Besides the very important fact that the Lathrop House, located at 5362 S. Main Street, was said to be a "station" on the Underground Railroad and therefore should be preserved as a very important historical home.  Another very important person lived and grew up in this home and that was Lou Revere Crandall.

On 11-4-1903 John A. Crandall, Lou R. Crandall's father, purchased the home at 5362 S. Main Street from Eliza J. Torrence.

John Crandall was a liveryman and operated the town livery business in Sylvania at the corner of Main and Monroe on the northeast corner (where Key Bank is located today).  His partner in this business was Fred O. Peak.  (Lou R. Crandall, John's son, wrote this about the livery stable:  "About 1907 I started sleeping in the barn in town.  This was a half mile across the valley from our house.  I would go there after supper and stay until I had watered and fed the horses in the morning, then I would go home to breakfast, and get ready for school  This was really the beginning of getting out of childhood chores and the taking on of responsibilities.  It was rather a large two-story barn that held 15 or 20 horses.  It was quite a scary job for a boy of my age.  I recall that just as I went to bed, I would turn out the lights and move my cot to some other place in the barn, so if someone got in, they would not know where to locate me.  I remember when I slept in the barn across the valley, some 1/2 mile from home, she (his mother) would leave a light burning in the upstairs window (of their home at 5362 S. Main), that I would know she was there, and thinking of me.")

In 1903 and 1904 John Crandall was elected constable of Sylvania Township and elected again in 1910, 1911, 1914 and 1915.  Also during this period of time John Crandall served as a very successful auctioneer in the community.  He owned the land where Southbriar Shopping complex is located today, he owned land at Monroe and Alexis, which became known as Crandall Field, and he owned and lived in the home at 5362 Main Street, today we know as the Lathrop House.  (John's son, Lou Crandall, in his later years wrote this about his dad:  "His business was dealing in livestock.  You must realize that he lived most of his life, including my early boyhood, at a time before good roads, and when automobiles were a plaything of the very rich, and not at all common.  The farmers needed work horses, cows and sheep, and small townspeople needed buggy horses.  Large corporations needed dray horses.  He would ship those that the community could not supply, from such distant markets as Chicago, to sell to them, as well as purchase their surpluses to ship elsewhere.  Such a business required a large barn on the place where we lived, plus a sales barn in the middle of our little town, and a farm about a mile away, as well as a small meat plant about a mile in the other direction.  The latter was to supply meats to institutions from whom he would take yearly contracts as a protection against falling cattle prices.  All of this kept him extremely busy, so while we were small we saw too little of him in the daytime.  As we grew up he often took my brother Frank or myself with him, or we would work in one of the barns where we would be with him.")

John Crandall's son, Lou R. Crandall, wrote the following about living in the home at 5362 S. Main Street:  "Perhaps the best place to start would be the year 1905 when I was eleven.  My brother Fred was born that year and our family was complete.  Besides my father, John Alonzo Crandall, and my mother, Mattie Sarah Crandall nee Carpenter, the family living at our house consisted of my mother's father, Franklin Carpenter, my brother Frank who was one year old than I, my adopted sister Anna who was two years old than I, and a boy three years older by the name of Clyde who was really my Uncle as he was my mother's half brother, and of course the new baby, Fred.  My grandfather and grandmother Crandall (George and Calistia) lived about two minutes away in a small house of their own.  My Uncle Lou, my father's brother for whom I was named, with his family of two boys and two girls, all a little older than I, lived about a half mile away in the other direction.  We lived in Sylvania, a small country town of 700 persons, located in northwestern Ohio.  If you can picture a typical Connecticut Village with its Elm lined streets, but minus paved roads, supermarkets, oil stations, moving picture houses, garages, you would have a good idea of what it was like.  We lived in a large house on the Main Street with a small farm in the rear."

In 1905 John Crandall was elected councilman for the Village of Sylvania and in 1906 was elected Marshall for the Village of Sylvania.  John had a bad accident with firecrackers, sometime after this causing the partial amputation of his left arm and damage to part of the muscles in his left leg.  (John's son Lou Crandall, wrote this about the accident:  "When he was 38 years old he had a terrible accident in which he lost his left hand and part of the muscles in his left leg.  He was never quite the same after this.  He died just 8 years later, at the age of 47.  I remember him as being a firm but kindly man.  He was well respected by everyone in Sylvania, Ohio, where he was born and spent his entire life.")

