced that “well known Westerville contractor” Henry Karg submitted the winning bid and that “the building is sure to be one of the finest and most complete small libraries in the country.” Also announced is that construction of the foundation of the music and art hall across the street will begin before winter with occupancy by September 1908. (Karg was the contractor for this building as well.)
• Public Opinion August 1, 1907. Pictured in this edition of the PO are Packard’s design of the exterior front and a blueprint of the first floor. It is further announced that “Contractor Karg and his force of men armed with a large battering ram made quick work of the old conservatory of music building at the corner of College Avenue and Grove Street in clearing up the site for the new Carnegie library.”
• Public Opinion November 14, 1907. “READY FOR ROOF” reads the headline. It is noted that architect Packard “was especially desirous of securing the maximum room in the building of that size” and “Contractor Karg has been especially successful in carrying out not only the details of the architect but he has carried out his spirit also.”
• Public Opinion June 11, 1908. Carnegie Library is dedicated Tuesday, June 9.

Otterbein’s Carnegie

Otterbein history keepers had the foresight to archive the original blueprints of the exterior front and interior first floor. While there is no basement blueprint known to exist, there are descriptions of the basement in two 1907 editions of the Public Opinion (January 31 and August 7). Otterbein also has a sketch of the 1950 look of both levels made from memory by an alumnus. The May 31, 1908, Annual Report of the Secretary and Treasurer shows a payment of $424.50 to the architect (equal to $12,000 in 2020).

The architecture of the exterior has been called Doric (by the Public Opinion as previously mentioned), Second Renaissance Revival (by an Ohio Historical Society inventory of 1975), and Neo-Classical Revival by the National Register of Historic Places. Based on Theodore Jones’ Carnegie Libraries Across America, it appears a more descriptive style might be Beaux-Arts Carnegie Classical. The exterior is original…even including the front steps. Exceptions are the roof, windows (interior framework was retained), front door and signage which have all been updated.

Most of the space on the first floor was devoted to a reading room on the east side and a study room on the west side that included a view of the campus. Each of these rooms had a fireplace. The rear room housed book stacks topped with a half story of additional stacks. Today the footprint has been altered to accommodate offices. Original configurations and finishes still exist including the wooden stairway to the basement, the vestibule and lobby, the large open east room with fireplace, the librarian’s office (which I once occupied as Director of Financial Aid), the metal back stairway to the half story stacks, the steam radiators, the woodwork, and the lobby domed skylights to which one is drawn upon entering. Oddly, neither of the Public Opinion articles mentioned the skylights which are the only extravagance of the building. Abigail A. Van, in her book Free to All: Carnegie Libraries & American Culture, wrote: “When you entered, you climbed up. In many of the early [Carnegie libraries], there would be a dome overhead with a skylight. You showed your worthiness by climbing to enlightenment.”

The basement consisted of a work room on the east side beneath the reading room above it and a lecture room on the west side beneath the study room above it. Both had a fireplace although neither exist today. The middle hallway lead to a restroom on either side and then to a supplemental stacks area beneath the main stacks area above it. A back stairway, no longer there, connected them. Today the basement is office space. Original construction includes the center hallway, wood trim, the restrooms and the rear exterior entryway.

The sketch drawn by the alumnus shows seating for approximately 75 in 1950. As mentioned, the library opened in 1908 and Packard died in 1923. Housed at the Otterbein Archives is a second Carnegie Library blueprint with architect Packard’s name affixed showing additions to both the east and west sides of the building. During that short span of 15 years the facility was quickly outgrown, and this fact was mentioned repeatedly in campus news publications.

While researching local history the past couple of years, I’ve had some fun and rewarding discoveries that just jumped out at me. “BRONZE TABLET” on the front page of the June 6, 1907, edition of the Public Opinion certainly did. The article appears to be the only known documentation that library architect Frank Packard also designed a bronze tablet that a year later would be installed in the Carnegie lobby. It commemorates the memory of Benjamin R. Hanby with the first phrase of the refrain of his song “Darling Nellie Gray.” The tablet arrived just in time for Commencement. Mary Kathryn “Kate” Winter Hanby, widow of Benjamin, traveled from her home in California to attend the unveiling and the 50^th anniversary of her 1857 graduation from Otterbein (Otterbein’s first two graduates were women: Kate and Sarah Jane Miller). Today, the tablet is still in place…and for awhile was just steps from the Hanby House next door where the music etched on it was written.

