To the Editor:
Thank you for your "Publisher's Commentary" regarding the Vogt house located at 5362 S. Main Street. I agree with the comments and would like to say that this home is probably one of the oldest homes left in the city, and more than that it is filled with history and was constructed at the same time Sylvania was established. To demolish this house would destroy our heritage.
DID YOU KNOW that Elkanah Briggs came to Sylvania in about 1835 when Sylvania was nothing but woods and shortly thereafter purchased the property known as 5362 Main Street from the United States and built this house. He was a farmer and builder and served as one of Sylvania's first school directors and fenceviewers. In 1838 he was appointed a Lucas County delegate to the "Whig party" at a meeting held in Toledo representing Sylvania. He died on 2-5-1840 at the age of 38 years 9 months and 7 days leaving the home to his wife Eliza.
DID YOU KNOW that Eliza Briggs remarried in March of 1840 to Jeremiah Green and therefore extinguished her right to administer her husband's estate and the court appointed Lucian B. Lathrop as the Administrator of her husband's estate. In 1842 Mr. Lathrop requested permission from the Lucas County Court to sell and convey her property to pay off all debts of her late husband, and the court authorized her to sell the house. In 1847 Jeremiah and Eliza (Briggs) Green sold the property at 5362 S. Main Street to Lucian B. Lathrop, her appointed Administrator.
DID YOU KNOW that by the 1850 census Lucian, his wife Larrissa and their family were listed living in the house and Lucian's occupation was listed as "Plank Road." He had been named to a committee to construct a new plank road known as the Toledo & Indiana Road that ran through Sylvania. Lucian was a very prominent man in helping to develop this area. He served on the school board, served as a member of the Ohio Legislature as a Representative, helped organized the Sylvania Masonic Lodge, served as a delegate at the State Convention in 1841, served as a postmaster and served as a minister of the Universalist Church along with many other very important duties which helped develop Sylvania.
DID YOU KNOW that in 1860 Lucian transferred the home to his son Miles Lathrop. At the 1860 census Miles, his wife Julia and their family were listed living in the home. Miles served as a fireman on the Michigan Southern & Northern Indiana Railroad and then became an engineer on the LS & MS Railroad, and was in charge of the engine that drew the first passenger train out of the Union Depot in Toledo.
DID YOU KNOW that during the pre-civil war days, Miles Lathrop owned the home and legend is that it became known as a "station" on the Underground Railroad. They would hid fugitive slaves in a secret basement room in the house until it was safe to move them north toward Canada. Although the Underground Railroad kept no records because of the stiff penalties for anyone caught helping fugitive slaves, historians have traced out the routes used and found that Toledo, Maumee and Sylvania were routes that were often used. Family histories by the Harroun family reported that the Lathrop house was used as a stop. Records indicate that an early owner of the home noted that the basement of the house was supposedly arranged so that slaves could sleep and cook here, while in hiding during the day, and then at night they would hurry them off to the next station. One later owner of the home was adding a back porch to the house and they found a bricked-over doorway deep in the basement. A doorway which suggested a possible hidden room to hide runaway slaves. The owner of the house in 1955 was using an iron rod to test his backyard for soft spots that might stop a lawn mower. Suddenly the rod, which normally stopped short a few inches into the ground, slipped down a full five feet through soft earth. He tried it again, and again the rod went down fairly easily. Over the years, the metal rod mapped an area of loosely packed earth leading from the home to a creek bed below, the same path a rumored Underground Railroad tunnel would have taken out of his basement. Local historians take the possibility that the house was a station on the Underground Railroad seriously, but stress that the claim is based on oral tradition rather than official documents.
DID YOU KNOW that Miles Lathrop received a lieutenant's commission from Governor Borough at the start of the Civil War, with the powers to recruit a military company. This resulted in the formation of Company B 189th Ohio Voluntary Infantry of which he became captain, serving until the end of the war. In October of 1865 he was mustered out at Nashville, Tennessee. He returned to Sylvania working as an engineer again on the railroads. He became an engineer dispatcher and then passenger conductor before moving to Adrian, Michigan. After he left the South Main Street home, his father, Lucian Lathrop, moved back in the home. By the 1870 census Lucian and his wife Larissa were listed as living in the home again, and they lived here until their deaths. Lucian died in 1873 and Larissa in 1878. Funeral services were held from this home.