John A. Crandall died on 12-8-1917 at the young age of 47 years old.  His wife Mattie died in 1926.  They were both buried in Ravine Cemetery in Sylvania.

John A. and Mattie S. Crandall's son Lou Revere Crandall grew up in Sylvania and lived in the home at 5362 S. Main Street.  In his later years he prepared a history of his family and wrote about life as a boy growing up in Sylvania.  Parts of the story have been quoted above.  A copy of the entire story is on file at the Sylvania Historical Museum.

Lou Crandall, the boy from Sylvania, who grew up in the house at 5362 S. Main Street, went on to do some pretty amazing things.  The following is the history of Lou R. Crandall:

Lou R. Crandall was born in Sylvania, Ohio in 1893.  He was the son of John A. and Mattie Crandall who in 1903 purchased the home at 5362 S. Main Street.  Lou grew up in this home and he attended school on Main Street where the Historical Village (5735 Main Street) is located today.  In 1912 Lou Crandall graduated from Sylvania High School, graduating among 10 in his graduating class.  From 1913 to 1917 he attended college at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan and graduated with a B.S. in civil engineering.

Lou's great grandparents, George M. and Julia (Pelky) Crandall were the first to arrive in Sylvania in 1854.  George M. Crandall was elected one of the first Mayors of the Village of Sylvania in 1867.  They had ten children and one of these children was George Alonzo Crandall who was born in 1840.  This was Lou's grandfather, and George A. Crandall was 14 years old when he arrived in Sylvania with his family.  He married Calistia A. Rawlings in 1862.  George A. and Calistia A. Rawlings had three children, and one of these children was John Alonzo Crandall who was born in Sylvania in 1870.  This was Lou's father.

In June of 1917 Lou R. Crandall started working for the George A. Fuller Construction Company, which was the largest construction corporation of its kind in existence.  He started work in Washington D.C. as a timekeeper.

From 1917 to 1919 Lou served with the Army in World War I.  He was shipped to France immediately.

On 12-8-1917 Lou's father John A. Crandall passed away in Sylvania, Ohio while Lou was still in Europe.  Early in 1919 Lou was discharged from the Army, and for eight months he served the federal government in the construction of the memorial to the heroes of the battleship Maine at Arlington National cemetery.    He then immediately went back to work with the George A. Fuller Company in Washington D.C.  At that time they were finishing up the Lincoln Memorial.  On 6-7-1919 he married Marguerite Hill in Elbridge, Oceana County, Michigan.  They lived in Washington D.C.

On 9-18-1920 Lou and Marguerite Crandall had a son and named him John Lou Crandall.  By this time they were living in Charleston, West Virginia.

In 1921 Lou and his family moved to Miami, Florida.  Lou was managing the Miami branch of the George A. Fuller Company living at 843 N.W., 17th Avenue, Miami, Florida.  They lived in Miami, Florida until 1926.  During his time here a great real estate boom was occurring.  Lou was involved in the development of Miami, Florida during this real estate boom.  While living in Miami, Lou's mother Mattie came to live with them and died in 1926.  Some of the construction projects that Lou directed while in Miami included:  the Hotel Nautilus on Miami Beach, the Miami Theatre, the Trinity Church of Miami, the King Cole Hotel, the Miami Beach Gardens and the Miami Hotel.

In 1926 Lou R. Crandall was promoted to vice president of the Chicago, Illinois branch of the George A. Fuller Company and he and his wife and son moved to Chicago at this time.

On 3-17-1927 Lou and Marguerite had a daughter and named her Mary Lou Crandall.

In February of 1928 Lou R. Crandall became the president, at the young age of 34 years old, of the George A. Fuller Construction Company, with headquarters in New York City.  He was the youngest executive of a company of such magnitude in the construction field at this time.  The Crandall’s at that time moved to New York City.

In 1929, one year after Lou took over the George A. Fuller Company, the depression hit.  The Fuller Company survived the depression with flying colors.  During this year his company constructed the Fuller Building at Madison Avenue and 57th Street in New York City, which was the headquarters for his company.  Lou had turned to public projects during the depression including the construction of the Supreme Court Building, the Department of Justice Building, the National Archives Building, the Department of Interior Building and state capitals in Louisiana and West Virginia.  He then turned to constructing roads, bridges and dams in Canada and Cuba.