In 2002, Carnegie Libraries of Ohio was published. Here is what author Mary Ellen Armentrout added to her description of Otterbein’s Carnegie: “This library and college hold particular sentimental interest to me. I attended Otterbein College 1962-1966 and remember going to this building to register for classes, pay my tuition, and collect my work-study paychecks. This was long before I attended library school and contemplated a Carnegie library project. In 1987 I returned to my alma mater to work as a librarian and begin this project. I am very thankful to Otterbein College for giving me a rewarding educational experience.” Today Mary Ellen is a volunteer at the Otterbein Thrift Shop.

The Carnegie Architect

Architect Frank L. Packard’s career spanned approximately 34 years and ended suddenly when he passed away from a cerebral hemorrhage on October 26, 1923, at the age of 57. Numerous accounts of his life mention that he was involved in over 3400 designs many of which were public structures such as courthouses, hospitals, libraries, schools and university buildings. He also designed churches and residences including the Craftsman style house of which he was particularly fond. Initially, Packard was self-employed and Fair Avenue School in Columbus may have been his first design in 1890 at age 24. He and Joseph W. Yost soon formed the partnership Yost & Packard which designed significant buildings not just within their Central Ohio base, but throughout Ohio as well. Yost moved to New York after 1900 while Packard and his associates remained in Columbus.

Packard designs can readily be found via web searches. Unfortunately, there is no complete list of what he designed after the Yost & Packard partnership ended. A very small portion of familiar area examples include the old Ohio Governor’s Mansion on East Broad Street, Columbus North and Worthington high schools, the Granville Inn, the front porch addition to the Warren Harding home made famous in Harding’s “front porch campaign”, and houses in the prestigious Marble Cliff neighborhood of Columbus. Here are two examples of his noteworthy design categories:

• high schools in Ada, Ashtabula, Castalia, Cedarville, Chillicothe, Circleville, Coshocton, East Liverpool, Gahanna, Gallipolis, Granville, Hamilton, Hilliard, Ironton, Lima, Lisbon, Logan, Marysville, McArthur, Miamisburg, Millersburg, New Paris, New Philadelphia, Newark, Painesville, Pomeroy, Shelby, Sidney, Tiffin, Tipp City, Troy, Upper Arlington, Urbana, Van Wert, Wapakoneta, and West Liberty
• Andrew Carnegie-funded libraries in Athens, Cambridge, Miamisburg, Middleport, Norwalk, Oxford (Miami University), Upper Sandusky, Westerville (Otterbein University), and Washington Court House…and amazingly all of these still stand. These are pictured in the blog linked below.

https://doninwesterville.com/2021/02/03/the-ohio-carnegie-libraries-of-architect-frank-packard/

In the November 1, 1923, edition of the Public Opinion that followed Packard’s passing, it was noted that “he was well known by many Westerville people.” Indeed he likely was. By that time, the firm of Yost & Packard had designed the Hotel Holmes (now Uptown Pharmacy and other businesses), the Y.M.C.A. “Association” building on Otterbein’s campus (now the site of Roush Hall), Vine Street School (now Emerson Elementary School), the home of Professor William J. Zuck (now the east parking lot of the Campus Center), and an addition to the North State Street home of George W. Meeker. Post Yost’s departure, Packard designed St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church followed by a two-story addition to the rear of Vine Street School. Packard’s Westerville connection and portfolio will be the subject of additional blogs…shorter in length. 😊

Packard and his wife are buried in the Packard Mausoleum which he designed at Green Lawn Cemetery in Columbus. A byline on TouringOhio.com reads “The man who designed his own tomb.”

The Carnegie Contractor

Contractor Henry J. Karg came to Westerville in 1905 to construct the First National Bank/Bale & Walker Hardware building at the northeast corner of State and College (now Westerville Antiques + Revamped Decor). Previously, this Leesville, Ohio, native (Crawford County) had been self-employed as a stone mason in Fostoria, Ohio. Fostoria was the home of Fostoria Academy, a partnership between the community and the United Brethren Church. Per Otterbein publications the Record and the Aegis, at least 6 academy faculty and the academy principal were Otterbein alumni including Allen George Crouse whose father Isaac was instrumental in having the academy located in Fostoria. The superintendent of schools and the pastor of the United Brethren Church in Fostoria were also Otterbein alumni. While it is yet to be discovered whether the 5 Karg children attended the academy, the siblings of their mother Mary Violet (Flick) Karg did. It’s likely the Otterbein faculty influenced their decision to attend and graduate from Otterbein University between 1891 and 1906 (Alexander Flick ’94, Bertha Flick ’98, Carlton Flick ’06) . Due to continued financial difficulties and a devastating fire in 1904, Fostoria Academy closed. It seems logical that the academy/church associations in Fostoria influenced the Karg family relocation to Westerville in 1905. Incidentally, Allen George Crouse retired to Westerville and replaced a house at 48 West College Avenue with a new one of his own just a few houses east of the Carnegie Library. His wife’s father previously operated an iron foundry at the rear of that property which was a station on the Underground Railroad. Today the house is owned and occupied by Zeta Phi Fraternity.