DID YOU KNOW that after the death of his father Miles Lathrop returned to Sylvania, and once again to the home on South Main Street. Beginning in 1874 Miles was elected as a Sylvania village council member thru 1876, and then was elected as a Sylvania school board member through 1878. He then served as the Justice of the Peace of Sylvania from 1880 until 1889. In 1887 Miles sold the home to George C. Wagonlander, and purchased the home next door (to the north). In 1889 they moved to Charleston, Illinois and engaged themselves in the hotel business there.
DID YOU KNOW that other very prominent owners of the home after George C. Wagonlander included: Solomon J. Hershey in 1892, John M. Hershey in 1896, John W. Torrence in 1897 and in 1903 John A. Crandall.
DID YOU KNOW that in 1903 John A. Crandall purchased the home and operated the local livery stable located on the northeast corner of Main and Monroe Street. He was the local auctioneer and butcher and was very involved in public affairs in Sylvania throughout his lifetime. His son Lou R. Crandall was born in Sylvania in 1893 and moved into the house with his family at the age of 10. He graduated from Sylvania High School in 1912. Lou attended the University of Michigan, graduating with a B.S. in civil engineering, and in 1917 he began working for the George A. Fuller Company, which was the largest construction corporation of its kind in existence. By 1928 he worked his way up to President of the company at the young age of 34, and during his presidency of this company was responsible for the construction of numerous public buildings throughout the world including: the Supreme Court Building, the Department of Justice building, the U.S. Archives building, the Department of Interior, the United Nations Secretariat building and State Capital buildings throughout the United States. During World War II his company was responsible for the construction of the Quonset Navel Base in Rhode Island, construction of naval bases in Newfoundland, Iceland, North Ireland and Scotland. In 1941 his company was commissioned by the U.S. Navy to build facilities at Reykjavik and airfields at Keflavik and Havalfjourdur. In 1942 his company was commissioned to complete Fort Dix, in New Jersey, with 852 structures constructed in 90 days, and the Manhattan Beach Coast Guard Training Station as well as numerous other World War II facilities throughout the world. Other structures that his company was responsible for constructing during his presidency were the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, the Lincoln Memorial, the National Episcopal Cathedral in Washington, the Alcoa Building in Pittsburgh, the Lever House, the Seagram Building, the Corning Glass Building, the Time-Life Building and many, many more high-rise buildings throughout the United States. Lou Crandall grew up in the home located at 5362 South Main Street and had many fond memories of Sylvania, and this home, which he wrote about in the later years of his life. The family has donated his collection of scrapbooks and memorabilia to the Sylvania Historical Museum. In this collection you will find pictures of Lou meeting with various U.S. Presidents and dignitaries all over the world. Throughout his life he received many honors and awards for his accomplishments including recognitions by various U.S. Presidents.
DID YOU KNOW that other owners of the home at 5362 South Main Street included John T. Grinage, Harry D. Fallis, Linton H. Fallis, Helen E. Fallis, Norman E. Bischoff and Theodore and Marie Vogt. In the 1930's the house was used as a Tea Room, and was called the Maple Grove Tea Room.
DID YOU KNOW that Marie (Bollinger) Vogt purchased the home in 1954 and is the current owner. Mrs. Vogt was the founder and artistic director of the Toledo Ballet and for 55 seasons directed/produced the performance of Tschalkovsky's "Nutcracker Suite" ballet, which included full orchestra by the Toledo Orchestra, elaborate sets, props, lighting and effects. It was performed at various places over the years including the Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle, Paramount Theater, Rivoli and Stranahan. According to a 1959 article in the Sentinel Herald Marie Bollinger Vogt was the director of the Toledo Ballet and directed that company in such originally choreographed ballets as Old King Cole, Capriccio Espagnole, Roumanian Rhapsody, The Red Pony, A Night at Prince Oriovsky's and Smorgasbord. In addition to teaching ballet to children and adults, Mrs. Vogt taught ballroom dancing to thousands of Toledo area children, and for many years was director of the dancing classes at Ottawa Hills High Schools. She also conducted classes at Harvard, DeVeaux, Whitmer, Perrysburg, McKinley, Longfellow and Glenwood Schools, and at the Y.W.C.A., Y.M.C.A., the University of Toledo and invitational classes at the Toledo Women's Club. In 1959 she opened a ballet school for children in Sylvania at the American Legion Hall. Mrs. Vogt's dancers have gone on to professional careers all over the world.
DID YOU KNOW that this house is a very important treasure and I encourage the purchaser of this historical home to strongly consider saving the house? It is part of Sylvania's heritage and has too much history to be placed at the mercy of the wrecking ball.
Gaye E. Gindy, Sylvania History Buff