ARTIFACTS: Articles from the Lakewood Historical Society

It Really is the Oldest Stone House!

By Mazie Adams, Lakewood Historical Society Executive Director

In May 2009, the City of Lakewood chose the Oldest Stone House as the first property in Lakewood to receive the Landmark designation. This honor followed a period of extensive research into the history of the Oldest Stone House (also called the Honam/Hotchkiss House) by Lakewood Historical Society staff and volunteers, especially Mazie Adams, Rick Sicha, Marcia Moll, Craig Bobby and Amanda Francazio. Much of this work was built on the previous research by Margaret Manor Butler, Sandy Koozer, Junior Board members and others.  The new research reinforced many ideas about the house as well as tidbits of information found in the museum archives.  But we added much new information to the history of the house and found several surprises along the way! The biggest surprise was a new date for the construction of the stone house. We now believe it was built for John Honam in 1834, not 1838. This truly makes it the oldest house in Lakewood.

The Honam/Hotchkiss House is both historically and architecturally significant. The evolution of the house and its related property reflect the changing settlement and development patterns found throughout Lakewood (formerly Rockport Township). The history of the house can be separated into three distinct periods of significance: the Honam/Hotchkiss period (1834-1897); the Development period (1897-1952); and the Historic House Museum period (1952-2009).

1901

The information found in the following narrative is supported by primary resources including deeds, tax duplicate records, maps, census records, immigration and marriage documents, photographs, diaries, archival materials, and memories and interviews of early residents of Lakewood as well as secondary sources like Margaret Manor Butler’s The Lakewood Story published in 1949 and other books.  One of the best discoveries was an 1888 deed regarding the sale of a small parcel of land in what is now Lakewood Park.  This deed includes a sworn statement by Isabella Hotchkiss that not only confirms the ownership of the land but provides some genealogical information as well.

The Honam/Hotchkiss Period (1834-1897)

During its longest and most significant period, the Honam/Hotchkiss House was used as a family residence by John Honam and then by his daughter Isabella Hotchkiss and her family. The property on which the house sat eventually totaled 97½ acres stretching from what is now Detroit Avenue to the lake between Belle and Cook avenues, ideally situated in the center of Rockport Township, the community’s major commercial and residential district. Part of the property was farmed, although a significant portion remained wooded during the early part of this period. The family conducted several commercial businesses on the property in addition to farming, including a tannery and a mill. Built for John Honam in 1834, the house remained in family hands and was used as a private residence until 1897.

1902

John Honam

Born in Scotland in 1790, John Honam wed Mary Williamson (daughter of John and Isabella Williamson) in 1813. They had one daughter, Isabella, born two years later in 1815. John Honam emigrated from Scotland alone in 1822, arriving in Portland, Maine. Unfortunately, little is known about his wife Mary Williamson.  It is possible that she died before Honam immigrated to America but is certain that she died prior to 1832. 

By 1830, both John Honam and his in-laws lived in Rockport Township (now Lakewood).  John Honam speculated in land in Cleveland and was described as “of Rockport County” on several deeds from this time period.  It is very likely that he lived with his wife’s family.  Honam’s father-in-law John Williamson (who earlier lived “in the town of Cleveland”) purchased land in Rockport in March 1830. This 60 acre parcel was bounded north by Lake Erie and south by the “ridge road” (Detroit). The 1830 census indicates that John Williamson’s household included one woman between 40 and 50 (probably Mrs. Williamson), John Honam and two boys and a girl under the age of 15. Following the death of his in-laws within eleven days of each other in 1832, Honam acquired the property, living there with his daughter Isabella.

East Rockport 1874

Rockport Township in the 1830s was sparsely populated with the majority of residences located near Detroit Road. The large parcels accompanying the houses often extended either from Lake Erie to Detroit Road or the vicinity of modern Madison Avenue, or between Madison Avenue and Detroit Road. The earliest settlers of Rockport Township included the Nicholson, Wagar and Hall families. Most of these settlers built stone or frame houses along Detroit and then cleared and farmed their large parcels. In 1834, a stone house was built on the 60-acre parcel for John Honam using local sandstone and a floor plan typical of the Western Reserve (and similar to Mars Wagar’s stone house just west and south of his property). The use of stone, the size of the house, and Honam’s ownership of the large land parcel indicate his relative wealth within the community. Two years later, Honam started the process of purchasing 37½ acres immediately to the west of the original family parcel. By 1840, he owned both parcels, making his total property 97½ acres that stretched from Detroit to the lake, between what is now Belle and Cook Avenues.