Karg has received little notice in Westerville history despite what should be regarded as a prolific career of accomplishments including the 1906-1909 building boom at Otterbein. Here, he built the Phillip G. Cochran Memorial Hall, Carnegie Library, Lambert Memorial Music and Art Hall and the heating plant. Just down the street from the Carnegie, he built First Presbyterian Church. Other builds were the Bank of Westerville in the Uptown (now Emerald Bank), his Westerville Garage car dealership (the first in town), a factory on East Broadway Avenue, a cement block factory operated by his son located at East Lincoln Street and the railroad tracks, and the two-story addition to Vine Street (Emerson) School designed by Packard.

Karg’s two Westerville Packard-designed builds were not his only affiliation with the prominent architect. He also built Miami University’s Carnegie-funded Alumni Library,  First Presbyterian Church of Urbana, Collingwood Avenue Presbyterian Church of Toledo, and a Craftsman-style house in Washington Court House. Just as Packard seemed to have an affinity for designing high schools, Karg seemed to have the same for building them. They include: Bowling Green, Hebron, Martinsville, Nelsonville, Norwood, Piqua, Washington Court House, West Alexandria, and Wilmington.

In declining health, Karg began spending winters in Florida around 1915. The five Karg children, four of whom graduated from Otterbein, eventually moved elsewhere. The Karg family home at 201 South State Street and the farm behind it stretching west to Otterbein Cemetery were sold to Ernest Cherrington, editor of The American Issue which was the prolific publishing arm of the Anti-Saloon League. Cherrington developed housing lining a boulevard he named Glenwood. The Karg house was retained and sold to brothers Clarence, Clifford, and William Johnson. William, known as “Pussyfoot” Johnson, travelled extensively championing the Prohibition movement for the Anti-Saloon League (a Wikipedia page defines the nickname and more). Karg, his wife, and two of the children are buried at Otterbein Cemetery. A pictorial of his career is addressed in a separate blog.

The First Carnegie Librarian

In 1877 Colonel Milton Barnes was elected Ohio’s Secretary of State and relocated his family from Cambridge to Columbus. Upon serving two successive terms, he moved the family to Westerville where daughter Tirza Lydia enrolled in classes at Otterbein in the fall of 1881. Upon her graduation four years later, Tirza began a teaching career in Michigan that eventually lead back to Otterbein in 1890 where she assumed a dual role of faculty member and library assistant. When the Carnegie Library opened in 1908, Tirza became the first full-time Otterbein librarian. She is credited with introducing the closed reserve system and re-cataloging the book collection with the Dewey Decimal Classification system. By her retirement in 1934, the library had grown from a starting inventory of 10,335 volumes to an overcapacity of 35,000 thus rendering the facility inadequate.

In 1938 Tirza moved to her widowed sister’s home in California and passed away there in 1950. Maude Barnes Gantz, Otterbein Class of 1898, later wrote the following for the alumni series The Spirit of Otterbein: “She was much interested always in the individual students and their problems from college work and finances to love affairs and character building. Many times she helped students financially who went to advanced schools for the additional degrees winning lasting appreciation for her help. Quietly she lived and conscientiously she worked getting a rich reward as she saw class after class go out into the world stronger and richer for the influence of the years in Otterbein.” The complete document written of Tirza by her sister Maude can be accessed at the Otterbein Digital Commons: https://digitalcommons.otterbein.edu/archives_spirit/3/

The Barnes family resided at 90 East College Avenue near the railroad. The house still stands today. Tirza took possession of it in 1921 after the passing of her mother. One can picture her walking to the Carnegie Library just three blocks to the west. She is buried at Otterbein Cemetery, just three blocks to the south of the Carnegie Library. It is interesting to note that at the passing of former Secretary of State Colonel Barnes, Governor (later President) William McKinley attended the funeral held in the family home.