The following is a list of construction projects throughout the United States that Lou R. Crandall directed as President of the George A. Fuller Co. through 1937:

1928 - The Harwood Building - Scarsdale, New York.
1928 - The Macmillan Publishing Company, Boston, Mass.
1928 - The Baron Steuben Hotel, Corning, New York.
1929 - Passavant Hospital, Chicago, Illinois.
1929 - French Hospital, New York City.
1929 - Pilgrim Church, Washington DC.
1929 - Four to Ten East Seventy Second Street Apartments, New York City.
1929 - Cincinnati Gas & Electric Building, Cincinnati, Ohio.
1930 - Dillion Field House - Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1930 - Bahai Temple - Willimette, Chicago, Illinois.
1930 - Constitution Hall - Daughters of the American Revolution Bldg, Washington D.C.
1930 - H.J. Heinz Company Auditorium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
1930 - Kohler Warehouse, New York City.
1930 - Hotel Pierre, New York City.
1930 - National Hotel of Cuba, Havana, Cuba
1930 - Astor Apartment House, New York City.
1930 - North Section, Beaux Arts Apartments, New York City.
1930 - Junior League Club House, New York City.
1930 - The Miss Spence School for Girls, New York City.
1930 - Philadelphia Museum of Art - Fairmont Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1930 - United Shoe Machinery Building, Boston, Massachusetts.
1930 - The Fuller Building, New York City
1930 - Home Office Aetna Life Insurance Company, Hartford, Connecticut.
1930 - Pennsylvania Railroad Roundhouse, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1931 - Myron Taylor Hall - Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
1931 - Sterling Hall of Medicine - Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
1931 - St. Luke’s Hospital, Newburgh, New York.
1931 - National City Christian Church, Washington D.C.
1931 -Warner Brothers Main Offices and Theatre, Milwaukee.
1931 - Warner Brothers Theatre, Erie, Pennsylvania.
1931 - Palais Royal Warehouse, Washington, D.C.
1931 - United States Government Legation, Ottawa, Canada.
1931 - Vanderbilt Residence, New York City.
1931 - Louisiana State Capital Building, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
1931 - City Bank Farmers Trust Building, New York City.
1931 - Architect's Building, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
1931 - Cunard Pier Fifty-Four, New York City.
1931 - General Electric Tank Building #14, Pittsfield, Mass.
1932 - Philadelphia Savings Fund Garage, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1932 - Dillman Residence, Grosse Point, Detroit, Michigan.
1932 - West Virginia State Capital, Charleston, West Virginia.
1932 - Wildenstein Art Galleries, New York City.
1932 - Philadelphia Savings Fund Society Bank, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1932 - First National Bank Building, Ithaca, New York.
1932 - North American Life Assurance Company Building, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
1932 - Berwind Mausoleum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1932 - Memorial Foundation to John Ericsson, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1933 - Worcester Memorial Auditorium, Worcester, Massachusetts.
1933 - Conservatory for the United States Botanical Gardens, Washington, D.C.
1933 - Bell Telephone Building, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1933 - United States Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C.
1933 - Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore, Maryland
1933 - N.Y. Central Railroad Viaduct, New York City.
1933 - Ellen Phillips Samuel Memorial, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1934 - Wasserman Residence, Whitemarsh, Pennsylvania.
1934 - Department of Justice Building, Washington, D.C.
1934 - American Pharmaceutical Building, Washington, D.C.
1934 - E & J Burke Brewery, Long Island City, New York.
1935 - Women's College Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
1935 - National Archives Building, Washington, D.C.
1935 - Marshall Field Office Building, Chicago, Illinois.
1936 - Penn Theatre and Stores, Washington, D.C.
1937 - St. Michael's College, Toronto, Canada.
1937 - Worchester City Hospital, Worcester, Massachusetts.
1937 - Market Street Station of the Pennsylvania Railroad, Newark, New Jersey.
1937 - Suffolk County Court House, Boston, Massachusetts.
1937 - Los Angeles Post Office and Court House, Los Angeles, California.
1937 - North Philadelphia Post Office, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1937 - Cedar Central Housing Project, Cleveland, Ohio
1937 - Parklawn Housing Project, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1937 - Federal Reserve Board Building, Washington, D.C.
1937 - Department of Interior Building, Washington, D.C.
1937 - Alfred I. duPont Building, Miami, Florida.
1937 - Kraft Cheese Factory, Chicago, Illinois.