1915

John Honam lived in the stone house and farmed part of his property. While immigration records indicated that Honam worked as a weaver in Scotland, there is no evidence he continued that trade in Rockport Township.  It is more likely that he worked his land.  Tax records indicate that he owned both horses and cows.  The 1840 census indicates that Honam’s household included several servants and laborers.

The Hotchkiss Family

Following Honam’s death in 1845, the property transferred to his daughter Isabella, who had married Orvis Hotchkiss in 1837. Born in Vermont, Orvis Hotchkiss moved to North Olmsted with his parents Noble and Harriet Hotchkiss in the 1820s.  After their marriage, conducted by the local Justice of the Peace, Orvis and Isabella lived in North Olmsted.  It is possible that Orvis and Isabella returned to the stone house by the early 1840s, since Orvis Hotchkiss paid Honam’s personal and property taxes starting in 1842.

Charles Pease

While little is known of John Honam’s activities in Rockport Township, much more is known about the Hotchkiss family. Widely regarded as a leader within the Rockport community, Orvis Hotchkiss operated several businesses on the property, including a tannery and a steam mill, and also received the contract to build the plank road along Detroit in Rockport Township.

Orvis and Isabella Hotchkiss had three children, Hester, Harriet and Noble. Each child married into important and wealthy families from the Rockport community. Orvis Hotchkiss improved the property repeatedly throughout the years, maintaining the entire parcel until 1860.

As the population of Rockport grew, so did the need for available land. Typical of many second-generation Rockport residents, Hotchkiss began selling off portions of the original Honam land in 1860 until it consisted of 56¼ acres in 1874. The arrival of the Rocky River Rail Road in 1868, just north of Detroit Road, influenced the population increase and land speculation of this era. By 1870, son Noble Hotchkiss established his own household on the family property, perhaps in a frame house seen on maps and a 1902 photograph. Both men continued to farm the property as well as run other commercial activities. Noble Hotchkiss hosted the first organizational meeting for the Hamlet of Lakewood in 1889 and was subsequently elected one of its first three trustees. A few years after Orvis Hotchkiss’s death in 1881, Isabella Hotchkiss transferred the property to her children Noble and Harriet.

The Honam/Hotchkiss House served as the private residence of one of Lakewood’s earliest families.   Like most other early settlers, the Honam/Hotchkiss family farmed a large parcel of land, ran small commercial operations that supported the needs of a growing community and located their homes along Detroit Road. The Honam/Hotchkiss House remains as one of the few homes dating to this important early period of Lakewood’s history.

A Store in the Stone House?

Secondary sources state that Orvis ran a general store, shoe and boot factory and a four-family rental unit, but there is no evidence for that kind of activity on the stone house property.  It is interesting to note that “Hotchkiss & Dean” paid personal taxes in the 1850s.  Lucius Dean did run a store in Rockport.  Perhaps they worked together for a few years.  In addition, Hotchkiss sold a small, triangular parcel on Detroit to Joseph Howe in 1869.  This small parcel was just east of the stone house and can be seen on the 1874 atlas map.  Tax and map records call this parcel a “store lot,” showing that Joseph Howe ran a store and post office at this prime location along Detroit Avenue.  In 1872, Joseph Howe purchased a three acre parcel on the south east corner of the Hotchkiss farm, where he built a new home. 

Lawrence Johnson

By 1882, Joseph Howe sold the small, triangular parcel to Lawrence Johnson, who continued to operate a store and post office on the site.  In 1897, Johnson’s store burned down.  The community rallied around him and the Hotchkiss family offered the use of their vacant stone house as a temporary location for his business.  Lawrence Johnson ran his store and the Rockport post office out of the stone house for two years, until the completion of his new, brick store building in 1898.

Johnson House 1902

The Development Period (1897-1952)

The second period of significance for the Honam/Hotchkiss House reflects the dramatic residential and commercial development of the early 20th-century as Lakewood became a streetcar suburb. As Cleveland grew into an industrial powerhouse, many people sought homes and property in the communities just outside of the city limits. From the late 1890s until 1930, Lakewood saw an incredible boom in residential and community building to serve the needs of this increased population.

In 1899, the Lakewood Realty Company purchased the Honam/Hotchkiss House and related property as part of the creation of the Lakewood Park Subdivision. This subdivision consisted of both sides of St. Charles, Warren and Cook between the north side of Detroit and the north side of Clifton. For at least two years, the Honam/Hotchkiss House served as the allotment sales office and perhaps as the office for the allotment’s designated architect, Charles Pennington.

1902

The ownership of the Lakewood Realty Company signals the beginning of an extended period of mixed-use for the Honam/Hotchkiss House. It housed both commercial businesses such as a doctor’s office, shoe repair shop, photography and upholstery store as well as families and individuals who rented for short periods of time.

