The Beecher House of Sandusky, Ohio

My Aunt Susie has done a lot of work on my Mom's side of the family. She is a former member of the Daughters of the American Revolution through our ancestor, Thomas Huston. Back in 2008, she went and visited Sandusky, Ohio and found out some interesting things considering the home and life of my 4th Great Grandfather, Lucas Selkirk Beecher. There is a lot of history in that old house, and Aunt Susie did a superlative job of collecting information about it.

The blog "Graveyard Rabbit of Sundusky Bay" has a nice little bio on Lucas Selkirk Beecher:

Lucas Selkirk Beecher was born in New Haven, Connecticut, on March 31, 1798. He lost a leg in an accident when he was thirteen years old. At the age of 18, Lucas S. Beecher moved with his family to New York State, where he studied law. He married Janet Walker Turk in 1824. By 1828, Lucas Beecher settled in Sandusky, where he practiced law with Eleutheros Cooke. Beecher became blind in 1830, but an operation in New York City restored his sight partially. An article in the January 1897 Western Reserve Law Journal stated about Lucas Beecher that "He was a very eloquent and forceful speaker, honest with the courts, his clients and opposing counsel, had a wonderful memory and great tact in the examination of witnesses, was respectful and kind to all, more especially to the younger members of the bar. He had a very large and remunerative practice." Judge E. B. Sadler, in the same article, wrote about Beecher: "Disabled as he was when just entering upon the threshold of a successful practice, nevertheless, he rose to a height which enabled him to easily maintain his position as a leader in this most difficult of all professions." Lucas S. Beecher was the counsel for Benjamin Johnson, a former slave who settled in Sandusky. The Justice of the Peace at Sandusky, John Wheeler, sided with Beecher and maintained that Johnson was a free man, under the provisions of the Ordinance of 1787, which stated that involuntary servitude was prohibited in Ohio. The Lucas Beecher home, still standing in Sandusky, was a safe haven for runaway slaves during the Underground Railroad. Lucas S. Beecher died on October 18, 1882, and is buried in Oakland Cemetery. Mrs. Beecher died in May of the same year.

 

There is another nice little biographical snippet from a Statement of Significance for the National Record of Historical Places Nomination:

The Lucas Beecher House, built in 1847-1848, was the home of an important lawyer in Sandusky's history who successfully overcame a tragic series of handicaps. The house is architecturally significant for its fine stonework and detailing, and it is the last remaining early 19th century building facing Washington Park and the courthouse square.
The following biography of Beecher is taken from Hansen's history:

"Lucas Selkirk Beecher was born in Connecticut in 1798. When he was about thirteen years old he went on a hunting trip. A terrific storm ensued and lightning struck a large tree, felling it on Beecher. His leg was crushed and and his hunting companion was compelled to amputate the leg in order to release him.

"About 1816, Beecher moved to New York where he taught school and studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1824 and married Janet W. Turk in 1826. After practicing two years in Williamsport, Pa., he came to Sandusky in 1828 and formed a law partnership with Eleutheros Cooke.

"Three years later Beecher became totally blind. Aldrich's History states that after treatment in New York his sight was restored enough for him to resume his practice and read and write a little. He formed several law partnerships including association with John Campbell, Pitt Cooke, Cuyler Leonard and then finally, in 1853, with his son, John T. Beecher. Their law office was in a small brick building just east of this house.

"The following tribute by fellow attorneys was printed in the Sandusky Register after his death in 1882:

Lucas S. Beecher stood in the front rank as a lawyer during a long practice of over fifty years. Keen, bright intellect, wonderful memory, perhaps intensified by his blindness... His identification with the anti-slavery movement marked him as a man who preferred principle to profit and who had the courage to profess and advocate a great moral truth..."

In 1900 Beecher's heirs sold the house. From 1902 to 1918 it housed the telephone exchange. In 1932 the American Legion purchased the building and occupied it until 1977. The additions made by the Legion have been removed preparatory to rehabilitation.