During World War II, Lou Crandall as President of the George A. Fuller Company was one of the companies chosen by the United States Navy to construct the Quonset Naval Air Base in Rhode Island, containing over 800 acres of land and then construction of naval bases in Newfoundland, Iceland, North Ireland and Scotland.

On February 20, 1940 the King, Hermann Jonasson, Prime Minister of Iceland, decorated Lou R. Crandall with the Cross of the Icelandic Falcon.

In 1941 he was commissioned by the U.S. Navy to build facilities at Reykjavik and Air Fields at Keflavik and Hvalfjordur.

From April of 1941 through March of 1942, United States Congress awarded contracts to Lou Crandall totaling over $25,000,000 for the construction of offices for Public Administration.

On 12-7-1941 Japan bombed the United States Military Bases at Pearl Harbor and on 12-8-1941 the United States, Great Britain and Canada declared war on Japan.  In 1942 Lou Crandall's company was commissioned to complete the development of Fort Dix in New Jersey with 852 structures constructed in 90 days and then to construct the Manhattan Beach Coast Guard Training Station which was a center designed to house, feed and train 20,000 men to include 61 buildings and structures, to be completed in 165 days.  In June of 1942 U.S. Secretary Knox hired Lou's company to create a Naval Construction Training Center in Rhode Island with all the necessary facilities for the training of 15,000 men.  This was completed on a 250-acre tract including over 200 large buildings.  The orders gave a deadline of 8-11-1942.

In 1942 Lou Crandall of the George A. Fuller Company and the President of the Merritt-Chapman & Scott Company met in New York and then Chicago to start the organization, which became known as Central Procurement, a vast mercantile, engineering and shipping operation.

From 1941 thru 1945 Lou's company was responsible for the construction of the following buildings:

Dodge-Chicago Plant, Chicago, Illinois
U.S. Rubber Plant, Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
Geneva Steel Works, Provo, Utah.
Goodyear Synthetic Rubber Plant, Houston, Taxes.
Sinclair Power Plant, Houston, Texas.
Goodyear Synthetic Rubber Plant, Baytown, Texas.
U.S. Naval Ammunition Depot, Camden, Ark.
Goodyear Tire & Robber Plant, Gadsden, Alabama.
New Departure Div. "Plant A", Bristol, Conn.
General Cable Plant, St. Louis, Missouri.
duPont Flight Hangar, Akron, Ohio.
Robins Drydock Mfg. & Storage Plant, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Aircraft Turret Plant, Bloomfield, New Jersey.
Buffalo Arms Plant, Cheektowaga, New York.
Brewster Airplane Assembly Plant, Hatbora, Pennsylvania.
Atlantic Basin Iron Works, Brooklyn, New York.
Goodyear Tire Plant, Addition, Jackson, Michigan.
Buffalo Arms Plant, Buffalo, New York.
Todd Shipyard, Machine Shop, Brooklyn, New York.
Oakes Products, Garfield Division, Decantor, Illinois.
General Cable Plant Addition, Emeryville, California.
Linde Air Products Plant, Birmingham, Alabama
Linde Air Products Plant, New Orleans, La.
Federal Telephone and Radio, Flight Hangar, Rye Lake, New York.
Humble Oil Laboratory, Houston, Texas.
B.F. Goodrich Tire Factory, Miami, Oklahoma.

In January of 1945 Lou Crandall's company was hired to develop a plant at Madison, Illinois for the reclamation of unserviceable Ordinance Equipment.

After the war Lou's company was hired to construct the United Nations Secretariat Building; Parkway Village, a housing project for United Nations personnel; The 100 Park Avenue Building; Lever House; the Alcoa Building; and the Prudential Life Insurance Building in Chicago

By 1951 the George A. Fuller Company had a gross income, since it was first organized, in excess of $2 billion.  Of this total, $1.4 billion had been done during Lou Crandall's Presidency of the company.

On 10-5-1953 Lou Crandall's brother Frank Crandall died at the age of 61 years old.

In 1955 Lou R. Crandall became a member of the board of directors for the Sears, Roebuck & Company.

In 1957 he became the Chairman of the Board of the George A. Fuller Company.

In 1960 Lou R. Crandall's adopted sister, Anne M. Rosenbrook died in Sylvania, Ohio.  Anne was married to Ernest Schaber who owned and operated Schaber Motor Sales on North Main Street where Haymarket Square is located today.