In both 1955 and 1967, Margaret Butler interviewed Viola Miller Hanlon, who remembered living in the stone house as a child.  She remembered a wooden addition that included a dining room and kitchen, a real estate office in the parlor and a young doctor having an office what is now the downstairs bedroom.  She also noted that her father was a coachman for a realty man named Mr. Wieber, who owned the stone house.  Remarkably, Mrs. Hanlon’s memory was very accurate.

Viola Miller Hanlon

German immigrants Otto and Sophia Miller lived in the stone house from 1901 to 1903 with their three children.  Otto Miller worked as a coachman for Charles L. F. Wieber.  In addition to owning “Cleveland’s Largest Exclusive Tailoring House,” Mr. Wieber was president of the Lakewood Realty Company (with Charles A. Cook as secretary and treasurer).  The company’s allotment office was in the stone house for a short time.  It is plausible that a personal employee of the company’s president resided in the same house as the company office.  It is also possible that Dr. Charles Wood had an office in part of the stone house prior to moving to a new location immediately to the west at 14708 Detroit, which he shared with Dr. Albert E. McClure.

The most well known occupant of the stone house during the early 20th century was the Hostelley family.  Born in Pennsylvania, Gilbert Hostelley married his young bride in 1912 when he was 18 and she was just 16.  Their son Gerald was born two years later in LaFeria, Texas, a small town less than ten miles from the Mexican border.  At that time, Gilbert was in the middle of a three-year stint in the US Army’s Signal Corps.  It is probable that Hostelley participated in the six-month occupation of the port city of Veracruz during the Mexican Revolution.  The 1920 census shows the Hostelley family living in (but not owning) the stone house.  Starting in 1921, Gilbert P. Hostelley opened an upholstery and furniture repair shop in the stone house, which remained until 1952. Advertisements of the time show that the business included “upholstering, repairing, caneing [and] living room furniture made to order.”  In addition, the Hostelley family rented living space in the stone house for a number of years.

1952

The area surrounding the Honam/Hotchkiss House changed dramatically during the early 20th century. The house was moved for the construction of St. Charles Avenue in 1901.  Commercial buildings were constructed just south of the stone house (fronting on Detroit Avenue), and new houses lined the side streets immediately surrounding the house. The property was owned by Lakewood Savings & Loan from 1928 to 1942, when it was acquired by Julia and Stephen Babin, who also purchased the 1916 commercial building on the northwest corner of St. Charles and Detroit to house Babin Furs. In 1935, the stone house was drawn and photographed for the Historic American Buildings Survey.

1935 HABS

During this period from 1898 to 1952, the Honam/Hotchkiss House was both a residential rental unit as well as the site of a variety of commercial activities. These varied uses reflect the dramatically changing development of the City of Lakewood, which transitioned from a rural farming community into a densely-populated city with an active downtown district.

Historic House Museum Period (1952-present)

Looking to expand his commercial building north, furrier Stephen Babin offered the Honam/Hotchkiss House to local historian Margaret Manor Butler at no cost if she promised to move it by October 1952. Over the course of just two months, Margaret Butler formed the Lakewood Historical Society, negotiated with the City of Lakewood to secure a new location for the house, and organized and funded the moving of the house to Lakewood Park. The Lakewood Historical Society, an all volunteer organization lead by Margaret Butler and advised by prominent Cleveland architect Munroe Copper, then undertook a major rehabilitation of the house, which they named the Oldest Stone House.  One year later, in the summer of 1953, the Oldest Stone House opened as both a historic house museum and the home of the Lakewood Historical Society. [Butler’s Herculean efforts to save, move and rehabilitate the house are themselves worthy of a book and will be addressed in a future newsletter].  In 1975, a major construction project stabilized the foundation, added environmental controls, built a basement and reconstructed the wood frame summer kitchen space. In 1977, the Oldest Stone House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

1952

Since 1953, thousands of children and adults have toured the Oldest Stone House Museum, learning about the early history of Lakewood and everyday life during the 19th century. The house continues to serve as the headquarters for the Lakewood Historical Society, where artifacts, photographs and paper memorabilia pertaining to the history of the community are preserved and studied. The preservation and use of the Oldest Stone House as a museum reflected the growing awareness of the importance of history within the Lakewood community. The Oldest Stone House is recognized as a symbol of Lakewood’s heritage.

1952

The history of the Oldest Stone House reflects the evolving development patterns that have occurred in Lakewood since the early 19th century. The building functioned as a home in the rural, farming community of Rockport Township throughout the 1800s. As Lakewood rapidly transitioned to a booming streetcar suburb during the early 20th century, the building occupants became businesses and renters. As a museum for the past half-century, the Oldest Stone House continues to stand as a tangible link to other periods in Lakewood’s history.