The Carnegie Library Dedication Ceremony

Among those participating on Tuesday, June 9, 1908:

• Samuel J. Flickinger, Otterbein Class of 1872. Per the Thursday June 11 edition of the Public Opinion, Governor Andrew L. Harris was unable to attend. Flickinger was likely a very capable substitute. He was a long-time editor of the Ohio State Journal which, per the Ohio History Connection, was “Ohio’s paper of record for much of the 19^th and 20^th centuries.” Later, this newspaper became the Columbus Citizen-Journal. Hometown newspaper The Hamilton Daily News noted his passing in March 1929 with a large bold front-page headline and referred to him as the “dean of Ohio newspaper men.”
• Edgar L. Weinland, Otterbein Class of 1891. Weinland, chair of the Building Committee, presented the ceremonial keys. He was City Solicitor (attorney) for Columbus, long-time Assistant Attorney General for the State of Ohio, and longest serving Otterbein trustee at 57 years. In recognition of his being a driving force in the annexation of land for a public park just east of the Short North, Weinland Park bears his name. Today, the neighborhood surrounding it has also taken on his name. Weinland Park Elementary School is named after the park. His boyhood home is just down the street from the Carnegie Library at 63 West College Avenue. (At one time it housed Zeta Phi Fraternity.) Both Frank Packard and Weinland were heavily involved in Columbus civic endeavors. It’s likely their paths crossed many times starting as early as Weinland’s senior year at Otterbein in 1890-91 when he was president of the Philomathea Literary Society and Packard was designing the remodel of the Society’s meeting room. Packard also designed Weinland’s house at 428 West Sixth Avenue just west of the Short North. Mary Weinland Crumrine, Class of 1907 and sister of Edgar, was the librarian of the Carnegie Library from 1939-1954. The first Otterbein librarian to hold a professional library degree, she initiated accumulation of college memorabilia and publications of alumni authors.
• Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court John A. Shauck, Otterbein Class of 1866. Judge Shauck, who served on the Supreme Court for 13 years, gave the remarks. At the time of his death he was president of the Ohio State Bar Association and was a partner with Edgar Weinland in a private law practice. Per the September 1893 issue of the Aegis, Shauck and his family briefly lived in the Mossman house on West College Avenue, the same street as the Carnegie Library. The address has not yet been discovered. Shauck’s sister Ellen was the mother of Edgar Weinland.
• Board of Trustees Chair Frederick H. Rike, Otterbein Class of 1888. Rike, president of the Rike-Kumler Company of Dayton, accepted the ceremonial keys. His father, David L. Rike, founded the company and was a former Trustee Chair/long-time supporter of Otterbein. Rike’s Department Stores, equivalent in stature to Lazarus Department Stores of Columbus, are now part of Macy’s. At least 11 Kumlers attended Otterbein.
• Charles B. Galbreath. The Public Opinion reported that Galbreath, State Librarian “made a very able address on libraries.” Later in his career he was Secretary and Librarian at the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society (now the Ohio History Connection). Galbreath helped raise the funds to restore and move the Hanby House to West Main Street.
• Rev. William Otterbein Fries. Rev. Fries, a Lebanon Valley College alumnus who provided the invocation, arrived at Otterbein in the fall of 1893 to serve on the faculty (teaching Christian Evidences) and as college pastor. Previously he was pastor of Fostoria United Brethren Church at which time the Karg family was living in that same city. Rev. Fries was the speaker at the March 29, 1915, cornerstone laying at the United Brethren Church next door to the Carnegie Library. An interesting note is that Rev. Fries first cousin, Rev. John Newton “Jay” Fries, co-founded a private school in Virginia which was named Shenandoah. In 1884, it was acquired by the Virginia Conference of the United Brethren Church and today is Shenandoah University. “Jay” Fries received his degree from Otterbein in 1876. The other co-founder was Abram P. Funkhouser, Otterbein Class of 1882. He later served a year (1906) as president of Lebanon Valley College, founded by the United Brethren Church. Funkhouser Hall on that campus is named for him. The College’s Keister Hall is named for the Rev. Lawrence Keister, also of the Otterbein Class of 1882, who served as president in 1907.
• The father/son duo of Rev. George A. Funkhouser, Otterbein Class of 1868 and Luther Kumler Funkhouser, Otterbein Class of 1908. Rev. Funkhouser presented the benediction and, per the Public Opinion, Luther presented “a fine marble clock” on behalf of the graduating class of 1908. The clock still exists, has been moved to another campus location. It was featured on the cover of the Fall 1988 Towers magazine.