On 12-6-1960 Lou was honored at the National Conference of Christians & Jews and received the Brotherhood Award for Distinguished Service in the Field of Human Relations.

On January 9, 1961 Lou Crandall's brother Frederic O. Crandall died at the age of 55 years old.

In 1962 the George A. Fuller Company and the Del E. Webb Corporation together were in charge of the nation's first Minuteman Missile base at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana.  Lou was officially made a member of the Blackfeet Indian Tribe in July of 1962 and in 1963 Lou R. Crandall received a "Certificate of Appreciation for Patriotic Civilian Service" for the joint efforts in building the nation's first Minuteman Missile base.  This was awarded in Washington D.C. by Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson.

From 1964 to 1965 Lou Crandall served as one of the Board of Directors for the organization of the New York World's Fair.

On 1-19-1965 Lou Crandall was awarded the Moles award of New York City for Outstanding Achievement in construction and recognition of the Monumental Structures in Public and Military Works.

On 5-1-1965 Lou was the 1965 recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Service Award from the University of Michigan.  This is their highest academic award.

In 1965 Lou R. Crandall attended the Inaugural Ball in Washington D.C., of President Johnson and Vice President Humphrey.

On 4-1-1966 Lou R. Crandall resigned as Chairman of the Board of the George A. Fuller Company and retired.

In 1966 Lou R. Crandall was awarded the Award of the Manhattan Metal as an outstanding community leader.

From 1966 until his death at the age of 84 years, on 10-13-1978, Lou was retired and living in New York.  His obituary appeared in the New York Times on 10-14-1978 and read as follows:

LOU CRANDALL, Directed work on major buildings, Lou Revere Crandall, an engineer who directed the construction of such structures as the United States Supreme Court Building in Washington, and Lever House, the Seagram Building, the Corning Glass Building, the Time-Life Building and the Union Carbide Building in Manhattan, died yesterday at Columbus Presbyterian Medical Center.  He was 84 years old and lived in Manhattan and Scarborough-on-the-Hudson.

Mr. Crandall, a retired president and board chairman of the George A. Fuller Company, also directed construction of the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, the Archives Building, the Department of the Interior Building and the National Episcopal Cathedral in Washington, the Alcoa Building in Pittsburgh, the State Capital Building in Charleston, West Virginia, and Baton Rouge, and the Prudential Insurance Company Building in Chicago.

Born in Sylvania, Ohio, he graduated in 1917 with a B.S. degree in engineering at the University of Michigan.  He served in the Army in World War I and joined the Fuller Company on this return, becoming a vice president in 1925.  He was president from 1928 to 1957 and retiring as chairman in 1966.

Surviving are his wife, the former Mary Marguerite Hill, a son of Dr. John L. Crandall of Aiken, S.C., a daughter, Mrs. William V. Lawson of Bel Aire, California and four grandchildren.
........................................

Lou R. Crandall was buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Tarrytown, New York.

After Lou Crandall's death in 1978 Jimmy Carter, President of the United State of America issued a certificate as follows to the family of Mr. Crandall:

"The United States of America honors the memory of
  LOU R. CRANDALL
This certificate is awarded by a grateful nation is recognition of devoted and selfless consecration to the service of our country in the Armed Forces of the United States.

    Signed,

    Jimmy Carter
    President of the United States

On 9-18-1987 the University of Michigan Presidential Societies Leadership Medal was awarded to Lou R. Crandall, in his memory.

And to think that Lou R. Crandall grew up in "small town" Sylvania, Ohio and lived in the home located at 5362 S. Main Street, known as the Lathrop House.

In 1996 Lou Revere Crandall was nominated by Gaye E Gindy, and was inducted, posthumously, into the Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame.  On 3-22-1996 the Sylvania Schools Academic Excellence Foundation recognized him as an outstanding Sylvania school alumni, at the fifth annual Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame Induction Dinner.

The collection of scrapbooks, pictures and awards belonging to Lou R. Crandall have been donated to the Sylvania Historical Society, by Lou's son and daughter-in-law, John Lou & Margaret Crandall, and are on file in the museum located at 5717 N. Main Street.

On November 30, 2001 John L. Crandall, Lou R. Crandall's son, donated $5,000 to the "Friends of the Lathrop House" toward the effort to "save the house"; the house where his father, Lou R. Crandall grew up located at 5362 S. Main Street.
 
 

Researched and Prepared by Gaye E. Gindy