1953

The Building Itself

The Honam/Hotchkiss House was constructed of area sandstone in the Greek Revival style. The 1½ storey structure is the only remaining (of at least three) stone houses built in Rockport Township (now Lakewood). The original sandstone exterior walls, stone threshold, stone window and door lintels, front door opening and window openings remain intact. Two early, possibly original, windows remain on the second floor east wall.

Much of the original interior architectural features and floor plan of the house remain, including woodwork with a simple bead decorative element, some interior doors, plaster walls in all rooms, original poplar stair risers and boards, and poplar floor boards throughout house. The original floor plan probably followed those found throughout the Western Reserve during this time period, consisting of two front parlors and three rear rooms on the first floor and two bedrooms on the second floor.

1920

Some interior changes prior to 1952 included: widening of some interior doorways (two off the front hall, door into west bedroom doubled, door into east bedroom); the addition of narrower flooring above original poplar floorboards in parlor; probable installation of the second floor ceiling; and possible elimination of two walls on first floor, creating one large L-shaped room (however, this may be original floor plan or an earlier change).

Additional changes occurred between 1952 and 1960 by the Lakewood Historical Society under the advisement of prominent Cleveland architect Munroe Copper, including: the addition of an interior window  above the stairwell; the addition of electricity (outlets, lighting fixtures); installation of historic but not original windows (Lakewood Historical Society founder Margaret Manor Butler states the replacement windows came from “Whippoorwill,” the 1830s Rockport/Lakewood home of Jared Potter Kirtland located on Detroit west of Bunts); alteration of the west wall door opening from two exterior doors with a wall between to one exterior door with sidelights; the addition of a fireplace removed from an 1830s Cleveland house; removal of the exterior brick water table; and placement of the house directly on the ground with no foundation.

Most likely, a wooden addition to the west side of house was built in 1834 or shortly thereafter. This wooden addition probably contained the kitchen (there are no original fireplaces in the stone structure), as well as additional living spaces. This wooden addition was removed sometime before 1901, as it is not seen in 1901 photographs. However, architectural evidence of its existence, location and dimensions remained in 1952 and the addition is seen on early maps. A major construction project in 1975 included the replacement of this one-story wooden addition, foundation stabilization, HVAC system installation, replacement of original floor beams (rotted), replacement of some original kitchen floorboards (rotted), and installation of a concrete block basement which now houses office, classroom, restroom, kitchen, storage and utility spaces. The combination of the 1952-1960 and 1975 rehabilitations created a public space consisting of a historic house museum interpreting the 1830s-1870s on the first and second floors as well as modern facilities for office and storage uses.

1953

The house is no longer on its original setting. It is thought to have been moved at least two times in its history. There is some evidence that the house was moved almost 20 feet west of the original Detroit location for the creation of St. Charles Avenue in 1901. The house was moved a second time to its current location in Lakewood Park in 1952. Prior to this move, the house was approximately eight feet from the west curb of St. Charles, one foot south of a single lane driveway (which still exists) and approximately twelve feet from the rear, north wall of the 1916 commercial building on Detroit. The house was moved to make room for an addition to this commercial building, which still exists. At its original location, the main façade faced south towards Detroit Avenue. The house is still situated on a portion of the original Honam/Hotchkiss 97½ acre parcel.

Isabella’s Sworn Statement, 1888

“Isabella Hotchkiss of lawful age, being first duly sworn deposes and says, my grandparents John Williamson and Isabella Williamson, and my father John Honan owned the property I owned in Section Number 22 Township of Rockport, county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio running from Detroit Street to the Lake Erie and a part of which was deeded by myself and husband to P. G. Watmough and Amos Townsend by deed dated August 19th 1871 and recorded in Vol 192, pages 179 and 180, Cuyahoga County Records of deeds, both my grand parents John and Isabella Williamson died about the year 1832 within eleven days of each other, intestate, solvent, and without debts, seized of the land aforesaid, and leaving affiant Isabella Hotchkiss, as sole heir at law of each grand parent, their daughter Mary Honann, affiants mother, having died prior to the death of John and Isabella Williamson, they leaving no children surviving them or other lineal heirs, except this affiant their grandchild.  My father John Honan died about the year 1845 intestate, solvent, and without debts, and leaving surviving him his daughter this affiant as his sole heir at law.  Affiant further says that she has been in possession of said lands so inherited from John and Isabella Williamson and John Honan and being about 97 ½ acres of land and has paid taxes thereon ever since she has been in possession thereof since 1845.  Except 20 acres sold to Watmough and Townsend and deeded to them as aforesaid, and other smaller portions of said land as appears by the records of said county.”