Carnegie Library Becomes Clippinger Administration Building

In the June 1945 issue of Towers, a centennial fund-raising campaign was announced that included a new library building. The plan evolved into a combined auditorium/chapel/library to be located at the northeast corner of Grove and Park Streets (now the site of Cowan Hall). Eventually a free-standing library was deemed not within financial reach. Instead, the chapel at the rear of Towers Hall was removed and converted to library stacks. A two-story addition was added onto the back of the converted space. Centennial Library opened in 1953 and Carnegie Library closed.

Otterbein requested and received permission from the Carnegie Corporation to convert the old library space to house administrative offices and to rename the building. Dr. Jacob S. Gruver, Otterbein Class of 1898 and a Board of Trustees member, made a generous gift to this undertaking with the stipulation that the building be named Clippinger in honor of Dr. Walter Gillan Clippinger. During the summer of 1954, all of these offices made the move to Clippinger Administration Building: Advancement, Alumni/Public Relations, and Treasurer to the basement; President, Vice-President, Dean of Women, Director of Admissions, and Registrar to the first floor.

Today, Clippinger Administration Building is called Clippinger Hall since the only administrative office housed there now is the Office of Admission. It is interesting to note that of the 90 remaining mostly repurposed Carnegie academic libraries, there is a second that is an admission office…at Lebanon Valley College…and Otterbein’s Carnegie is now named after a Lebanon Valley alumnus, Walter G. Clippinger.

Clippinger, who was President of Otterbein from 1909 to 1939, is credited with putting the college on a sound financial basis and leading it through the Depression without major loss of endowment. Alumni Gymnasium, McFadden Science Hall, and King Hall were built during his administration.

Upon his retirement, Clippinger purchased and moved to 115 University Street where he remained until shortly before his passing on September 30, 1948. This stunning Craftsman-style house, at the edge of Otterbein Cemetery, was built in 1914 by an official of the Anti-Saloon League. Clippinger was president of the League’s Ohio chapter.

Senior member of the faculty Alzo P. Rosselot (Otterbein Class of 1905) wrote in the March 1949 issue of Towers: “There was a personal reserve about President Clippinger which was that of a Christian gentleman. This reserve covered a warm heart and an enduring friendship for those who came within its circle. He was a delightful friend.” The Columbus Dispatch wrote the day after Clippinger passed: “…he kept Otterbein in the van of progress, yet at the same time held fast to the ideas which always stamped it as a school to which parents could send their children in confidence that the atmosphere would be Christian and wholesome.”

Both Pennsylvania natives, Dr Clippinger and his wife Sara Roop Clippinger are buried at Otterbein Cemetery.

Viewed from the front lawn of the old Carnegie Library today, here is the Westerville history one sees:

• Hanby House. Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.
• Towers Hall. Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.
• Howard House, 131 West Park. Built by Rev. Purley A. Baker, national superintendent of the Anti-Saloon League.  After his death, it served from 1930 to 1933 as the first location of the Westerville Public Library…and thus both libraries in town were within eyesight of each other. Today Howard House anchors the northeast corner of the Temperance Row Historic District which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.
• Otterbein Cemetery. Final resting place of Tirza Barnes, Walter Clippinger, Benjamin Hanby, William Hanby, Henry Karg, and Edgar Weinland. The cemetery’s mausoleum was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
• Custer House, 89 West College Avenue.
• Weinland House, 63 West College Avenue.
• Uptown Westerville Historic District. Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2019.
• Original brick streets on both sides of the Carnegie Library.

Published 2/3/2021. Don Foster, Otterbein Class of 1973. donfoster73@gmail.com

If you have read my other blog entitled “Iron Master Makes Gift”: Carnegie Library at Otterbein University, then skip the narrative below (as it is a repeat) and scroll to the pictures.

About Carnegie Free Public Libraries

Andrew Carnegie once said “the man who dies rich, dies disgraced.” And thus, the self-made Scottish immigrant who built Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Steel Company into the largest steel manufacturer in the world proceeded to give away his vast wealth.

The first free public library funded by a Carnegie grant opened in Fairfield, Iowa, in 1893 (still standing). Over the course of the next approximately 30 years an additional 1,688 libraries opened including 111 in Ohio (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Carnegie_libraries_in_Ohio). Of that total, 70% were built in towns with populations of 10,000 or fewer and for under $20,000 in cost. Grant amounts were based on $2-$3 per resident. Requirements to receive a grant included demonstrating need for a public library, providing a building site, and an ability to provide support and maintenance at an annual amount of 10% of the grant. At program’s end, there were 3,500 public libraries in the U.S. with half of those funded by Carnegie grants. Over 800 additional buildings were constructed in other countries.