I have another article from a 24 page packet of information regarding the Beecher House. I am not positive of its authorship, but came from the Follett House Museum Branch of Sandusky Library:

Changing with the Times

The Beecher House has been remodeled several times since it was built. The interior was
changed to suit the needs of the various owners and tenants and to keep it up-to-date with the conveniences of succeeding eras.

The Beecher House remained a simple family home while the Beechers owned it. However, progress through the 1800's slowly changed its neighborhood, and a city grew around it.

When it was built, each of the homes along Washington Row had their own carriage houses, barns, and privies. Those outbuildings were commonplace and necessary in their time.

Aunt Susie at the Park across from the Beecher House.

In 1922, Emma Beecher recalled that living on Washington Row "was like living in the country." This was partially because a park was in front of the Beecher House. The City of Sandusky overtook the "country" and, by 1880, the outbuildings were disappearing, and commercial buildings were replacing many of the stately Washington Row homes. The Beecher House became a commercial building in 1902 and remains so. Numerous remodels brought the Beecher House through several generations of progress, from the quiet horse-and-buggy days to the modern era.

When Lucas Beecher built it, his home was heated by wood or coal fires in several stoves and fireplaces. Those stoves gave way to a central heating furnace years later. Also, the cool breezes of summer, which once wafted in through opened windows, have now been replaced by air conditioning. Electricity provides power for appliances, gas now fires the furnace, and indoor plumbing replaced the privy.

Works remodeling the house in the late 1970's found a hidden vestige of the past, supporting conjecture that the house was used as a hideout for escaped slaves in the 1850's and 60's. The discovery of two secret rooms in the basement provides substantially conclusive evidence that the Beecher House was one of the last Underground Railroad stops before slaves secretly boarded boats in the Sandusky harbor to seek their freedom in Canada.

A "Hint" of Greek Revival

Uncle Don and Aunt Susie at Beecher House, 2008

When Lucas Beecher built his home, the development of "Greek Revival" in American
architecture was at its peak. "Greek Revival" architecture resurrected the austere lines of Grecian temples, with their columns and classic proportions, to inspire beautiful American homes. The Lucas Beecher Home at 215 Washington Row is representative of the Greek Revival form. It was constructed from Sandusky's native "blue" limestone.

The Beecher House differed slightly from the pure Greek Revival style. To give a hint of the colonnades which surround Greek temples, the Beecher House has a pair of pillars supporting an entablature at the front entrance. That "hint" of a colonnade was repeated in the fram of the window over the front entrance and in the railings and columns of a porch that was attached to the ell of the home. The ell, which was demolished in the early 1900's to make room for commercial buildings, was attached to the house on the east. Today, the driveway of the First Federal Savings and Loan building occupies this area.

Many Owners

The Beecher House was owned by the Beecher Family from its construction in 1848 until 1902, when it was sold to the Central Union Telephone Company.

Central Union moved Sandusky's first telephone exchange to the stately home and operated it as a part of The Bell System until 1918. The old home then was turned over to the offices of the Erie County Investment Company, which shared the building with the Christian Science Reading Room and an engineer, Charles Judson. Irma Walkircher's women's clothing store moved into the building in 1925.

John Rieger, who owned the Rieger Hotel, purchased the home in 1921 and leased it to the American Legion in the early 1930's. The American Legion bought the property in 1944, and kept it until 1977 when the Savings Building and Loan Company purchased it. Savings Building and Loan, with brances in Port Clinton and Huron, became the Erie Islands Division of First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Toledo in 1986.

First Federal Savings of Toldeo moved its loan offices and loan-closing department into the building in 1988, after another remodeling project was accomplished at this historic site.

With all of Aunt Susie's research, there's really not a whole lot I can add to the history of this building. I will provide a link to her documentation in PDF Form, along with a couple more photos pertaining to the building. Thanks, Aunt Susie, for doing all the work. Here's what I promised:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3yM72vm279EdDRRSUtqdU1SdGs/edit?usp=sharing

Sign at parking lot for Sandusky Bay Visitors. The Beecher house was one of the homes of the Underground Railroad.

Sign hanging in Lucas Beecher's Home