When Carnegie’s grant program began, there were no architectural restrictions. Communities designed buildings that had excessive waste (at the expense of the intended use) such as grand entry halls, colonnades, marble trim, vaulted domes, rooms devoted to art or other non-library purpose, etc. By 1904, Carnegie’s private secretary James Bertram began reviewing blueprints to ensure functional library layouts that avoided such waste. Later, he prepared a pamphlet suggesting 6 floor plans for small libraries housed on a main floor including a partially exposed basement with large windows and a flight of steps leading up to the front door. State library associations picked up this effort of restraint. The most common resulting façade design used by architects became referred to as the Carnegie Classical. About a fourth of all Carnegies are of this design.

In 1919, the grant program funding construction of Carnegie libraries ended. By the close of World War II, these buildings were 40 to 50 years old and their demise had begun. Suburbs developed and city centers decayed as population shifted outward. Carnegies were converted to other uses, demolished for parking needed by adjacent businesses, replaced by one-story buildings without basements, or razed by the urban renewal movement of the 1960’s. A major handicap to these buildings was the flight of steps that limited access. The remedies lead to severely altering the original facades. Fortunately, the preservation movement born after the urban renewal movement has saved many Carnegies in their original exterior appearance though the use and thus the interiors have changed.

About Carnegie Academic Libraries

Most of the above information was obtained from Theodore Jones’ book Carnegie Libraries Across America, published in 1997, which is an extensive history of the Carnegie libraries built in this country. Oddly, there is no mention of a second category of Carnegie libraries…academic libraries. In Ohio, 7 academic libraries were built at these locations: Cedarville University, Heidelberg University, Marietta College, Miami University, Oberlin College, Otterbein University, and Wilberforce University. All still stand. The library at Athens was opened as a free public library and was shared with Ohio University. In the cities of Marietta and Tiffin (Heidelberg), both an academic and a public library were Carnegie-funded.

Per Wikipedia, 109 academic libraries were constructed in 32 states plus the District of Columbia. Pennsylvania has the most at 9 followed by Iowa, Kansas and Ohio at 7 each. Of the 109, 19 have been razed while 15 have been added to the National Register of Historic Places including the libraries at Heidelberg, Otterbein and Wilberforce. Only a handful of those remaining retain either their original library use or a new specialized library use. Andrew Carnegie had a preference for African-American academic institutions, and 16 received grants including Wilberforce. No information has been found regarding the purpose of grants awarded to academic institutions.

Published 2/3/2021 by Don Foster. donfoster73@gmail.com

PLEASE NOTE: The blog contains quite a few pictures so give it several minutes to download. They download haphazardly.

When did a store dedicated to selling books open in Uptown Westerville? A market for one may not have existed until Otterbein University’s founding in1847. Historical material doesn’t exist going back that far. The earliest source found is a February 12, 1869, issue of the local Westerville Banner newspaper. Three businesses advertised books for church and school, but also carried items such as coal oil, groceries, paints, varnishes, feed, fancy notions and pure liquors for medical purposes.

The Otterbein Dial, published monthly in 1876, appears to be the earliest source of a business dedicated to the sale of books including catering to Otterbein students. James Mossman’s  bookstore was located in a two-story frame house constructed in 1839 of hewn logs by James Westervelt. It was located at the southwest corner of North State and West Main Streets. Westervelt later sold the property which then became a hotel. Ownership changed hands several times before purchase by Mossman who added the bookstore to the hotel which was called Commercial House. Mossman would be considered an entrepreneur. He was a farmer, cattle dealer, hotel operator, and in the real estate business in addition to other pursuits. Per an 1872 map, he owned a large tract of undeveloped land on the east side of North State Street. His plan was to build houses on this tract and indeed he did.

Per an advertisement in the May 1883 edition The Otterbein Record (which replaced The Otterbein Dial), ownership of the bookstore changed to I. Brown. Information about I. Brown remains to be discovered. An advertisement in the April 1884 edition of The Otterbein Record shows ownership changing to Henry Bushnell, “Successor to I. Brown.” Bushnell was a retired minister originally from Granville. In 1868-69, he served as president of Albany College (now Lewis and Clark College) in Portland, Oregon. Perhaps that environment lead to his owning a store whose primary customers were college students.

Next in line for bookstore ownership was William Alvin Doherty, a former Otterbein student. The date ownership changed hands from Bushnell to Doherty is not known. An advertisement in the Otterbein Aegis of June 1892lists an address of “Opposite Holmes House.” In 1889, Commercial House was razed and in its place rose the Hotel Holmes which still stands today and houses Expresso Air Coffee Terminal, Uptown Pharmacy and other businesses. “Opposite Holmes House” is the Weyant Block which today houses Old Bag of Nails Pub. Doherty departed the business at end of the summer of 1892. Age 26 at that time, he moved from the family home just west of Westerville in Sharon Township to what was then rural Mifflin Township where he became a farmer. He had a fairly substantial home on Cleveland Avenue a few blocks south of Morse Road.

Per the Otterbein Aegis of September 1892, the 1892-93 academic year began with a new owner at the helm of what came to be known as the University Book Store. John L. Morrison, at age 60, began a 20-year career catering to the needs of Otterbein students. He retired in 1912. There were numerous glowing remarks at his passing including “Mr. Morrison was for twenty years the proprietor of a bookstore in Westerville where with his wonderful personality and lovable disposition he won the hearts of hundreds of Westerville people and Otterbein students.” Son-in-law John Wesley Jones, who assumed management at Morrison’s retirement, moved the University Book Store in 1917 three doors south to 18 North State Street. This structure (today Pure Roots) had previously housed the Bank of Westerville. John passed away unexpectedly in 1925 at which time his wife, Olive Morrison Jones, assumed sole ownership. Daughter Ellen Margaret Jones, a 1923 graduate of Otterbein and likely already a seasoned employee, continued the business until donating it to Otterbein in 1964. That ended an amazing 72 year run by the Morrison family.

Published 1/18/2021. Revised in October 2025. Don Foster, Otterbein Class of 1973. donfoster73@gmail.com

PLEASE NOTE: The blog contains quite a few pictures so give it several minutes to download. They download haphazardly.

In 2019, a scrapbook dated 1916 was donated to the Otterbein University archives. In it was a photo of “Gilbert E. Mills Postman” standing at the northeast corner of West College Avenue and South Grove Street. No explanation was provided. While scanning a September 1912 issue of the campus newspaper The Otterbein Review for the archives, I noticed a small article with the caption “STUDENTS REJOICE”…door-to-door mail delivery would begin for the first time on November 15, 1912. Several scanned issues later there was another small article…sophomore Mills had scored the highest of 19 applicants and was appointed the town’s first mail carrier. Although the job interrupted his studies for a number of years, Gilbert did return to earn his degree. Here, in picture, is this niche piece of Westerville history.

Published 12/8/2020. Revised October 2025. Don Foster, Otterbein Class of 1973. donfoster73@gmail.com

Back in the days when I was working for a living, a co-worker of mine suggested I head to the Amish and Mennonite nurseries of northern Richland County to get my annual supply of annuals…plus stop along the way for breakfast at the only business still operating in Shiloh, the Shiloh Diner. She knows I wander backroads and also love mom and pop diners. (I’m giving you credit for this, Hilary. 😊) So I decided on my most recent April buying trip to visit three towns on the way home where there are designs of architect Frank Packard still standing: Ashland, Shelby and Upper Sandusky. This blog is about two of the seven designs I photographed that April day. The other five will be discussed in another blog.

When I arrived at First Presbyterian Church in Shelby (after the stop in Ashland), I was quite surprised to see a building constructed of a reddish sandstone. It was closed as expected since this trip was spring of 2020, and thus I was unable to see the interior. While photographing Packard’s Carnegie Library design in Upper Sandusky, I glanced down the street and WHOA…there sat another church made of reddish sandstone…and it was also Presbyterian. I took pictures of it and a very attractive old church across the street. When I arrived home, I emailed the minister. I mentioned the Shelby church of similar reddish sandstone construction and asked if there was record of the architect of his church. The response from the minister: Frank Packard!!! He also said there is a similar sandstone Presbyterian church in Napoleon. Then he mentioned the architect of the old church across the street: Frank Packard!!! That’s three Packards on the same street in the small town of Upper Sandusky, Ohio…and still standing. Amazing!

Googling “Packard and Napoleon” after hearing from the minister lead to a Wikipedia page devoted to Napoleon’s First Presbyterian Church. While the contents revealed an architect other than Packard, there was mention of the sandstone having been quarried in Mansfield. A Google search of that piece of information lead to a fascinating video, linked below, about a pink pocket of sandstone unique to Mansfield.

This story is not over. A couple months after the April trip I drove to Montgomery County to photograph a few Packard designs. There was another major WHOA when I arrived at the vacant Forest Avenue Presbyterian Church near downtown Dayton: pink sandstone!!! I had no idea. Neither did I have an idea when later searching postcards on Ebay and discovered Packard’s First Presbyterian Church design in Barnesville is pink sandstone. Then came the discovery of a pink sandstone Presbyterian church in Delphos. Finally one day this fall when I was again searching Ebay, a postcard of a pink sandstone church in Mansfield popped up…the mother of them all based on the construction year. Unfortunately it’s been “completely dismantled” and is “NOW A PARKING LOT!” boasted the ad among the pictures displayed below. My guess is these churches, all Presbyterian, were constructed of sandstone quarried in Mansfield and transported via the once extensive rail system in Ohio. Mansfield was built in 1893, Upper Sandusky in 1900, Barnesville, Napoleon and Shelby in 1901, Dayton in 1902, and Delphos in 1908.

Again, the video is short, informative, and entertaining. Here is the link. 😉

https://vimeo.com/31351962

Published 11/21/2020 by Don Foster. Revised 7/16/2023. donfoster73@gmail.com

This was my first attempt (2020) at writing and publishing blogs on the architecture of Joseph Warren Yost and Frank Lucius Packard. I chose Delaware since Packard was a Delaware native. The blog narrative was a copy and paste of an article I wrote for the Delaware County Historical Society’s newsletter. The buildings pictured in the blog did not include supporting pictures that provide additional interest…as the blogs that have followed do. Three years later it’s now time to make revisions and match today’s blog format. The Frank Packard biography has been retained, but other pieces of the original newsletter narrative have been removed. Hooray to more pictures!!

Upon completing an apprenticeship in carpentry, Alvaro Packard left Readfield, Maine, and moved to Delaware in 1859. In 1863 he married Miranda Black who had moved to Delaware County from Indiana. They had two children: Frank who was born in 1866 and Cora who was born in 1869. Per the 1880 U.S. Census, the Packards resided at 27 Washington Street. Alvaro served two terms as Delaware County commissioner and one term on City Council. Frank attended Delaware public schools, and in 1883 when he was not quite 17, the family moved to Columbus where Alvaro became very successful in the real estate business. Frank left to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduated in 1887, returned to Columbus, and began what became a very significant career in architecture. In 1892, he joined forces with Joseph Yost who moved his architect practice from Bellaire, Ohio, to Columbus in 1882. Yost relocated to New York City in 1900.

Frank Packard’s career spanned approximately 34 years and ended when he passed away unexpectedly. Numerous accounts of his life mention that he was involved in over 3400 designs many of which were public buildings such as courthouses, hospitals, libraries, schools and university buildings. He also designed churches and residences including in the Craftsman style of which he was particularly fond.

In addition to being born and raised in Delaware, Frank Packard had another Delaware County connection. On September 27, 1892, he married Eva Lena Elliott of Sunbury at Kingston Presbyterian “Old Blue” Church located at the corner of State Route 521 and Blue Church Road. It’s been demolished, but the bell from the church is mounted on a blue brick base there. Eva grew up in the house of her grandparents, and this beautiful residence still stands at 2711 Blayney Road in Berkshire Township.

The Packards had one child, J. Alden, who died in infancy. Sadly, Frank Packard died of a cerebral hemorrhage on October 26, 1923, at the age of 57. His residence in 1923 was at 1739 Franklin Park South which abuts the Franklin Park Conservatory on East Broad Street in Columbus and still stands. Ralph Snyder, an architect working with Packard, took over the practice and the firm became Snyder, Babbitt & Mathews. It closed in 1929.

Packard was an involved citizen in Columbus, and The Ohio State Journal obituary reflected on that in the following way: “For all the crowding insistence of his private engagements, for all the demands of his unselfish labors for the Civic Center and with the City Planning Commission, Mr. Packard found time to talk with people, to be friendly with everybody he knew or met. He was geniality itself, the embodiment of kindly good fellowship. Thus, he became universally esteemed and widely popular. Even to meet him in the street and perhaps have a word with him was a delight. It is sad to know that he will pass this way no more.”

Originally published 11/2020. Revised 2/2023. donfoster73@gmail.com